Do you want to discuss boring politics? (21 Viewers)

[CCfC2023]

This is a fascinating publication.

Never worked / long term unemployed have an average wealth of £100,000!

How have they managed that?

inheritance ?

 

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[fernandopartridge]

Sadly the Chancellor's intervention to the courts on behalf of the people money lenders has failed.

Supreme court judges reject Reeves’ motor finance intervention

Chancellor had sought to prevent lenders caught up in commissions scandal being handed £44bn bill

www.theguardian.com

 

[MalcSB]

inheritance ?

A possibility, for them it is good fortune that older people are apparently the wealthiest - and then they die.

Wealth seems to decline after 69 years old for some reason. Social care costs?

 

[MalcSB]

Sadly the Chancellor's intervention to the courts on behalf of the people money lenders has failed.

Supreme court judges reject Reeves’ motor finance intervention

Chancellor had sought to prevent lenders caught up in commissions scandal being handed £44bn bill

www.theguardian.com

The weasel words used to justify the attempted intervention are shocking.

If this was a Tory chancellor, @shmmeee would be all over this.

 

[fernandopartridge]

Isn't privatisation brilliant

Thames Water wins court backing for £3bn debt package

Deal approved at high court gives company £1.5bn in upfront cash to stave off collapse

www.theguardian.com

 

[shmmeee]

The weasel words used to justify the attempted intervention are shocking.

If this was a Tory chancellor, @shmmeee would be all over this.

I’ve just opened a claim with Close Brothers after reading that. No idea if I’m affected but free money I guess?

 

[fingers_crossed]

Isn't privatisation brilliant

Thames Water wins court backing for £3bn debt package

Deal approved at high court gives company £1.5bn in upfront cash to stave off collapse

www.theguardian.com

That’s part of the problem, but biggest single issue is the rapacity of Private Equity. Macquarie hollowed out Thames, loaded it with debt, and dumped it on some other poor mugs to carry the can, in this case ultimately the tax payer. But everywhere across the UK and the US these companies are extracting value from businesses, firing workers and creating bankruptcies, all whilst enriching themselves. The list of what they own is as endless as their profits.

 

[fernandopartridge]

That’s part of the problem, but biggest single issue is the rapacity of Private Equity. Macquarie hollowed out Thames, loaded it with debt, and dumped it on some other poor mugs to carry the can, in this case ultimately the tax payer. But everywhere across the UK and the US these companies are extracting value from businesses, firing workers and creating bankruptcies, all whilst enriching themselves. The list of what they own is as endless as their profits.

Root cause of that is opening it up to the market. The shareholder democracy exposed for the nonsense it is or was.

 

[fingers_crossed]

Root cause of that is opening it up to the market. The shareholder democracy exposed for the nonsense it is or was.

Ofc but there’s a much bigger problem than than this. Private Equity is sucking money and jobs out of the country from every angle. They own the fostering agencies, the care homes, the specialist care centres, almost everywhere the government is spending money they’re there on the other side. It’s ironic that we can’t afford to pay for the king to have a yacht anymore, but the PE partners are all buying yachts with the money the government are giving them.

 

[shmmeee]

Ofc but there’s a much bigger problem than than this. Private Equity is sucking money and jobs out of the country from every angle. They own the fostering agencies, the care homes, the specialist care centres, almost everywhere the government is spending money they’re there on the other side. It’s ironic that we can’t afford to pay for the king to have a yacht anymore, but the PE partners are all buying yachts with the money the government are giving them.

The foster/care stuff is an absolute disgrace.

 

[fernandopartridge]

This is a fascinating publication.

Never worked / long term unemployed have an average wealth of £100,000!

How have they managed that?

Royalty?

 

[duffer]

This is a fascinating publication.

Never worked / long term unemployed have an average wealth of £100,000!

How have they managed that?

If the most interesting thing you pull from that publication is that some people who've never worked are surprisingly wealthy, I'm not surprised you vote the way you do!

I was more drawn to the wealth inequality line, personally, because I sincerely doubt most people on universal credit, long term sickness benefit etc. etc., have £100,000 tucked down the back of the sofa.

A few very rich slackers at the other end of the scale, skewing the _average_ measurement, might do though.

Maybe that's I vote the way I do.

 

[Skybluekyle]

Sadly the Chancellor's intervention to the courts on behalf of the people money lenders has failed.

Supreme court judges reject Reeves’ motor finance intervention

Chancellor had sought to prevent lenders caught up in commissions scandal being handed £44bn bill

www.theguardian.com

In fairness, the situation is more complex than simply just an attempt to avoid redressing impacted customers, the ruling could (I stress "could" as it is not known what it would be) have wider impacts on brokered consumer finance, as well as the motor industry as finance providers get twitchy and pull back from providing car finance.

Of course the court should not really care about the impact, as the interest-based commissions paid to car dealers are either lawful or unlawful, but it is natural for stakeholders, such as the UK Government, to be concerned. Obviously, justice should prevail, whatever the Supreme Court decide.

 

[fernandopartridge]

In fairness, the situation is more complex than simply just an attempt to avoid redressing impacted customers, the ruling could (I stress "could" as it is not known what it would be) have wider impacts on brokered consumer finance, as well as the motor industry as finance providers get twitchy and pull back from providing car finance.

Of course the court should not really care about the impact, as the interest-based commissions paid to car dealers are either lawful or unlawful, but it is natural for stakeholders, such as the UK Government, to be concerned. Obviously, justice should prevail, whatever the Supreme Court decide.

Don't you work for a financial institution?

 

[Skybluekyle]

Don't you work for a financial institution?

Will you excuse me for a moment?

 

[fernandopartridge]

How do you end up with such lightweights as ministers?



Taking credit for the independent BOE cutting interest rates? They've felt that they can do that due to how poorly the economy is performing not because it's performing well.

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/monetary-policy-report/2025/february-2025

 

[Grendel]

Going well Rachel

UK inflation jumps to 3%, reducing odds of early interest rate cut

Annual CPI inflation rate hits 10-month high in January, in a blow to ministers as cost of living accelerates

www.theguardian.com

 

[fernandopartridge]

Interesting that education is a factor in the CPI calculation, given only 7% of the population are privately educated. I assume it is weighted?

 

[CovValleyBoy]

"She's only gone & blown the bloody doors off"

 

[CCFCSteve]

Interesting that education is a factor in the CPI calculation, given only 7% of the population are privately educated. I assume it is weighted?

Yeah, will be weighted. Likely only small impact. Larger impact is businesses increasing prices at start of the year (standard) but raising them even more because of the upcoming employer NIC increase. Plus the usuals, energy etc

 

[MalcSB]

Royalty?

Are there enough of them to skew that stats that much?

 

[MalcSB]

Yeah, will be weighted. Likely only small impact. Larger impact is businesses increasing prices at start of the year (standard) but raising them even more because of the upcoming employer NIC increase. Plus the usuals, energy etc

And energy is to go up quite a bit with the new energy cap. Not what Labour allowed us to think pre election. If their £300 reduction pledge had expired by election day, which proves it is not worth listening to pledges by opposition parties, they really ought to come out and say it very clearly
It’s obvious I’m still fixated on that £300 despite a number of posters telling me that was dropped two years ago. Unless the intention is to allow prices to go up mahooosively and, as they edge down, claim the £300. Cynical I know, but they will be desperate. Inflation up, growth not as much as forecast.

 

[shmmeee]

And energy is to go up quite a bit with the new energy cap. Not what Labour allowed us to think pre election. If their £300 reduction pledge had expired by election day, which proves it is not worth listening to pledges by opposition parties, they really ought to come out and say it very clearly
It’s obvious I’m still fixated on that £300 despite a number of posters telling me that was dropped two years ago. Unless the intention is to allow prices to go up mahooosively and, as they edge down, claim the £300. Cynical I know, but they will be desperate. Inflation up, growth not as much as forecast.

You keep banging on about this but don’t seem to know the details. There was a report that stated a fully clean energy system could reduce bills by £300 on average. Obviously we do not have a clean energy system, Labours pledge was to have one by 2030. There was never a pledge to immediately reduce energy bills by £300 no matter how much you pretend there was for outrage.

 

[Grendel]

Mmmmm

FactCheck: government fails to confirm £300 energy promise

The new Labour government has failed to confirm to FactCheck that it stands by a key election pledge to cut energy bills by up to £300 - despite the prime minister saying he was committed to the figure just last week.

www.channel4.com

 

[Marty]

You keep banging on about this but don’t seem to know the details. There was a report that stated a fully clean energy system could reduce bills by £300 on average. Obviously we do not have a clean energy system, Labours pledge was to have one by 2030. There was never a pledge to immediately reduce energy bills by £300 no matter how much you pretend there was for outrage.

Serious question, I know you're a bit more clued on this sort of thing. For example, why haven't the council added something like £5pcm onto council tax and used it to fund a clean energy initiative, so a wind farm is built on the edge of the city or even in the city centre of top of buildings (is that even possible?) in return, the residents of the city get cheaper energy and even excess can be sold of to the grid.

Even stuff like forcing new housing estates in this city to come with Solar built on every home just seems sensible to me.

 

[Captain Dart]

 

[shmmeee]

Serious question, I know you're a bit more clued on this sort of thing. For example, why haven't the council added something like £5pcm onto council tax and used it to fund a clean energy initiative, so a wind farm is built on the edge of the city or even in the city centre of top of buildings (is that even possible?) in return, the residents of the city get cheaper energy and even excess can be sold of to the grid.

Even stuff like forcing new housing estates in this city to come with Solar built on every home just seems sensible to me.

A lot of this sort of thing was in Corbyns plans. I dunno man. I don’t get the uk energy market at all, I asked ChatGPT to explain it to me the other day and came out none the wiser.

Generally though councils have no powers to raise taxes beyond limited council tax rises. 2% (which is below inflation recently) before you need a referendum.

As with transport it would really help if they could do stuff like this. There’s been attempts to force developers to do things but there’s always pushback that it’ll make housing more expensive so we can’t do it.

 

[shmmeee]

Claims Labour pledged to freeze energy bills appears to refer to old policy - Full Fact

Labour pledged to keep energy bills frozen in response to rising prices in 2022. It did not make any such promise in its recent election manifesto.

fullfact.org

As a general rule of thumb if James Melville is tweeting it it’s probably nonsense.

 

[PVA]

People really seem to struggle with the difference between a soundbite from several years ago to an actual general election manifesto.

 

[shmmeee]

People really seem to struggle with the difference between a soundbite from several years ago to an actual general election manifesto.

Also what was happening in 2022. As the article says this was before the energy price guarantee or whatever it was called when prices were higher than now. This graph is useful to reference prices at the time.

 

[Nick]

People really seem to struggle with the difference between a soundbite from several years ago to an actual general election manifesto.

Not as much as people struggling when somebody from Labour is found to be bullshitting. Literally have to Google Tory bullshit to comfort themselves like a blanket. Sat in the corner talking to themselves telling them that it will all be OK because the Tories do it as well.

Weird.

 

[PVA]

Not as much as people struggling when somebody from Labour is found to be bullshitting. Literally have to Google Tory bullshit to comfort themselves like a blanket. Sat in the corner talking to themselves telling them that it will all be OK because the Tories do it as well.

Weird.

The only person to mention the Tories on this page is... you.

'Weird'.

Oh and Malc has as well.

 

[Ian1779]

If Labour taxed the wealthy at an appropriate rate they could afford to stop lying about stuff

 

[Captain Dart]

Claims Labour pledged to freeze energy bills appears to refer to old policy - Full Fact

Labour pledged to keep energy bills frozen in response to rising prices in 2022. It did not make any such promise in its recent election manifesto.

fullfact.org

As a general rule of thumb if James Melville is tweeting it it’s probably nonsense.

It's a clip from the Jeremy Vine program where Starmer makes a clear pre election promise not to raise energy bills a promise he has now broken amongst others rand all you can do in make an ad hominem attack without any engagement with the content.

 

[Marty]

A lot of this sort of thing was in Corbyns plans. I dunno man. I don’t get the uk energy market at all, I asked ChatGPT to explain it to me the other day and came out none the wiser.

Generally though councils have no powers to raise taxes beyond limited council tax rises. 2% (which is below inflation recently) before you need a referendum.

As with transport it would really help if they could do stuff like this. There’s been attempts to force developers to do things but there’s always pushback that it’ll make housing more expensive so we can’t do it.

I have had just a quick look, I reckon you could power the homes of Coventry with 90 2MW turbines at a cost of around £200m. Obviously fag packet maths from the first links on google but seems like a huge opportunity for someone/council.

It seems you can get roof top wind turbines as well now, which I wasn't aware off. Something I'm going to explore as my roof isn't suitable for Solar without major rework.