Do you want to discuss boring politics? (90 Viewers)

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
Especially as politicians seem to spend loads of time in their subsidised bars.

On a similar note I once had a boss who went golfing pretty much every day. But hey, that's fine. He's 'networking'.
Yep
It’s why I liked what starmer said about Friday and his kids
 

MalcSB

Well-Known Member
I put £3000 away in savings over the past year and received a grand total of £100 in interest, hardly worth bothering. Who benefits from paying absurd utilities prices?
Foreign producers of oil and gas plus utility shareholders. OFGEN regulates the price we pay though, definitely not challenging enough. Still, Labour‘s cheap zero carbon electricity will address that issue by 31 December 2029.
 

robbiekeane

Well-Known Member
I have nothing against you Rev. My mortgage payments are going up thanks to the madness of the last few governments and the extra payments won’t benefit anyone except bank executives.

Taxes do at least fund things that help people.
I don’t think it’s accurate to say your mortgage payments are going up due to the madness of the last few governments.

In reality we’ve both been spoilt with abnormally low interest rates for many many years, and we’ve also experienced once in a lifetime external shocks.

Also not really true to say the extra payments only benefit bank executives…interest payouts on savings accounts have increased and the cost of borrowing from the central bank has increased.

Net Interest Margins have only slightly increased and are predicted to drop in 2024
 

Brighton Sky Blue

Well-Known Member
I don’t think it’s accurate to say your mortgage payments are going up due to the madness of the last few governments.

In reality we’ve both been spoilt with abnormally low interest rates for many many years, and we’ve also experienced once in a lifetime external shocks.

Also not really true to say the extra payments only benefit bank executives…interest payouts on savings accounts have increased and the cost of borrowing from the central bank has increased.

Net Interest Margins have only slightly increased and are predicted to drop in 2024
It started going bonkers when Truss wrecked the economy and it seems to have remained high since. Were we to go to the standard variable rate at the end of our fixed term we’d be paying an extra £7000 a year on the mortgage for an end terrace with two people in it.

Yet I’m meant to accept that tax is the big problem facing ordinary people? As said above I had a savings account on 6.5%, the highest I’ve known being offered. It returned £100 off £3k. Is that much to write home about?
 

duffer

Well-Known Member
Well, that feels like a wild old twenty-four hours. Definitely worth having the day off today!

I never thought I'd be able to agree with anything Sunak said, but I'll give him this - Starmer's successes are the country's successes, so despite any doubts we've got to hope he does well.

And, of course, it's just an enormous relief to finally be out from under the chaos and cruelty of the Tories. Overall, a pretty good day imho.
 

duffer

Well-Known Member
This is nonsense, banks lend money to anybody that meets their criteria

Yes, absolutely, it's a wee bit more complex than that. See fractional reserve banking, below.

Hence things like the credit crunch and the need for loads and loads of boring seat warmers like me trying to keep the regulators happy and make sure the business is covered if you decide to blow your mortgage on Fancy Dan in the 4:40 at Haydock. It's not quite like that film, "It's a Wonderful Life". 😁

 

robbiekeane

Well-Known Member
This is nonsense, banks lend money to anybody that meets their criteria
Yes but about 50% of funding for mortgages still comes from consumer deposits

The point they were making was that any takings from higher rates is at least partially offset from payouts on higher interest rates on savings & CDs etc
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
Anyone watching Question Time? Reform’s Ben Habib having a bit of a disaster. Just shouting made up rubbish and getting laughed at.
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
Some really interesting cabinet appointments



This will probably trigger a couple on here:


smart moves. was listening to the radio earlier and they were talking about how Labour like to make a big statement early in the first day or two but that didn't really tie with how Starmer operated in the campaign. Appointments like this will get attention without being anything so out there it will upset a significant number of people.

 

MalcSB

Well-Known Member
It started going bonkers when Truss wrecked the economy and it seems to have remained high since. Were we to go to the standard variable rate at the end of our fixed term we’d be paying an extra £7000 a year on the mortgage for an end terrace with two people in it.

Yet I’m meant to accept that tax is the big problem facing ordinary people? As said above I had a savings account on 6.5%, the highest I’ve known being offered. It returned £100 off £3k. Is that much to write home about?
Current rates really aren’t all that bonkers when you look at the last 50 years. The practically zero rates were the exception.
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alexccfc99

Well-Known Member
You are of course correct, and the strategy team at Labour HQ have done an excellent job on this aspect. It’s a shame we didn’t have that in place in 2017 and we might have been rid of the Tories sooner.
It will however stoke the proportional representation debate when you have numbers of votes returning seats in the way they have.

And Corbyn still got more votes… both times 😉
People need to be careful what they wish for in that respect

Had PR been a thing in the 70s you'd have had numerous National Front MP's in the commons, likewise with the BNP in the mid 00's

FPTP has it's drawbacks, however it does mostly keep crackpot/extremist candidates and parties out of elected office
 

Boicey

Well-Known Member
People need to be careful what they wish for in that respect

Had PR been a thing in the 70s you'd have had numerous National Front MP's in the commons, likewise with the BNP in the mid 00's

FPTP has it's drawbacks, however it does mostly keep crackpot/extremist candidates and parties out of elected office
In the end we need a more democratic and representative system than the one we have.
We've had quite a few far right councillors elected and they inevitably fail due to incompetence and ideological nonsense.
The main issue we have is a media who amplify idiots because they love sensationalism. Say extremist nonsense and make yourself available and you will get loads of airtime. Trump is an expert on that and Farage knows how to exploit it.
 

alexccfc99

Well-Known Member
In the end we need a more democratic and representative system than the one we have.
We've had quite a few far right councillors elected and they inevitably fail due to incompetence and ideological nonsense.
The main issue we have is a media who amplify idiots because they love sensationalism. Say extremist nonsense and make yourself available and you will get loads of airtime. Trump is an expert on that and Farage knows how to exploit it.
They might well fail but having them there in the first place isn't exactly the best look is it
 

Boicey

Well-Known Member
Starmer will have huge problems because he is wedded to a narrow market economy and growth model, keeping taxes low and relying on 'rich entrepreneurs'. He won't have the money to do anything radical.
We will hear 'the Tories left a mess and we don't have the money', 'it will take time', 'we wont spend money we don't have' for years.
If anything they will go further to the Right to 'counter' Reform and probably a more right wing Tory party.
 

Boicey

Well-Known Member
They might well fail but having them there in the first place isn't exactly the best look is it
You have to be democratic.
I'm now of the opinion to let the shit rise to the surface if people want to smell and wallow in it. Let's empty the drains and get all the racism, homophobia, spite and assorted evil out into the open.
Decent people then need to deal with it.
But like I say the media worry me because they over amplify and essentially put energy into those ideas.
 

torchomatic

Well-Known Member
I always have the tv on in the background when WFH. A sitcom I've seen before or something. It's just background noise and it allows me to concentrate more than silence.

Also far less distracting than joining in random conversations in the office.
I always have music on. Try to pick something instrumental so it's not something I can wing along to. Brian Eno or Tangerine Dream.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
You have to be democratic.
I'm now of the opinion to let the shit rise to the surface if people want to smell and wallow in it. Let's empty the drains and get all the racism, homophobia, spite and assorted evil out into the open.
Decent people then need to deal with it.
But like I say the media worry me because they over amplify and essentially put energy into those ideas.

We are democratic. Just because a bunch of fringe parties with 20% of the vote want a national voice doesn’t mean we have to give them one.
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
Starmer will have huge problems because he is wedded to a narrow market economy and growth model, keeping taxes low and relying on 'rich entrepreneurs'. He won't have the money to do anything radical.
We will hear 'the Tories left a mess and we don't have the money', 'it will take time', 'we wont spend money we don't have' for years.
If anything they will go further to the Right to 'counter' Reform and probably a more right wing Tory party.

The tories conundrum is if they go further right and Starmer does manage to deal successfully, or is perceived to be successful with immigration issues they'll be in the wrong place next election.

If they revert to a centre right party, (I say revert but I'm not sure where they are now), and immigration is still a major issue at the next election then they'll lose more voters to Reform though I expect reform to get the full tory press treatment between now and then unless they jump ship and then the tories will be fucked.
 
D

Deleted member 5849

Guest
The tories conundrum is if they go further right and Starmer does manage to deal successfully, or is perceived to be successful with immigration issues they'll be in the wrong place next election.

If they revert to a centre right party, (I say revert but I'm not sure where they are now), and immigration is still a major issue at the next election then they'll lose more voters to Reform though I expect reform to get the full tory press treatment between now and then unless they jump ship and then the tories will be fucked.
There are always core voters who just won't vote for one colour whatever they do, too and that seems to get more pronounced if anything nowadays - Blair succeeded in taking along moderate Tory-leaning voters but Starmer doesn't seem to have done, so there's no real point in him going more right and leaving space for Lib Dems or Greens to take away some of *his* core vote.

@rob9872 had it right before the election really that a weak Tory party with protest votes for Reform is more worrying than the alternative - strange as that may seem(!) Hopefully Sunak hangs on for a while at least so his party can think very carefully about their next move... although I fear that next move may well be to plunge through the abyss and do a deal with the devilFarage.
 

fatso

Well-Known Member
The interest rates benefits the savers who are providing the funds for you to borrow to buy your home.
That's not how ot works Malc. That method of banking finished when Noah defaulted on his loan to build an Ark.

Banks operate under a system called "fractional reserve banking" They no longer need savers to deposit funds in order for them to operate. In fact most banks actually lose money, in the costs associated with handling the majority of their customers accounts, (ie the cost of staff wages. High street branches, security and technology etc etc)

Large banks can quite literally pull money out of thin air. It's a corrupt system and all banks are implicit in its misuse.
It's only when they get way too greedy that we have major global crashes, and even then hardly any bankers get prosecuted.
 
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Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
I think the Timpson appointment is exceptional. Someone who has a successful business but actually gives a shit about improving people's lives.

I try to support and use Timpsons whenever I can.

Sent from my M2101K6G using Tapatalk
Agreed the support their company give ex offenders has changed many lives and reduces risk in communities everywhere
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
  • Over eight in 10 hybrid employees have admitted watching TV on company time
  • Gen Z employees and men were among the worst at staying on the job at hand
  • Those who do watch TV at work clock up a whopping two hours of screen time
Over eight in 10 UK employees who work from home have admitted to watching TV on company time, according to a survey.

Amongst more than 2,000 hybrid workers took part in the study, which looked into Brits' working from home confessions, Gen Z workers - age 18 to 24 - were the most likely to switch on the television while working.
Furthermore, if found that those who do take the opportunity to watch television at work clock up a whopping two hours of screen time on average.
The vast majority - 82 per cent - of respondents admitted to dual screening, or giving up on work altogether, to watch television as they work from home.
And for Gen Z only, less than one in 10 hybrid employees get through a whole shift without getting distracted, as 91 per cent said they tune into something at some point.
This is pretty meaningless as it's not observational data and there's no data for alternative environments. At the end of the day pretty much every study that has been conducted has shown an increase in productivity when WFH. That's before you even consider other benefits.

Reminds me of a job I had years ago. Our manager was useless, he was always forgetting to schedule things leading to a mad panic at the last minute and constantly being up against tight deadlines. In turn that meant we had to often work late and that came at a cost to the company as we were paid overtime.

Then our manager went on long term leave, nobody came in to replace him, a manager of another department was going to keep an eye on us. Amongst ourselves we got organised and had a slick process working to the point we were weeks ahead of schedule.

The result? We got dragged into a meeting and given a proper bollocking because we didn't appear to be working as hard as we did when we had a manager. We pointed out that we were now way ahead of schedule. The question was asked of management would they rather us look busy but not actually be on top of things or have time to stand around and chat while being well on top of things. Their response was that we should look busy.
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
There's a really weird thing is this country where a large percentage of the population seem to hate the idea that things improve for anyone else.
I’d say small percentage and it’s those who are Rich who don’t earn money but receive it anyway through investment
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
There's a really weird thing is this country where a large percentage of the population seem to hate the idea that things improve for anyone else.

My issue with it is it is basically an us and them approach. Many jobs it’s impossible and yet in the same company many have the luxury of planning their own diaries from home.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
A period of silence from the large percentage of the population that benefitted from mass employment, decent pensions, free education and low house prices would be most welcome.

Im sure with 5 years of labour you will be living the dream soon
 

Boicey

Well-Known Member
The tories conundrum is if they go further right and Starmer does manage to deal successfully, or is perceived to be successful with immigration issues they'll be in the wrong place next election.

If they revert to a centre right party, (I say revert but I'm not sure where they are now), and immigration is still a major issue at the next election then they'll lose more voters to Reform though I expect reform to get the full tory press treatment between now and then unless they jump ship and then the tories will be fucked.
The Tories will be obsessed with Reform. Given the Tory base is very right wing there's little doubt what their direction of travel will be.
I suspect their collective hatred for 'Liberal lefties' might see them in some sort of pact at the next election. Or even Farage joining the Tories and becoming their leader. Nightmare scenario.
 

fatso

Well-Known Member
A period of silence from the large percentage of the population that benefitted from mass employment, decent pensions, free education and low house prices would be most welcome.
Isn't that what we all want to get back to?
And why the fuck would any one want to stay silent, I'd of thought we should be screaming about it.

We've got the change (that 20% of the electorate voted for) so let's insist that the new government take us to a world of mass employment, decent pensions, free education and affordable housing!

Let's just see what happens under Labor
 

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