The Starmer Years - Can The New Broom Sweep Clean?

[Sir Ralph]

53 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

What was the growth in 2023 (0.3%)? How was 2018 and 2019 (1.4%)? Very similar to Labour was it not? 

Not sure this is the victory lap you think it is, employers NI is a far bigger barrier to employment than minimum wage.

I agree the Tories economic record towards the end of their time in government was poor. They prioritised infighting and politics over the general good. They were criticised and rightly voted out as a result. I had enough of them. I thought Labour was going to improve the economy though rather than match the performance of the back end of a poor Tory government. The general decline in employment and hiring would start to suggest an unfortunate trajectory.

 

Bringing it back to the point. It appears that high unemployment, specifically youth unemployment, has been exacerbated by government policy. They often end up harming those they are trying to help. 

Edited 2 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[Farmer Saint]

12 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I agree the Tories economic record towards the end of their time in government was poor. They prioritised infighting and politics over the general good. They were criticised and rightly voted out as a result. I had enough of them. I thought Labour was going to improve the economy though rather than match the performance of the back end of a poor Tory government. The general decline in employment and hiring would start to suggest an unfortunate trajectory

And yet the FTSE is smashing it, so large businesses are doing well (as they use technology to replace people).

I'm not sure why you thought a Labour government would necessarily improve the economy greatly - we had/have broken public services after years of managed decline from the Conservatives. You couldn't genuinely have thought they would not put more money into public services? It's a Labour government. Either way the economy has improved, just maybe not as much as you had hoped.

Who did you vote for at the last election?

[Lord Duckhunter]

15 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

People who regularly slag off Davey and Polanski suddenly agree with them when they say something they agree with.

If that a bad thing now? 
 

I presume you think they should disagree on the basis of who said it, rather than the substance. 
 

For example, someone who defends labour illegally delaying elections but would be complaining  if Tories did so. 
 

 

[Dr. Kucho]

28 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I agree the Tories economic record towards the end of their time in government was poor. They prioritised infighting and politics over the general good. They were criticised and rightly voted out as a result. I had enough of them. I thought Labour was going to improve the economy though rather than match the performance of the back end of a poor Tory government. The general decline in employment and hiring would start to suggest an unfortunate trajectory.

 

Bringing it back to the point. It appears that high unemployment, specifically youth unemployment, has been exacerbated by government policy. They often end up harming those they are trying to help. 

Not a single party in the UK is going to improve the economy. Improving the economy means making difficult decisions and no one wants to do that because it will make them unpopular.

Improving the UK economy and living standards would mean you have to,

- Rejoin EU and admit Brexit was a failure.

- Spending billions on infrastructure 

- abolishing the NHS

And so on.

[Lord Duckhunter]

How is abolishing the NHS going to improve the economy? 

[Farmer Saint]

9 minutes ago, Dr. Kucho said:

Not a single party in the UK is going to improve the economy. Improving the economy means making difficult decisions and no one wants to do that because it will make them unpopular.

Improving the UK economy and living standards would mean you have to,

- Rejoin EU and admit Brexit was a failure.

- Spending billions on infrastructure 

- abolishing the NHS

And so on.

Not sure about abolishing the NHS improving the economy - it would obviously allow us to spend elsewhere though.

[Gloucester Saint]

48 minutes ago, Dr. Kucho said:

Not a single party in the UK is going to improve the economy. Improving the economy means making difficult decisions and no one wants to do that because it will make them unpopular.

Improving the UK economy and living standards would mean you have to,

- Rejoin EU and admit Brexit was a failure.

- Spending billions on infrastructure 

- abolishing the NHS

And so on.

Agree with 90% of your post bar the NHS - would need to be a clear plan to replace it.

[hypochondriac]

Not sure I agree with most of that but what we should be doing with the NHS is stop it being all things for all people. Concentrate on the things that matter the most and have excellent care in the most important things. Stop wasting NHS money on ridiculous things that shouldn't be covered on the NHS. It was never designed for half the things it covers now and it's a bloated mess.

[iansums]

17 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

People who regularly slag off Davey and Polanski suddenly agree with them when they say something they agree with.

Not your best post badger 😀

[iansums]

7 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Not sure I agree with most of that but what we should be doing with the NHS is stop it being all things for all people. Concentrate on the things that matter the most and have excellent care in the most important things. Stop wasting NHS money on ridiculous things that shouldn't be covered on the NHS. It was never designed for half the things it covers now and it's a bloated mess.

Saw something on GMB the other day where a load of women who had botched plastic surgery were expecting the NHS to put it right.

[hypochondriac]

Just now, iansums said:

Saw something on GMB the other day where a load of women who had botched plastic surgery were expecting the NHS to put it right.

There's all sort of stuff that the NHS pays for now that should have no chance of public funding in a normal society. 

[Sir Ralph]

5 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

There's all sort of stuff that the NHS pays for now that should have no chance of public funding in a normal society. 

It’s a reflection of a society that expects government and taxpayers to solve their own problems. As @Dr. Kucho said it needs a party who will make hard decisions and, in my opinion,  ignore the votes of those in society who are unreasonably reliant on the state. The question is which party is going to do that?