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

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".

🥹

Cop country.

Last month I worked undercover with debt collectors breaking into homes of vulnerable families for British Gas

We were sent to force-fit prepayment meters at homes including one where a mum was with her 4 week old baby.

If families cannot top up, their heating can be cut off

— Paul Morgan-Bentley (@pmorganbentley) February 1, 2023

recently my British Gas monthly dd wasn't showing up in the forthcoming payments on my online banking. I couldn't log in my BG account. Phoned them and got a load of bollox about how my acct had been moved into their new online system and luckily it was exactly 2 weeks until the monthly dd would take to clear with the bank so it would just carry on as per normal. I'm cynical enough to think that it was all a ruse to deliberately cause me to fall behind on payments, as to try and force a pre-payment meter on me. Cunts.

can't wait for the next Labour gov to ban pre-payment meters

Don’t get a smart meter because they can remotely reassign them to prepayment without your consent.

when you get cold-called about changing to a smart meter, whilst telling you the multiple energy consumption awareness benefits of them - they don't mention how it gives them the capability of remotely cutting you off. Without you even at least getting the satisfaction of turning the front of your house into a "last of us" style death fortress and threatening to set your dog on trespassers who manage to get through the barbed wire when they demand access to your meter!

I only found out about the smart meter/prepay switch potential recently - before, my objection was that friends with smart meters had received ridiculous bills in error. Also, a part of me enjoys ignoring the histrionics of the EDF billing department chasing its £35 - if someone actually phones, I’m gonna vacantly say ‘your bill is important to us, but due to a high volume of bills at this time, hold times may be longer than usual…’

oh, new government department for energy security and net-zero announced this morning.

12:15, new crytpo-pound likely

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-64536593

I saw yesterday that rail return tickets are to be abolished.

Sounded like one of the most bonkers ideas in a long time, if not as actually evil as much of what the UK government does.

i haven't read the detail of the rail ticket thing yet but saw it mentioned the other day. tbf, when i buy tickets thru Trainline it's been as "cheapest available singles" in both directions for a long time now

Mmmm, and the guarantee is the price of two singles will not exceed the current price of the return ticket, adjusted for inflation, so sit back in comfort and watch those cheaper options dwindle. (Not to say the current pricing system isn't absurdly complicated but this doesn't seem like the best fix unless the objective is to price more people out of taking trains.)

actually you've just made the most obvious point i missed - this will make an already Byzantine system even less transparent

it also presumably creates value for companies like Trainline because a specialist app is your best chance of finding the cheapest tickets

i haven't read the detail of the rail ticket thing yet but saw it mentioned the other day. tbf, when i buy tickets thru Trainline it's been as "cheapest available singles" in both directions for a long time now

Yes, who buys returns anymore for anything other than a short journey? Who can afford it? Travelling to and from Scotland from London for 20 years I think I know all the money saving ruses - basically change at Crewe as you can usually get single tickets to and from London for £9. I imagine that'll be bumped up once this new scheme is introduced.