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

at least they have no excuse to pay their staff shit money, well at least the ones that do actually get paid

what the fuck????

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/21/revealed-scores-of-child-asylum-seekers-kidnapped-from-home-office-hotel

― Tracer Hand, Sunday, 22 January 2023 bookmarkflaglink

absolutely insane. i was wondering why that wasn't the top story even in the guardian, was it covered in other places?

― ledge, Sunday, 22 January 2023 bookmarkflaglink

because it's not like they matter

― Kieth Encounter (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 22 January 2023 bookmarkflaglink

I mean:

Tulip Siddiq (Lab) asks about the disappearance of 200 asylum-seeking children from hotels in the UK. Is the UK a safe haven for vulnerable children?

Sunak says the UK has provided refuge to hundreds of thousands of people over the past few years. But the reports about children are concerning. He says this is one reason why he wants to end the use of hotels for unaccompanied asylum seekers.

Right, that's that dealt with, back to Punch and Judy.

where is the shadow immigration minister's response to this? oh actually forget about it, the current shadow immigration minister is Stephen Kinnock.

I keep mixing up Jermaine Jenas and Wes Streeting

This Person Does Not Exist

this potato does not exist in streeting's case

Worst fucking country

Tulip Sadiq asks the prime minister about the welfare of 200 unaccompanied migrant children who’ve gone missing.

Tory MP Jonathan Gullis heckles ‘well they shouldn’t have come here illegally’.

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, the Tory Party find a new low #PMQs

— Peter Kyle MP (@peterkyle) January 25, 2023

One worker at a time.

BREAKING 🚨👏 | 200 Luton Airport staff have won a pay rise of more than 28%.

— Trades Union Congress (@The_TUC) January 25, 2023

All these successful strikes are in the private sector because employers are shit scared of not being able to replace employees who may choose to leave.

This is so shit

Absolutely appalling coverage on the 100s of vulnerable children missing from Home Office hotels in Kent on @BBCr4today

Apparently we don’t need to worry because they’re not *proper* kids, they’re Albanian teenagers who have probably been “willingly trafficked”

What. The. Hell? pic.twitter.com/VeBmfJetxD

— Gemma Abbott (@gem_abbott) January 26, 2023

the voice of Mark Easton, BBC News Home Editor btw

fucking wanker

All these successful strikes are in the private sector because employers are shit scared of not being able to replace employees who may choose to leave.

― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.), Thursday, 26 January 2023 14:21 (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

iirc this is how the free market is supposed to work?

the fucking bbc current affairs division can't get much worse, man. I can't even stand Chuck D anymore after listening to his matey patter with Nick Robinson. I was asking god why didn't you make that gigantic boulder land on these two fucking blowhards instead of Flavor Flav. Especially when they were having a jolly old chortle together about the Gove rap.

Please tell me you are making this up!

Chuck D was on Today plugging his bbc "Fight The Power" doc. And sadly, it happened :(

and also a gigantic boulder did land on Flavor Flav!

Rebel Without a Pause for Thought

heh! that's correct

Politely Engage the Power in Constructive Debate

Blobby addendum:
Buyer backs out of £62,000 Mr Blobby suit purchase

i ticked the box for no publicity actually

Since our Industrial Relations Correspondent Comrade Alphabet isn't around, let me step into the breach.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64457843

Lol was about to post

solidarity with the more than half a million workers withdrawing their labour today in the UK!!

may we all know freedom from exploitation, oppression, racial and gendered divisions of labour, racist borders, police and prisons in our lifetimes 🙏❤️

— michael richmond (@Sisyphusa) February 1, 2023

The anti-strike bill also passed through the commons last night.

also hi Border Force you can go on strike forever

How we get to no borders, in one neart trick!

It's not often Kay Burley gets things right but, as she said on Sky this morning to this new Gen Sec of the TUC, the government approach is, "Strike all you like, you're not getting anything, so what do you do now?" These occasional one day strikes aren't really getting anywhere at the moment.

Sort of, a lot of strikes have gotten what I would say are around a 10% wage increase.

But teachers, nurses, RMT will have it really tough.

The private sector has been awarding much better settlements than the public sector afaict

And that could be bcz Tories have run out of steam/sort of given up after the implosion of the Truss govt.

If the polls were more favourable Tories might have negotiated but running public services down suits them.

xp indeed.

As I said upthread all of the settlements have been in the private sector, the only area where the government can play hardball is the public sector. They keep trotting out the mantra that high wage rises will cause more inflation, which they're trying (successfully they say) to bring down, I've not yet heard anyone say, "So when you've got inflation down can we expect to see big wage rises in the public sector then?"

I can imagine the response.

Haven't there been some settlements in the public sector. Like bin collectors, that kind of thing.

But yes the more high profile it is..

bin collectors are in the remit of local authorities, is the difference

of course even then it took industrial action to get Labour councils to settle

I wonder why there are such major recruitment problems and low staff morale in both state schools and the NHS, it's almost like when you cut billions off the budgets of public sector services it actually drains the life out of them! All other more *nuanced* takes on this subject from thinktanks are total bullshit. And I haven't seen a shred of evidence so far that this situation is going to get any better if the Tories get dumped.

be a boom time for parasitic PFI's though

can't see it improving, can see the meltier unions winding their necks in for Kieth

part of the "crisis" now feels like the result of a decade or more of not taking industrial action. another part is that a different Tory government would not be playing hardball like this one is. the difference there is a combination of intentional wrecking, as noted by xyzzz, and an especially fervent bunch of Randians at the controls

It's not as easy to go on strike as it once was and, of course, it's about to get a whole lot harder. Wrecking public services and destroying the unions, it's a win-win situation.

Guess the calculation here is Tories lose the election but get back in 10 years with not much being meaningfully changed.

Although I think it's more likely they are very run down. Colours do change from blue to red and vice-versa every decade or so etc.

i understand the tactical difficulties with strike action but imo it's not a big boast for union leadership when they point out that their members haven't had a real terms pay rise in 10+ years

OTM

Blair's tactic for remaining "Electable" was to keep coming up with increasingly right-wing policies, but now even the tories are under pressure to renationalise failing train companies and increase corporation tax, it's hard to think where Starmer can go when he has to actually make policy decisions. The social policies / culture wars front is not something he can outflank them on either. Only available avenue would seem to be old-fashioned authoritarianism, seems inevitable that he'll give that a go.

Even Corbyn tried that….

Everything about Kieth's record as DPP suggests he is gagging to try out some new ASBO on steroids legislation.

John McDonnell has joined NEU