DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived post-Murdoch era

Think this is the thread for this: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17260020

pathetic wannabe stand-up comedian with zero political credibility told to stand down by Lembit Opik

Funny that, wonder where they get the impression this is an acceptable way to behave?

It is despicable that in the 21st century so many medieval practices and attitudes remain. And it is appalling that time and again, this is shoved under the carpet. People turn a blind eye and a culture of shame and secrecy is perpetuated.

calm down dear

huff post bloggers getting worse and worse

From next month, 25 million people will have more money in their pocket and over a million low-paid workers will have stopped paying income tax altogether. Just think about that for a moment: a million more workers with no tax bill because of us, because of you.

Becomes even more impressive when you take into account all the people they've helped make unemployed who aren't paying tax now either.

hang on why wasn't i told about this will i be able to afford a new pair of shoes next month?

Paul Staines dressed as a massive cock. And a guy in a chicken suit.

hope he beetborts soon

"This autumn we're not looking at the 50p tax rate. The priority this autumn is to get the housing market going. The priority this autumn is to get infrastructure underway. And of course we're absolutely committed to increasing the personal allowance for many millions of people in this country who have a tough time at the moment. When you look around the world you can see that the tough decisions we've taken on the budget have protected Britain from the worst of the European debt storms. We're not in the position Italy is in, for example. But that doesn't mean we can let up. We've got to be vigilant."

-- George Osbourne, 11 Nov 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financevideo/8884261/George-Osborne-confirms-no-50p-tax-rate-cut.html

"I do not believe that the priority at a time like that is to give a tax cut to a tiny, tiny number of people who are much, much better off than anybody else. Our priority will always remain providing tax cuts and providing support to many millions of people on low and middle incomes and that isn't going to change regardless of what people say in letters to newspapers"

-- Nick Clegg, 11 Nov 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/nick-clegg/8883966/Nick-Clegg-We-will-not-cut-the-50p-tax-rate.html

George Osborne is to defy calls for the removal of the 50p upper rate on income tax and will instead instigate a clampdown on wealthy homeowners in an attempt to demonstrate that the rich cannot avoid Britain’s austerity programme.

...

“The 50p rate isn’t going anywhere any time soon,” said one coalition aide. The Tories and Liberal Democrats both realise that giving a tax break to the richest layer of society – at a time of widespread “austerity” – would be politically toxic.

David Cameron, prime minister, last year insisted that it was “fair” and that the UK’s “broadest backs [should] bear the biggest burden”.

-- Financial Times, 1 March 2012
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ffc0bfe4-63bd-11e1-8762-00144feabdc0.html

http://www.threadbombing.com/data/media/51/orly_owl.jpg

George Osborne poised to slash top tax rate from 50p to 40p

Government sources say that from the outset the chancellor has seen a cut in the 50p rate as the headline-grabbing measure of the budget, and views it as the simplest single step he can take to show his commitment to an enterprise economy.

-- The Guardian, 15 March 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/mar/15/george-osborne-top-tax-rate

shorter: how many times can clegg bend over for this coalition

I don't usually rep for Polly Toynbee but I enjoyed her takedown of the LibDems' flagship tax policy and why it isn't what they say it is.

From Mr. Osborne's Amazing Book of Practical Ideas:

The department is not trying to introduce just regional pay, but local or zonal pay that might take account of, for instance, living costs in suburban Manchester as opposed to inner-city Manchester.

The government is to introduce special trading hours across England and Wales for the duration of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, allowing supermarkets and department stores to open for as long as they like at weekends.

Large stores will no longer be forced to restrict their opening times to a maximum of six hours between 10am and 6pm.

The Treasury, which will unveil the measure in this week's budget, estimates that the move will boost retailers' profits by as much as £90m.

The government has indicated that it will look carefully at the results of the change in a clear sign that George Osborne, the chancellor, is considering making it permanent.

The move is likely to be popular with overseas visitors and people who are able to shop only at weekends. But it will dismay church groups who have long argued that Sundays should be kept "special" and will concern Usdaw, the shop workers' trade union, which says its members already face a struggle to balance work and family life.

it's Osborne, turning up at no. 11 and saying "we've found a new way to exploit staff" is probly good enough

Don't be so cynical. It's probably Osborne turning up to No. 11 saying "absolutely none of our economic policies have worked, and in many cases they've probably made things worse, but if we can get a slight uptick for a few months in retail revenues maybe nobody will notice!"

oh i think their economic policies are "working" just fine

It's probably just pretending we're a normal country for the Olympics. 4pm Sunday closing is fucking ridic

some countries don't have 24 hour shopping and it isn't particularly a god-bothering thing?

and i can still buy groceries any time of day or night now, in this backwater

There's 24-hour shopping, and there's "shops over a certain size only open 10-4 on Sundays". You can buy groceries, when I was in Scotland I could do my weekly shop at 8pm on Sunday.

What's the justification for it if not god-bothering? Wtf should Sunday be any different in terms of trading to Saturday?

(it was also a plus when I worked in a shop. Long lazy Sunday shifts were free money, compared to the crap, busy Saturday night shifts when you'd rather be out)

Given that I've walked round Italian cities that close up completely on a Monday and Spanish towns that close for 2-3 hours EVERY DAY, I don't really think that not being able to go into a Sainsbury's at 5pm on a Sunday is that much of a hardship really. Let people have a day that doesn't revolve around working and/or buying shit. It's not like even most Christians are in church late on a Sunday afternoon.

Meanwhile here is the single most moronic Olympic proposal ever.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-17351164

What are they going to do, shoot a fucking plane down over London or something?

it's not that much of a hardship. it's just really stupid. like i genuinely don't understand why a non-religious person who had done a bit of travelling would care either way, unless they were concern trolling because the present govt happens to be conservative. tighter/more liberal laws elsewhere have absolutely no effect on society other than, well, the fact that you can/can't go to the shops.

That's not a justification, it's a bullshit defence of the status quo. The question is why should Sunday be any different to Saturday for trading, and "I couldn't get a sandwich at lunchtime on holiday" isn't it.

Obviously, I agree that Sunday should only be for warm beer and cricket in England, but what if I run out of beer heaters or wickets at 4.30pm?

xp

What happens in other countries is relevant because the phrases "pretending we're a normal country" was used, I was just pointing out that lots of countries have times when shock horror you can't go to the shops.

The rules are kind of antiquated and stupid given yr average Tesco Metro can open whenever it wants but generally speaking I actually like things being quiet and lazy on Sundays. Late pub openings during the Olympics is way more important for yr average tourist anyway, I suspect.

Spain at least has late-hours trading each day to compensate.

Things are quiet and lazy on Sundays even in places where the shops are open, btw. Labour did a consultation on this, fwiw, and yea, all the small businesses (which can open) were against Tesco getting to open, and the people were all "I like lazy Sunday" and "I think low-paid part-time workers should have a luxury they can't afford enforced upon them" (slightly paraphrased). So frustrating.

i live in bavaria. sunday trading laws here are the biggest load of bullshit.

e.g. did you know ikea and the equivalent of b&q can open 4 sundays per year, but they are not allowed to sell anything. you can just go and look.

effin popery

z

that's like a metaphor for... I don't even know what. (actually w/ internet shopping it might not even work out too badly for the shops concerned. check it out in the shop, go home and buy it online)

i always thought argos had a unique opportunity to become a really big deal ca. 1999, but they effed it up/didn't get the internet

aren't weekend opening hours kind of important for people who work during the week and thus don't have time to do their shopping then?

I'm guessing none of the people working extra hours on a Sunday night to sell shit during the Olympics will be city traders on six figure salaries. More fucking poor people up for less poor people's convenience imo.

Yes, I am a two-faced prick who's bought milk in a 24hr Tesco and 10 o'clock on a Sunday night.

"at" 10 o'clock, not "and"

Sunday trading has nowt to do with City traders; but it is *way* more convenient for those who have to work hours that make shopping at god-approved times difficult, which often means people in low-income jobs or shift work. Also just people who prefer Saturday as a day of rest.

Btw, I don't know if you realise just how daft it is down here on Sundays compared to Scotland -- I didn't, for sure. Many shops have a whole hour each Sunday where you can look, but not buy anything. It's not quite Bavaria, but it's pretty wtf all the same.

hahahahaha oh God it never stops...

David Cameron will clear the way for a multibillion-pound semi-privatisation of trunk roads and motorways as he announces plans to allow sovereign wealth funds from countries such as China to lease roads in England.

We're down to stripping out the family copper...

There will be no tolls on the existing road network. But if the road companies create new capacity – by adding lanes to existing roads or building new roads altogether – then they would be entitled to charge for their use.

can't see a problem with that at all.

Seem to remember the total number of vehicles using the M6 rose in the year or so after the M6 toll road opened because no fucker wants to spend £10 a time driving their HGV over it.

believe so, yes. plus there's the incentive to build, the incentive to build where revenue is likely to be highest and not where revenue is likely to be lower, no incentive to look after the infrastructure wrt pedestrians and cyclists (everyone loves those pavements on those trunk roads, right?), every incentive to chase capacity but not quality and attend to toll roads before existing infrastructure.

Everything about this is, needless to say, a colossally bad idea.

Great diversion from third reading of NHS privatisation in lords tomorrow

the laws that make sunday different are ridiculous perhaps inasmuch as they relate to religion.

the fact that when supermarkets were allowed to open on sundays and they promised that staff wdn't be forced to work shifts they didn't want, and then forgot this promise within 12 months, isn't. i love countries where shit actually shuts down for a day and all them poor bastards are forced not to shop for the duration. all this "people can't get to the shops in the week" is a bit bollocks in the age of 24 hour Tescos.

in the same way that boxing day is now a pitiful parade of cunts that are desperate to get back inside a shop because they've been deprived for 24 hours.

yes because tescos is the only place people would want to shop.

really don't understand this smug "I am able to do my shopping on Saturday and have a nice relaxing sunday without any problem so everyone else should be forced to as well" paternalism

working time regs are a whole different thing, and there are better ways to handle those problems than saying "mandatory down tools at 4pm on Sundays"

there are but extending working hours historically has not handled those problems. and like i said, shopping on Saturday or any other day of the week isn't so big a deal when supermarkets open 24 hours a day. i don't think i'm being smug defending the idea that sometimes commerce can fuck off.

i had no problem working sundays back when i worked in shops, but they had to pay me double rate to do it. i'm guessing shops don't do that anymore? PROGRESS!!

If you just want restricated trading on Sunday as part of some "chavs with their consumerism shop too much anyway lol" and "down with shops" drive that's about as persuasive to me as the religious argument.

and like I said, it's not like supermarkets are the only kind of shopping. simply because it's not such a big deal for you to be able to get to the other kinds of shops on Saturday or weeknights doesn't mean everyone has your life, ffs.

stet, of all the people on this board i'm about the least likely to use some kind of chav argument.

i can see that people might be restricted to only sundays as a chance to shop, but it seems increasingly unlikely given the other opportunities that are available now. you could just as easily argue that some people only get to shop at 3 in the morning, and there isn't much open then either.

even as an irreligious person i think there's something to be said for one day in the week when the pace and focus of life changes, even slightly. same applies to holidays - they have a "religious" origin but they've always been more about a way of breaking out of regulated time.