The Poolie Bunker

Glad you agree. Perhaps you could help me with this conundrum. Rachel Reeves has recently stated she has got inflation down. She inherited inflation at exactly 2%, since when it has risen to 3.6%, where it is now. Apart from applying word twistery is inflation higher or lower now than when she took over which, I'm sure you will agree, is the correct way to look at it.
Inflation target self imposed by the B of E is 2%, so why are discussions currently focussing on rate cuts when it is nearly twice that.
Some say there is meddling going on in the form of Governmental pressure to reduce the rates to give the Government something to crow about, although presiding over inflation nearly twice as high as they inherited is hardly a recipe for crowing.
Care to comment.

Inflation up
Unemployment up
Growth down
National debt up
Business confidence down
Taxes up
Jamie's pension pot up - all's well with the world.

Not at all I am now paying £85 income tax a month on my pension pot, my State pension uses all and more of my tax allowances up.

Cheer up, things will likely get worse before this lotvare finished.

Mr Sunak called the election because he knew inflation was about to rise and the economy was flatlining. It was forecast and widely commented on in the press. Labour inherited a difficult situation and are trying to improve things.we have more doctors,teachers, better pension, an mis that is slowly improving, investment in the forces. Yes there are many problems and I guess there always will be.

This is not entirely due to the current government, the Tory government froze the threshold until 2026, its a back door way of saying governments are not increasing income tax.Reeves has now extended it to 2030/31, it’s a hidden tax increase.

Jamie, I’m in the same boat as you, they’re all a pain in the arse, out for our money, while blaming anyone but themselves, the Tory’s and Labour are a double act…add the Lib Dims lead by Postman Prat and we have the two and a half stooges of politics.

I’m convinced now that most politicians in Parliament were the geeks and nerds of their school and all went into politics at the same time…unfortunately for us.

As Churchill once said , and I paraphrase, 'Democracy is the worst type of political system , except for all the others'.

So you are now becoming worse off under this lot. You'll be paying more from next April. They say the state pension is a benefit, so why is it taxed. Can you check with your Lords and masters if they are planning to sort this fiasco.

Swerving are we????? Claiming she has got inflation down is a lie isn't it, nowhere near what she inherited whatever spin you put on it. I'm impressed you were privy to Sunak's musings over the election call. I'm wondering, with your answer, are you in politics. All Government is difficult but this lot seem to struggle with it more than usual. It's not surprising when the Chancellor can't see that moving from 2% to over 3.5% is an increase. Should somebody who can't master simple Arithmetic be in charge of the public purse. Prize candidate for the old Dunce's hat if you ask me.

Surely though the Labour Party backed the Tory move, proven by the fact that not only have they adopted the policy but have now extended it.
They claim to be sorting out the Tory mess they inherited and their method is increasing the perceived mess.

I can’t disagree Derwent.

Good lad, I'll keep you right.

Look at the above Party’s and think what would an ex KGB officer make of the Softy Walter’s running the country’s of Eorope and the impression they give to those on the outside.

The claim that Labour have improved teacher numbers is disputed, in fact Badenoch asked a specific question about it this week in Parliament, Starmer said he didn't know the number of teachers but it was more than under the Tory's. Badenoch then told him he was wrong and official figures show 400 fewer teachers. So who's right?
As for the pension increase, the Triple Lock is enshrined in law so Labour hardly delivered that and being honest giving us the Triple Lock then taking the WFA away wipes a lot of it out and for older State pensioners wipes even more away, together with extra taxes if you top up with a meagre private pension. Pensioners are worse off in real terms under Labour after 2 budgets.

The triple lock is a target for both the g Reform and the Tory party so it's fantastic it's been maintained by Labour. Teacher training numbers are up.

The Tory's committed to Triple Lock plus in their election manifesto protecting the Triple Lock and also protecting the State Pension from tax.
So teacher numbers aren't up then are they?

They are going up. I usually have my facts straight but fell just short on that one.

So they're not up, I didn't think Badenoch would be so stupid to ask that specific question if she wasn't sure of her facts.
Let's be honest, there's not much improved in daily life since the election is there?
I thing that I am in agreement with mind is bringing the railways back under state control shame they're not doing the same with utilities.

One school of thought is we are in terminal decline and only the Rich are ok. They've certainly done ok since 2014. Governments have less and less levers to pull and that's why people are pissed off and have been since 2008. Another viewpoint is 2/3rds of people are financially sound but their glass is half full. We've all been had over by social media in the last 12 years as well.

Agree entirely we are sleep walking into a dark world where we have no control.

I agree we’ve been in the doldrums since the crash of 2008, but both governments since then just seem to have had this casual ‘Oh well’ approach and seem out of touch with the dreaded South East obsession and are completely out of touch with industry and what people actually want…which is what’s causing the breakdown of the Tory and Labour Party’s..they’ve took the public for granted cand been found wanting….where it leads us no one knows, as even Reform aren’t guaranteed anything at this stage….. like the popular SDP collapse back in the 80’s…….we live in interesting times.
You never win anything slagging the opposition off, you prove you can cope.

The problem for Reform is that immigration is their real vote winner. Other policies just seen to be a rehash of austerity and that will mean more disaster for ordinary folk.

Illegal immigration is the wind up…..and the actions taken are so obviously not working it only adds to the frustration……the Party who can solve this conundrum gets the keys to number 10…the. Greeks solved it by forcing the boats back, ignoring the rules…trouble is we abide by every rule, but the rest of Europe pick n mix their actions….we really are fools in this country….one of the things I admire about the rest of Europe is their practicality..we lack it.

£130 to visit your GP..23 grand for a hip replacement..80 grand for a heart bypass.The price ordinary folk would pay under a reform government.....Are the labour party still spinning that nonsense??

Take a look at the personal histories of every member of the UK Cabinet and it tells you everything you need to know about why our country is going down the pan. None of them have done anything since finishing their education except Politics, a couple dabbled in Law with Starmer and Lammy doing well in that sphere. None of them have any experience in their respective areas of responsibility or to be brutal experience of the real world. They're all Fecking paper experts with their degrees in Politics, History, Law, and the like but none attended the university of real life. Ideologists the lot of them, but sadly none of them are capable of original thought or ideas, they're just following the mantra's of their similar ideological lecturers.
We absolutely need to have MPs with a connection to the real world of their constituents and the principles to serve them and not party.

Good point but that's a real issue for every party.

The price of privately funded healthcare is enormous so these kind of numbers are not far from the mark.
I used to work in the NHS and i have just looked up the cost of a bilateral hip replacement by Orthopaedic Innovation which is £22,000.

I'm not interested in what might happen with the Health Service if Reform win the election in 4 years time. What is happening right now is what's important and more strikes aren't helping. I've already been forced into taking up Private Dental service under the present 2 party system so general private healthcare is almost certainly going to happen with the NHS being a backstop for those who can't fund it themselves.

Anybody who dabbles with the NHS is wasting their time standing for office.
I don’t care too much about most points in politics but the NHS is my sacred cow.
I would appreciate it if foreign visitors need treatment and have insurance, we take advantage of it, other countries make us pay, so let’s do the same and pay it into the NHS.

Depends what you mean by immigration, channel crossings, allegedly there hasn’t been many reported recently, we then have people who apply for visas to work in the places there is a labour shortage which the U.K. require.
There is also the students who want to study in the U.K., universities are complaining they need students from abroad.
There are many aspects of immigration some the U.K. require the others we don’t, people who vote Reform need to realise stopping immigration is not the answer to all the economic woes of the U.K. although Farage is convincing the electorate it is.

What happens to my student visa if i apply for asylum in the UK...it's one of the most popular searches on Google,jamie.

No he's not! He's extremely critical of illegal immigration and we should all be in favour of stopping that.
There are far too many universities nowadays so instead of bleating about lack of overseas students to attend them why not close those that can't make ends meet by closing them? At the end of the day university degrees do not make the world go around, look at the bright sparks in government to verify that.
Starmer on the other hand is telling us that his measures on boat crossings are working and the deterrent of 1 in 1 out is making a huge difference when everyone knows it's not - over 700 welcomed yesterday FFS. And the worst of it is that they're free to roam even though we don't know their backgrounds or motives for being here. There needs to be a complete clampdown using Border Force as a barrier not a welcoming doormat, feck the ECHR let them enjoy their human rights in Calais.

was the ECHR set up for the situation we are having at present. might have been a necessity when it was introduced but needs modernising for the current situation. like the eu its needs changing and leaving anything is never the answer but change for the better is.

The danger is, and it is hovering in the background, is that people just shrug their shoulders and resign to the stance that because this current Government are struggling and are performing no better or even worse, than the last lot, despite all the hoo hah, promises of change etc etc., we meekly just accept it.
We deserve better and we should be demanding better. We are getting the mushroom treatment (to those who might raise their eyebrows and ask what is the mushroom treatment?) It is being kept in the dark and fed on bullshit.
We should all collectively demand a better deal whether we voted for them or not.
We're going backwards.

its hard to imagine even lifelong labour supporters who are not part of there left wing either being happy with the current situation

Very good summary Derwent, it’s been like that for years, the ‘I am alright Jack’ attitude which the majority are, Badenoch is now saying the Conservatives won’t ban petrol cars which could be a vote winner, is it too late though as many car manufacturers are gearing up for electric car production ?

Correct me if I am the wrong but the ECHR was adopted by the U.K. in 1951, who at the time would have forecast all conflict in the world we have now, it certainly requires some changes.

The only refugees when ECHR was formed in 1951 was European refugees after WW2 and nothing else, caused by the Russians not being the sort of people you’d want running your country under Stalin if you lived in Eastern Europe.When we were kids one near neighbour was ex Polish Air Force and another was Hungarian who never went back .
The ECHR was never meant for this sort of thing, but the Darling Lawyers and gormless other worldly officials and Wet politicians seem welded to it.

I would like to make an observation on the rise of Reform. They have done phenomenally well of late and they probably didn't expect to come so far so soon. Some would hail it as a success story and it is. However it is also the story of failure. The failure of the "two main parties" to deliver what the electorate want. The Tories got a good hiding at the General Election. Labour got elected with a huge majority but their vote didn't significantly go up. This should have been a warning that a large part of the electorate weren't fully convinced and they still had work to do. After almost eighteen months they too have plummeted to the depths and are languishing in the Polls as well as losing election after election and are dreading the arrival of the May elections.
My humble opinion is the two so called main parties are focussing on the wrong priority when it comes to defeating Reform.
The Tories have got to convince their hard core support (as was) to give them another chance and Labour have the massive task of reconvincing their support to hold it's nerve. They have got to stop blaming everybody and everything and deliver the change they spouted long and often or they too will join the Tories on the scrap heap, leaving the door wide open for Reform, and stop misrepresenting the facts.
I have an open mind on Reform, unlike the hysterical group who are digging anywhere and everywhere to discredit them.
What is their manifesto going to look like for a start. That is a wait and see. Rumours, briefings and stories of Farage's childhood antics mean nothing to me. I live in the here and now and they can't be judged on governmental performance like the other two can. Unless the other two get their acts together we'll soon find out.
Parliament is like a huge bubblegum bubble at the moment. We can't see in and they can't see out. Listen to the people, Listen to the Job creators. Just listen would be a healthy start. If, of course, it isn't already too late.

You've hit the nail on the head, if the Labour government had a grip on things and were improving our lives and the country in general, if they listened to and acted on the interests of our citizens then Reform would hardly be relevant.
Instead of scraping the barrel trying to discredit senior figures in a minority party, concentrate on delivering the manifesto you were mandated to do and you'll win the next election regardless of any rhetoric from a party with a handful of MPs.

Very well put together Derwent.