The Reform Thread

[Gloucester Saint]

42 minutes ago, egg said:

Now show me post Brexit improvements. 

@Weston Super Saint fill yer boots…

[sadoldgit]

Surprise surprise. Farage’s claim of voter fraud was all bollox.

https://www.ft.com/content/8c6c4ff0-68d9-4e08-a9a5-a317742d112e?syn-25a6b1a6=1

[Weston Super Saint]

2 hours ago, rallyboy said:

I've got a GP now, I didn't have one for a decade, now I can access appointments, and we have more police here - many things looks shit out there and the country needs loads of work, but there are undeniable improvements.

Lucky you!

My GP now runs off the new system.  There used to be a telephone scramble at 08:00 to get an appointment.  Now you need to log on and beg for an appointment which is then triaged by someone (they claim one of the doctors).  I had severe pain in both hips at the end of January (arthritis related), was in agony and got triaged for a four week appointment!  Took me two weeks of phone calls and arguing to see a doctor!  The alternative, go to A&E and wait for 6 to 8 hours.

I had a CT scan at the end of January - requested after a follow up visit with my surgeon after failed spinal surgery - took four weeks for the appointment.  Still haven't had a review with the surgeon which isn't happening until the 8th of April!

Maybe the NHS is improving, but it's not exactly quick!  Although this is my first real experience of how it works, so it could be way better than it was before?  

[Weston Super Saint]

1 hour ago, Gloucester Saint said:

@Weston Super Saint fill yer boots…

No thanks.  I've never claimed there have been any and am happy to be honest about it!

[Weston Super Saint]

2 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

No thanks.  I've never claimed there have been any and am happy to be honest about it!

Although having said that, isn't it a Brexit benefit that the current Gov't can negotiate with the EU on trade - after all that is the definition of 'taking back control' isn't it?

[Lord Duckhunter]

3 hours ago, egg said:

think anyone who can't see that there have been improvements, doesn't want to recognise that there have been improvements.

It’s been a complete shit show, you’re comparing 14 years of Tory rule with 14 months of these chumps. I’m no fan of Cameron & Clegg, but 14 months into their term was immeasurably more competent and less sleazy. God help us if we have 14 years of this. People keep banging on about liz Truss, but they ditched her pretty damn quick and Hunt reversed her budget measures in double quick time. To be this unpopular, to have this many scandals, this many cock ups, less than 2 years after a landslide is unbelievable. The British people are fair minded, that’s why they gave Johnny Major his own mandate, if they genuinely thought Starmer was a decent honest bloke doing a great job turning round a difficult situation, hed have better poll ratings. He wouldn’t be pushed around by his back benchers and they wouldn’t be facing wipeout in Scotland, Wales and the locals. This isn’t some “far right” narrative, isn’t some media driven storm. People think he’s incompetent, think he’s a sleazy bullshitter,  and unlike Boris, they don’t like him. 

If Nigel Farage led a Government which had exactly the same scandals as this one some posters on here would need sectioning for their mental wellbeing. 
 

I don’t  believe there’s one Starmer supporter on here who ever thought he’d be this bad, not one. 

[egg]

47 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

It’s been a complete shit show, you’re comparing 14 years of Tory rule with 14 months of these chumps. I’m no fan of Cameron & Clegg, but 14 months into their term was immeasurably more competent and less sleazy. God help us if we have 14 years of this. People keep banging on about liz Truss, but they ditched her pretty damn quick and Hunt reversed her budget measures in double quick time. To be this unpopular, to have this many scandals, this many cock ups, less than 2 years after a landslide is unbelievable. The British people are fair minded, that’s why they gave Johnny Major his own mandate, if they genuinely thought Starmer was a decent honest bloke doing a great job turning round a difficult situation, hed have better poll ratings. He wouldn’t be pushed around by his back benchers and they wouldn’t be facing wipeout in Scotland, Wales and the locals. This isn’t some “far right” narrative, isn’t some media driven storm. People think he’s incompetent, think he’s a sleazy bullshitter,  and unlike Boris, they don’t like him. 

If Nigel Farage led a Government which had exactly the same scandals as this one some posters on here would need sectioning for their mental wellbeing. 
 

I don’t  believe there’s one Starmer supporter on here who ever thought he’d be this bad, not one. 

There's several posts above highlighting positives. Any comment on those? 

[benjii]

53 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

It’s been a complete shit show, you’re comparing 14 years of Tory rule with 14 months of these chumps. I’m no fan of Cameron & Clegg, but 14 months into their term was immeasurably more competent and less sleazy. God help us if we have 14 years of this. People keep banging on about liz Truss, but they ditched her pretty damn quick and Hunt reversed her budget measures in double quick time. To be this unpopular, to have this many scandals, this many cock ups, less than 2 years after a landslide is unbelievable. The British people are fair minded, that’s why they gave Johnny Major his own mandate, if they genuinely thought Starmer was a decent honest bloke doing a great job turning round a difficult situation, hed have better poll ratings. He wouldn’t be pushed around by his back benchers and they wouldn’t be facing wipeout in Scotland, Wales and the locals. This isn’t some “far right” narrative, isn’t some media driven storm. People think he’s incompetent, think he’s a sleazy bullshitter,  and unlike Boris, they don’t like him. 

If Nigel Farage led a Government which had exactly the same scandals as this one some posters on here would need sectioning for their mental wellbeing. 
 

I don’t  believe there’s one Starmer supporter on here who ever thought he’d be this bad, not one. 

I don't think you can compare Cameron and Starmer eras.

We're in a new epoch now. Constant lies and propaganda on social media, foreign interference, Brexit rifts, lack of accountability, destruction of democratic institutions in the US, multipolarity global war games.

Old politics is dead. It died with the Brexit referendum and similar deaths have occurred elsewhere.

Edited 3 hours ago by benjii

[Lord Duckhunter]

23 minutes ago, egg said:

There's several posts above highlighting positives. Any comment on those? 

When people post “Corruption from top officials seems to be less widespread and obvious.” I tend to stop reading because it’s biased in the extreme. How many ministers have resigned, how many freebies have they had, how many phones have been “stolen”. 
 

The NHS is no better round here, it’s still impossible to see a Dr and it’s still 8 hours + in A&E, the police are still laughable absent. Youth unemployment is only heading one way, and that is a direct result of a labour policy. Illegal immigration is still out of control . 
 

If there were signs of improvement, the public would give him a chance and Labour  MP’s wont ditch him. We’ll see what the public make of the “improvements” in May. When he’s ditched, you’ll all change your tune and make out he was the problem, when the reality is, it’s the high tax, high spend, lefty policies from them (and the Tory party) which are the issue. We’ve reached the stage where Government spending is just one big Ponzi scheme, where the next 2 generations will pay for our soft arsed leftie Governments. 

[egg]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

When people post “Corruption from top officials seems to be less widespread and obvious.” I tend to stop reading because it’s biased in the extreme. How many ministers have resigned, how many freebies have they had, how many phones have been “stolen”. 
 

The NHS is no better round here, it’s still impossible to see a Dr and it’s still 8 hours + in A&E, the police are still laughable absent. Youth unemployment is only heading one way, and that is a direct result of a labour policy. Illegal immigration is still out of control . 
 

If there were signs of improvement, the public would give him a chance and Labour  MP’s wont ditch him. We’ll see what the public make of the “improvements” in May. When he’s ditched, you’ll all change your tune and make out he was the problem, when the reality is, it’s the high tax, high spend, lefty policies from them (and the Tory party) which are the issue. We’ve reached the stage where Government spending is just one big Ponzi scheme, where the next 2 generations will pay for our soft arsed leftie Governments. 

If you're someone who expected it all sorted in a fortnight, or would find fault in anything labour did, you would look past the slight improvements. 

On the whole though, I agree that it doesn't feel better, and I bypass the NHS so can't comment on what it's like round here. I'm not sure what anyone reasonably expected by this stage though, but, ignoring the improvements because it's not better overall, isn't the correct approach.  

2 generations will be paying for the general Tory incompetence, Brexit, COVID, Ukraine, and the effects of Israel/US stupidity, not this Labour government. Let's have some perspective. 

[Gloucester Saint]

35 minutes ago, egg said:

2 generations will be paying for the general Tory incompetence, Brexit, COVID, Ukraine, and the effects of Israel/US stupidity, not this Labour government. Let's have some perspective. 

Exactly this. Add in the impact of Trump’s moronic tariffs which the ripples on global trade will take several years at best, to reverse, and it’s spot on.

So the very last thing the UK needs is a populist government modelled on Trumpian lines. Last time the public - or 52% of them - listened to Reform/UKIP, we needlessly slashed 6% off the economy. Then the same people whine that their public services have dwindled.

They more likely won’t get in anyway. As Sir John Curtiss says, barely 1 in 10 Labour switchers are going to Reform/Cons. They are a Conservative issue. The movement away from Labour is to Green for the ex-Momentum brigade and Lib Dem’s for the others. But the key point is that all the movement is within the Remain ‘bloc’. 

I’m sure the red tops will scream about a coalition of chaos or suchlike, but it’s five-way party politics now, at least in England.