Politics - UK

I can't remember if we all agreed not to talk about politics because it does have a tendency to descend into arguments (maybe thats the point) but I have real concerns about freedom of speech in the UK at the moment.
For the record, I am a lifetime Labour voter (up till Corbyn). Voted Lib Dem since but after the last election I appear to be one of these far right chaps according to the new government and media.
This current government has me very worried already. Very.

I have a lot to say but i'll wait

Starmer is terrifying. He's throwing lawfare at the problem to scare people into silence, while ignoring the genuine, justified grievences of the public which have been ignored for decades.

Until mass immigration is finally addressed this issue is just going to get worse and worse.

The issues (and there are a lot of issues with a lot of things) need to be discussed openly and honestly, but that's not been the case for decades - and it has been made infinitely worse because of social media (e.g. the NHS is treated as an untouchable religion and shame on you if you've had a terrible experience(s) with it and want to make your problems known).

I do find it strange, though, that you've essentially got GB fucking News whining about Labour throwing the book at people who were rioting and smashing shit up and racially targeting members of the public or calling for the execution of specific people ... if the government had gone soft on that they'd be whining, just as vehemently, about that instead. Pathetic. That's part of the problem and part of the reason why things like this can't be discussed openly and honestly and in a grown up fashion. They're the flip side of the same shitty coin and can get tae fuck.

The whole circus of political discourse in the western world is vile and broken and I want nothing to do with it in its current form. Yuck.

I would say I might've woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, but there's only one side to roll out from, so...

Also, yes, political posts ... ??? ... it's never gone well on HPOTD, has it?

So the latest message from Labour is that everything has to get worse before it gets better. What a crock. This "we discovered a black hole of billions" is cobblers. The countries accounts are publicly available to anybody. No surprises. They have to appease the unions

kidgloves wrote:They have to appease the unions

You do wonder why though - the bulk of their donations were not from the unions this time around and they won such a large majority that they don't need to appease their usual paymasters. Old habits, eh?

Splashing countless amounts of the public sector while screwing, among many others, savers (who've been continually effed in the ay since the financial crash) and struggling pensioners ... this "rich pensioner" thing is a load of bullshit, too - perhaps in the circles they run in, but guess what, the majority of pensioners are not like that, and certainly not outside of the M25, and it's particularly the case for women in that bracket.

Reeves is not making a good impression thus far and has squandered political power to further hamper an already fucked economy (thanks Truss et al).

*grumbles*

The only policy rumoured that makes any sense to me (mainly because I will benefit from it) is the council tax banding being changed to a % of the value of your house.
0.5% will half what I'm currently paying as I now live in a nice rural part of the country where everything is expensive due to lack of services infrastructure. Some sort of financial relief would be nice for a change.