like the queen this thread will never die: in which we ALL resign (ourselves to disgusting miseries to post-boris politics 2022)

was interested in the dontpayuk thing but this thread has put me off a fair bit

I have serious concerns about @dontpayuk 🧵

If you are thinking about getting involved in their campaign, I'd urge you to read this thread first and think critically about the implications. There are solid reasons not to trust this campaign. 1/

— an arch on (@anarchonbury) July 23, 2022

looks dodgy as fuck. instead of not paying I'm going to wait till they cut me off and then relink my gas and electric mains, bypassing the meter. I actually have the skills to do this with the electric supply, but would quite possibly end up blowing up a section of my street playing with a gas main.

the yba's, britpop, dave stewart, oswald mosley - you can all go jump in a skip

The only good use of the word Brits ever was "Brits Out" spray painted on walls in Derry etc.

lol at that dn!!

Is this an example of the wage-price spiral lots of commentators are talking about? https://t.co/KT864axhno

— Ian Sinclair (@IanJSinclair) July 29, 2022

Up to 70 Labour MPs could join union picket lines on Friday as Keir Starmer faces a renewed battle to maintain party unity over support for striking workers.

it looks like Starmer's bad habit of picking the wrong battles is going to be the end of him.

No point sitting on a fence that's burning down! The man is so, so bad at politics.

Coventry bin strike won. Unite have fucked over the Lab council 👍

After six months (!) the Coventry bin workers strike has ended. Unite say that drivers have received a pay rise of 12.9 per cent, additional bonuses, and the disciplinary charge against Unite shop steward Pete Randle has been dropped

— polly smythe (@pollysmythe) July 29, 2022

boom

Tory hustings at Elland Road tonight, it's coming home.

Lol dirty leeds

Messy leeds

it's getting hard to keep track of all the strike action right now, it's very good.

have you seen this yet? useful resource attempting to keep track of this with weekly updates https://theweekinwork.substack.com/

I've subscribed. Thanks!

4 days after I challenged Starmer to his face about lying to party members, I receive this letter from Labour HQ terminating my membership. Shameless & vindictive. A party rotten to the core, that can’t tolerate being held to account by a 71 year old. Even Stalin might’ve blushed pic.twitter.com/vbjUeZBHoX

— audrey White (@RedRosa91940184) July 30, 2022

such a predictably petty response from Starmer

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FY_DCJsXwAA1E3i?format=jpg&name=medium

lol, Dipak Nandy and John Truss should start a support group

have to side-eye all these supposed marxist parents incapable of passing radical perspective on to their own kids (stephen benn just hurtled straight back into the house of lords ffs)

(not that his dad was ever a marxist lol: all the benns are liberals)

Truss arrived at the Elland Rd carpark on friday with her quite bewildered looking and elderly mother at her side as about dozen tory activists cheered them. It should be both condemned as enabling behaviour and elder abuse.

yeah i wonder how your child ends up like that

if i had one got to Truss level i think i'd probably disown them

to expand a bit i tend to concur with group socialization theory so i don't so much question her dad's failure to inculcate a moral compass as they must have allowed her to hang out with some v unsavory kids

maybe don't send vulnerable young people to Oxbridge idk

these lefty profs might send their kids to the nearest state comprehensive thinking that they'll be forming friendships with other kids from various backgrounds. But there is nothing they can do if they are little snobby brats and fall in with a posh kid clique! And you do get these, even in so called sink comprehensives with shit reps.

as a non-parent with 0 (zero) children i am entirely comfortable blaming the parents: i don't know what it's like and i don't plan to find out!

an update to the PIP complaining upthread - we got a letter yesterday to tell us our appeal has been successful! The fact that I didn't submit any evidence, that I just phoned up and pointed out that the evidence they used to make the determination was self-contradictory, is so damning against whoever processed the claim. But at least it's a bit of worry and stress over with now.

been there before (well actually lost the appeal but did get there in the end) and it's such a relief get through this dreadful process, congrats boxedjoy! It shouldn't feel like a win when someone with a disabling health condition gets what they are entitled to. But it does these days.

lol, Dipak Nandy and John Truss should start a support group

I've heard that gavin williamson's parents are horrified too

And so it begins..

More than 15 million appointments at GP surgeries are wasted each year due to patients failing to show up.

I would introduce a temporary £10 charge for patients who fail to attend an NHS appointment without providing notice.

👉 https://t.co/MlsZLS69eZhttps://t.co/3cXn1rFhca pic.twitter.com/UEbEtipgMc

— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 31, 2022

it's a fucking disgusting policy idea for disabled people, who mostly are also poor. I have a very important neurology appointment for my son in a few weeks. Can I guarantee he's not going have an epileptic fit on the day or not be in a calm enough self-regulated mood to go into a hospital on that day... can I fuck.

And people who depend on a crumbling public transport system - bus doesn't show up and it costs you a tenner.

yes that as well and lots of people with fluctuating mental health issues can't even get on buses sometimes, even if they are still running.

Meanwhile rich people who can afford a tenner to waste will think it is no big deal, a fair price to pay for the luxury of being able to abandon appointments. £10 won't even begin to offeet the cost of a missed appointment either, this is purely designed to punish low-incomes. I wonder which of his pals he's got lined up to sign the contract for the roll-out.

If I can't make it and don't cancel my GP/dentist appointment 24 hours in advance here in Belgium so they can schedule someone else instead, I have to pay for a full appointment. Is that really such a draconian measure?

(sorry, failed at reading the room here, nevermind)

yes, because anxiety and missing buses don't give you 24 hours notice

and this is clearly designed to be the thin end of the wedge for further charges to be introduced, slowly normalising the idea of paying for nhs services, with the end goal being full privatisation

Forcing 1000s of people to negotiate every week with the NHS about their £10 fines is sure to save time and money

Yes, and I think this is more of the end goal (link below). The ones who absolutely can't afford it will get something, but every step of the way will be painful.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/24/charge-patients-for-hospital-stays-to-help-fund-nhs-says-report

When Sunak talks about a 'conversation' that's what he means. Tax breaks for using private healthcare, which only a select number can afford. Or if you are in a workplace which has it, you can see where it's going.

The NHS just can't function where almost everything else in our society is broken.

I wonder if I'll be able to get a refund when my doctor tells me he'll phone between 2pm and 4pm and doesn't call until 5.15pm.

sorry but rules are rules, you only get a refund if you die while on the waiting list for major surgery.

Nandy on a picket line this morning, sure she has only workers rights on her mind and nothing else.

Thanks @lisanandy for taking the time to visit the @cwugmersey Wigan picket line this moring to speak to #TheCWU BT & Openreach members on strike and show solidarity @CWUnews @DaveWardGS @CWU_AndyKerr pic.twitter.com/SjJXqczD6R

— Carl Webb - #joinaunion (@NWCWU) August 1, 2022

she's been sent out to show her face, just to underline that bollox that Tarry was sacked for doing policies on the hoof rather than joining a picket.

That or she has just decided to do this herself in order to challenge Starmer for the leadership, seems the less likely option but you know what she's like.

i hear nothing but bad things about bt openreach though (although i think virgin media pip them for dodgy installation stories, cables just trailed across flowerbeds and blocking guttering)

(xp) The former is probably why but I'd bet the latter is why she agreed to do it. She's probably planning ahead about having to face Rayner once Starmer is finished.

I was trying to make a joke about autumn arriving early and people going Trimbleburying in Lisburn. It had potential to be funny I reckon, but I couldn't be arsed!

Can't wait for the Labour leadership campaign, has the potential to be even more ludicrous than the Tories'

Waiting for Liz to sort this out:

🗳️ NEW: Labour lead by 14pts (+/- since June)

🔴 Lab 44% (+3)
🔵 Con 30% (-)
🟠 LD 10% (-5)
🟢 Grn 8% (+2)
🟡 SNP 5% (-)

Seats (+/- since 2019):

🔴 Lab 327 (+125)
🔵 Con 224 (-141)
🟡 SNP 52 (+4)
🟠 LD 23 (+12)
🟢 Grn 1 (-)

Labour majority of 4 seats.

Via @IpsosUK, 21-27 Jul pic.twitter.com/KH5UmGEXFI

— Stats for Lefties (@LeftieStats) August 1, 2022

If this actually comes to pass can I please dream about a Fuck-You bloc of Zarah Sultana, Diane Abbott, Becky Long-Bailey and Jeremy Corbyn absolutely having their way with king toad of melt hall

Labour falling one seat short of a majority without having restored Corbyn has a certain appeal.

...especially if Corbyn stands as an Independent in Islington and beats the Labour candidate.