Do you want to discuss boring politics? (16 Viewers)

Captain Dart

Well-Known Member
The old Labourites were saying that in the era of jobs for life, strong union membership to protect pay and conditions, more secure employment and housing far closer to wages in cost than today.

Work does not pay if your employment is insecure, wages not keeping up with living costs and pension schemes a shadow of their former selves. I cannot speak much for Gen Z, but among my millennial friends now all in our 30s, 3 of us have/are having children, the rest aren't and it's for economic reasons. The consequences of this declining birth rate we are already seeing and it will either be that you need to be rich to have children or get the state to drastically increase the level of financial support for new parents.

People need to look beyond the up front cost of anything as a reason not to do it. 14 years of the Tories underfunding most things in the name of saving money has ultimately left us with a system in very bad shape needing even more money to fix it than if we'd made the commitments in the first place.
In Hungary they are giving tax breaks to mothers with children to combat population decline without resorting to immigration. There are other measures as mentioned in the article below.

 

Sky_Blue_Dreamer

Well-Known Member
In Hungary they are giving tax breaks to mothers with children to combat population decline without resorting to immigration. There are other measures as mentioned in the article below.

But even if we implemented that there is still going to be a massive lag of a few decades between now and that policy having effect (people deciding to have kids, the kids being conceived/born and then getting old enough to work). So what do we do in the meantime to plug the gap as we have increasing older people and the cost required for them?

Plus if we increase the birth rate we're going to need to increase spending in schools, early learning, post natal etc. before we see the benefit of them as adults.

Even then with the economic situation today we're finding increasing numbers of disenfranchised young people wondering why should they bother as they'll just spend their lives working hard to fill someone else's pension pot because they can't afford to own a home.

Immigration is a far more complex thing than "incentivise women to have more kids"
 

Captain Dart

Well-Known Member
But even if we implemented that there is still going to be a massive lag of a few decades between now and that policy having effect (people deciding to have kids, the kids being conceived/born and then getting old enough to work). So what do we do in the meantime to plug the gap as we have increasing older people and the cost required for them?

Plus if we increase the birth rate we're going to need to increase spending in schools, early learning, post natal etc. before we see the benefit of them as adults.

Even then with the economic situation today we're finding increasing numbers of disenfranchised young people wondering why should they bother as they'll just spend their lives working hard to fill someone else's pension pot because they can't afford to own a home.

Immigration is a far more complex thing than "incentivise women to have more kids"
Please do not take my post as alignment or agreement with that policy, couldn't tell you what it's effect might be, but I do think it is a hell of a lot more imaginative than the policies being pursued over here.
 

Grendel

Well-Known Member
Liz hits back to Channel 4 News

“hold on we are the party that introduced breakfast clubs at schools”

Crises averted
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
It's performative nonsense. Unless they're proposing a cull of pensioners it's pissing in the wind.

Pensions absolutely dwarf every other DWP payment, and thats before you consider that the fact that the level of other benefits skyrockets in the over 60s. And all of that is before you add in care costs which come out of council budgets and the NHS.

Maybe thats the plan and the cut to WFA is step one, give it a few years and you'll get a bullet in the head on your 60th :ROFLMAO:
 
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Sky_Blue_Dreamer

Well-Known Member
It's performative nonsense. Unless they're proposing a cull of pensioners it's pissing in the wind.

Pensions absolutely dwarf every other DWP payment, and thats before you consider that the fact that the level of other benefits skyrockets in the over 60s. And all of that is before you add in care costs which come out of council budgets and the NHS.

Maybe thats the plan and the cut to WFA is the step one, give it a few years and you'll get a bullet in the head on your 60th :ROFLMAO:
Well at the very least they could get rid of the triple lock, which is costing an absolute fortune, before actually cutting payments elsewhere.
 

shmmeee

Well-Known Member
It brought in the minimum wage and brought loads of schools out of disrepair after the Tories had allowed them to rot. Instead this government is so obsessed with penny pinching that it will walk into an electorate that has seen nothing substantively improve and look to the far right for an answer.

I think they know that. This govt has raised NMW and brought in some of the biggest reforms for workers rights in my lifetime. They just don’t have a dot com bubble bonus paying for everything.
 

David O'Day

Well-Known Member
They've not renationalised it or anything else really as yet? They have ducked water renationalisation despite the chronic problems with the sector. Energy LOL, they've established Great British Energy to do something. I'm sure plans are afoot to renationalise Royal Mail and take telecoms back into public ownership where they should be? The probation service was renationalised by the Tories a few years ago.

The coalition introduced the structure of the welfare system we have today that the current government. The current government retains all of its main features, e.g. the two child benefit cap, the bedroom tax, the structure of Universal Credit. The current government is reducing the circumstances in which you can claim Universal Credit.

Brexit was the government after that.

You utter fucking clown.
so you don't have a sensible suggestion? you utter fucking charlatan of a man

all you have is insults, shame on you
 

David O'Day

Well-Known Member
Back in adult land

Having to score 4 in one activity to get the highest benefit is probably too high and may need to be looked at

But things like making sure people won't lose their benefit if they try to take a job and they find it is too much, scrapping WCA's, more face to face meetings, no reassessments disabilities that will never improve an extra 1bn to try and help though who want to work back into work and to also help employers keep people in work are all good things that should be supported.

It's fucking stupid to think that the welfare system doesn't need improving and is fair for a lot of people in it, how you do so can be open to debate.

Open to genuine suggestions on what can be done though.
 

fernandopartridge

Well-Known Member
Oh and incidentally, was chatting to somebody who works for an integrated care board employing circa 2k people. They've been told to cut numbers / budget by 50%. All this going on under the radar while big statements about NHSE come from ministers.
 

Evo1883

Well-Known Member
Wes streeting arguing that work is good for your mental health .. Wes streeting who uses the same sentence your boss would use .. difficult to understand why a Labour government are behaving like this really
 

chiefdave

Well-Known Member
Job vacancies have been reducing in number for 30 consecutive months. Where's the employer demand for all these former PIP claimants?
We've become a country of small businesses, they aren't going to employ people who may need additional time off for medical reasons. My boss has a fit if I have a doctors appointment and come in a few minutes late!

So you're left with big business who, for whatever reason, want to be seen to do the right thing. Or the most likely option, large government subsidies to persuade employers to take people on.
 

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