“I take my responsibilities seriously. I did not lie” - UK politics June 23 on

I've only just caught up with the vile Sunak speech this morning, it's the same sinister PaThWaYs into work death messaging that is coming from Starmer + Reeves. Neither of them would lose any sleep if their policies were directly responsible for a 100000+ deaths, just as Gideon didn't lose any sleep during the 2010's wave of governmental manslaughter. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities doesn't mean shit in this country and both main parties are happy to run roughshod over it. It's a diabolical situation.

the two largest political parties locked in competition to prove who can murder the most people pretty much sums up the UK today

mayoral election leaflet is an interesting read.

abolish ulez, end ulez, scrap ulez, scrap ulez, scrap the disaster policy ulez, abolish ulez...

It's good and right to be angry at Starmer, but it's always worth remembering that Sunak is a gold-plated management cunt.

Blaming the rise in the numbers off work with long-term illness — an eye-watering total of 2.8 million — on the “over-medicalization” of “everyday challenges and worries of life,” he’ll point to figures showing more than half of those claiming incapacity benefits are off with the mental health conditions depression, anxiety and bad nerves.

As part of the reforms, doctors will no longer have the power to issue fit notes willy-nilly, with more advice and support given to patients on how to get back to work. The government is considering stripping doctors of the authority to issue fit notes altogether and handing this power to “specialist work and health professionals.”

Sunak will say: “I will never dismiss or downplay the illnesses people have,” adding that it is a sign of progress that people can talk openly about mental health conditions.” But, he’ll add: “Just as it would be wrong to dismiss this growing trend, so it would be wrong merely to sit back and accept it because it’s too hard or too controversial or for fear of causing offense.”

we all know those “specialist work and health professionals” are going to be people with minimum qualifications and quotas to meet ala ATOS and their disastrous fit to work tests. taking great delight in how ATOS are faring these days btw, fuck them for pushing me into full on poverty for 14 months.

at least Sunak ran his leadership campaign in character as a snivelling little tory billionaire, Starmer ran with Economic/Social Justice and the abolition of Universal Credit on his banner. To me that makes him more despicable than even t'other little twerp.

i remember when those evil Tories brought in the whole ATOS regime in 2008

anyway it's spectacularly honest to keep making speeches saying "there's too many people off work with bad mental health, btw we will not be doing anything about the current state of mental health services"

xp

tbf "evil Tory" is a fair description of Yvette Cooper

The same Yvette Cooper who needed incapacity benefit when she suffered from ME in the early ‘90s, so she had a brass neck taking it away or making claims more difficult from those who are similarly afflicted.

I’ve resolved that if anyone brings up the king’s bum cancer to me, or whatever type of cancer Kate has (probably bum cancer) I will say that it is unfortunate that they have become economically inactive and hopefully they can be forced into work asap

pic.twitter.com/OnXEm5egXv

— ian mighty (@iammightor) April 21, 2024

No surprise there.

PGMOL to oversee the Diane Abbott "investigation", sorry Trots she's off by a toenail

donaldson case sounds very grim

(xp) Translation?

Botswana declined request to host UK migrants. Minister of Foreign Affairs says "The British government doesn’t want these people in their country so they want to ferry them in a faraway country."

— African News feed. (@africansinnews) April 24, 2024

Labour has voted with the Tories to weaken Ofwat's ability to fine water companies for sewage pollution - https://t.co/jTIQ2dkgIx

— Helena Horton (@horton_official) April 24, 2024

Labour MPs voted with the government, and it is understood this is because they did not want to be accused of being “anti-growth”

somebody should tell them that when it comes to toxic bacteria growth is bad not good

Vote labour: same shit in a different glass

if only there was a UK party with water, energy, postal services and broadband into public ownership all to be brought into public ownership in their manifesto, they'd piss the next GE!

scuse the typing just had a strong Baileys coffee and brain already gone

lol, the only UK party calling for publicly owned water has 1 MP in Westminster. That's some real pressure on the Labour/Tory duopoly on shit. Oh sorry the Lib Dems are calling for "stronger regulation" lol!

Why dream small when you can copy the existing Tory plan for nationalising some of the railways?

Lol

Wonder if Thames Water will collapse before the election.

Fingers crossed.

"A tough day for the UK: we say goodbye to Robert Peston"

very funny headline i'm repeatedly being served on almost all platforms right now -- not least bcz it links to a faked-up BBC webpage and a fully false story (that the bank of england is suing peston for spilling the beans on-air, about how rich people use one neat trick get rich) (which bankers for some reason hate)

Good luck Robert Peston

That is a really sad day for the UK!

If you see a "We say goodbye to Robert Peston" @peston advert on @facebook with something that looks like BBC news please be aware it is a FAKE and may contain malware that might do your computer damage. See the URL in the screenshot. It is NOT the BBC News website. DON'T click pic.twitter.com/o3qdA68jR0

— Tony Brett (he/him) (@tonybrett) January 17, 2024

Robert Peston's been doing my brain damage for years so this seems apt.

the exclamation marks are a bit of a dead giveaway.

the malware is us

!

I'd like to be rich and put one over on those bankers tho

there was a weird spate of "RIP Peston" fake stories a few months ago.. did not realise pesto was such irrestistible spam bait

the people of this great nation are united in their desire to see robert peston dead

Peston as the man with the Truth being chased down by sinister govt agents in a 70's conspiracy thriller

The Mackintosh Prat

So. Farewell Pesto
You were constantly baffled by flagrant corruption and lying
"What can this mean?" you pondered
Some may accuse you of
performative stupidity
But I
liked you

E.J. Thribb (17½)

Robert Peston put his vest on
Lights! Wanker! Action!

I don’t think I’ve ever uncringe from this. Always remember that some of the thickest fuckers on this planet achieve high status and great power simply from the confidence and contacts that a privileged upbringing gives them pic.twitter.com/LNU9ThekCH

— Nooruddean (@BeardedGenius) April 26, 2024

Nothing but burning large parts of this country will do tbh

It's an indictment that this guy is in a job at all after Mick Lynch comprehensively humiliated him that time on Newsnight or Preston or wherever.

Peston Knob End

alright cheers

Var check complete, zing stands

Good piece.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/26/cost-of-living-crisis-uk-prices

Though this bit is hilarious.

"The government sometimes encourages this misunderstanding. Last July, Rishi Sunak told the radio station LBC: “If we bring inflation down, people will have more money to spend.” For a former chancellor, someone supposed to understand the economy better than almost anyone, it seemed a weirdly over-optimistic prediction."

Bet you anything Sunak is a thick fucker and doesn't actually get it.

There are many things that people don't WANT to understand, obv

Talking about not understanding, can anyone explain what on earth is happening in the Scottish government?

Reading about this. Regan is a transphobe so Yousaf either gets back in with the Greens or chooses this wreck

"How do the numbers stack up?

The SNP have 63 MSPs who can presumably be counted on to support Yousaf and vote against the motion.

The Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems and Greens have 64 MSPs between them who are expected to back the motion.

That would leave Alba's sole MSP Ash Regan with the power to determine the outcome. In such a scenario, if she voted against Yousaf, he would lose 65-63. But if she supported Yousaf, the result would be 64-64, and in the event of a tie the presiding officer casts a deciding vote, which by tradition is always for the status quo - meaning the first minister would win the confidence vote."

Thanks. So what is the cause of this? is it disagreement over the hate crime bill? Or is it about the reneging of the net zero target?