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

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

Every day a new low. Every single day!

Keir Starmer's spokesman says that Labour MP Kim Johnson's description of Israel's government as "fascist" at #pmqs was "completely unacceptable" and the Labour chief whip will be demanding she withdraw her comments.

— Adam Bienkov (@AdamBienkov) February 1, 2023

Views of the strikes from BBC today pic.twitter.com/GtUnUVBuM5

— Saoirse Wilson (@saoirsewilson) February 1, 2023

John McDonnell has joined NEU

If anyone can replace Klaus Dinger it's John McDonnell.

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

I don't think Gary McKinnon or his mother will be voting for Labour, that much is certain.

the Labour right don't cosplay authoritarianism for votes, they are naturally authoritarian, in keeping with their whole managerial ethos

also to be noted that if he's not outflanking the fascists on the culture war front, Kieth is certainly making a good fist of keeping up with them

Kieth's grovelling self-abasement to US officials while DPP, that wasn't cosplay either - it's his natural instinct at work.

Fuck this party!

Kim Johnson has apologised in the Chamber

She said she was 'wrong to use the term 'fascist'' and this was 'insensitive given the history of the state of Israel'.

She added there were 'far-right elements in the gov', using the term 'in this context was wrong' https://t.co/Q6VWaR9d6W

— Chloe Chaplain (@ChaplainChloe) February 1, 2023

Just for the record, this current member of the Israeli government calls himself a fascist.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-01-16/ty-article/.premium/israels-far-right-finance-minister-im-a-fascist-homophobe-but-i-wont-stone-gays/00000185-b921-de59-a98f-ff7f47c70000

https://images-cdn.9gag.com/photo/ab6X3XB_700b.jpg

this is not a fascist!

Brazilian flag…probably lives in Miami

this is not a fascist!

― calzino, Wednesday, 1 February 2023 bookmarkflaglink

Is that from the Lab chief whip?

who better to school people on "what is fascism" than the chief whip from the devoutly antiracist Labour Party, yes lol!

Starmer wouldn't even publicly endorse a Dem candidate running against one of the most openly fascist US presidents since Nixon. What a party!

We have a bizarre situation developing in my workplace where members of Prospect, who are pretty much all managers and middle managers, have voted overwhelmingly to go on strike, whereas the PCS (the proles union) ballot failed to pass the government threshold for participation - by seven people. So the managers will be out on strike and the workers still working!

Lol!

that sounds like a rum do.

The almost instantaneous wisecrack on hearing the news was "Will anyone notice?".

the big management classes squeeze: had to cancel the planned few days in the Algarve this half term and downscale it to the Lake District... rough times

Starmer wouldn't even publicly endorse a Dem candidate running against one of the most openly fascist US presidents since Nixon. What a party!

is the lake district nice, everyone seems excited about it in Pride & Prejudice

they are right to be excited and they should say so

it became super fashionable not long before P&P was written, prior to the Romantics i think it was treated like Mordor in the popular imagination

I'd love to go there, it's beautiful. But you need to win the lottery or murder somebody to be able to afford a train ticket these days, or possibly some things haven't changed since the 1800s. Haven't checked if they have started pumping raw sewage into Windemere yet

had one of the most English moments I've ever experienced at the Lake District: woman running the inn gave us instructions for a wandering path, mentioned her daughter used to take it to meet a classmate, then witsfully mused "took her half an hour, but it's probably longer... if you don't have a friend waiting for you on the other side".

🥹