Joined: Feb 27 2002 Posts: 18060 Location: On the road
Mild Rover wrote:It’s a long way away, and a lot will change between now and then.
The comparison your post begs, imo, is with Churchill and the Conservatives being voted out in 1945 and the creation of the welfare state and NHS by the Atlee-led Labour Government in a debt-burdened UK.
The Conservatives will have been in power (with inconsequential Lib Dem enablers for few years, admittedly, and then the DUP more recently) for 14 years by the time of the next election. They massively re-positioned themselves and ran against their own record and a labour leader very poorly suited to leadership last time. Personally I think they’ll need more than not screwing this up too badly and the post-Brexit situation merely being better than disasterous. On the other hand Labour needs to up its game massively.
All Labour will be able offer is more borrowing or much higher taxation - either way there is no other way of investing and growing the public sector?
Your job is to say to yourself on a job interview does the hiring manager likes me or not. If you aren't a particular manager's cup of tea, you haven't failed -- you've dodged a bullet.
When do we get to the stage where the long term economic impact of this virus actually causes more long term damage than the virus itself? I'm not an expert, so I'm happy to go with the recommendations for now, I'm just curious as to what the plan is beyond the current restrictions. If the advice is for the current restrictions to remain in place until a vaccine can be created then I don't see how we come back from this.
King Monkey wrote:Maybe a spell in prison would do Graham good.
Joined: May 25 2006 Posts: 8893 Location: Garth's Darkplace.
Charlie Sheen wrote:When do we get to the stage where the long term economic impact of this virus actually causes more long term damage than the virus itself? I'm not an expert, so I'm happy to go with the recommendations for now, I'm just curious as to what the plan is beyond the current restrictions. If the advice is for the current restrictions to remain in place until a vaccine can be created then I don't see how we come back from this.
Don't know, but this will probably save more lives than stopping covid-19.
Charlie Sheen wrote:When do we get to the stage where the long term economic impact of this virus actually causes more long term damage than the virus itself? I'm not an expert, so I'm happy to go with the recommendations for now, I'm just curious as to what the plan is beyond the current restrictions. If the advice is for the current restrictions to remain in place until a vaccine can be created then I don't see how we come back from this.
Don't know, but this will probably save more lives than stopping covid-19.
Joined: Feb 27 2002 Posts: 18060 Location: On the road
If the Tories don't get these support packages available soonest there really will be some very unhappy people. It is OK saying they will pay 80% but what is the mechanism - does the employer pay and claim back or does the government pay direct to the employee? The rumour is no monies until the end of April!!
Your job is to say to yourself on a job interview does the hiring manager likes me or not. If you aren't a particular manager's cup of tea, you haven't failed -- you've dodged a bullet.
People who have been put on universal credit get huge delays in receiving their payments, especially if they take short-term work and then the contract finishes, this has been an issue for a while. The DWP/HMRC systems aren't suddenly going to have become blue chip now this new scheme is around. Remember as well that HMRC will be down on workforce due to staff sickness, and also they have little spare capacity left from the projects to set the customs systems up for dealing with the end of the Brexit transition period: that deadline won't move, and if those aren't set up we really will have chaos in January.
The measures the government announced were all good ones and popular but the true test will be on the capacity of the state to administer it. There will be some Tory ministers now who wonder whether it was wise to have spent all these years slashing headcounts, outsourcing functions to dodgy private companies, and attacking the civil service as part of the "culture war".
The next 2 years at least as going to see this government face a number of very challenging problems for which they will be reliant on a super-effective government machine to deal with: first the virus, then the disruption that will come from the end of the transition. This could easily see the same or worse shortages in shops because if it's not super-smooth at the borders we'll have gridlocked roads, disruption to supply chains and we've already seen how vulnerable our supply chains are to panic buying when there isn't a supply shock. The additional bureaucracy to administer the extra trade costs will be huge and this hasn't sunk in to a lot of people. Business representative groups have been raising concerns with the government for a while but the ones who shouted the loudest got sidelined by government for not being positive enough about Brexit. Before Brexit happened, they could dismiss these business groups as Remoaners who wanted to overturn the result but the problems they raised will become reality next year.
After a while, people will become tired of living in perma-disruption. They will know the virus isn't the government's fault but if disruption continues next year after the end of the transition when the rest of the world is returning to normality they will be angry and their anger will be focused on the competence of the government. At first they might be able to divert blame to the civil service/EU but the question is, ok, how are you going to sort it out. Just culling a few Permanent Secretaries and appointing your own yes-men won't solve problems of this huge complexity, you really needed to invest in the government machine before. If they go on more culling of headcounts in the civil service it might cheer the base but it won't solve the problems and in the end it comes down to people expecting a level of competence from the government.
Boris probably thought once Brexit "got done" he could be throwing around all this extra money saved from not paying in to the EU to improve the NHS and do all his "levelling up" of the regions, and offer some tax cuts to keep middle England happy, whilst pointing at Starmer and saying this guy will lead us to having a second Scottish referendum! Instead he's going to be consumed with firefights. I bet with hindsight he would have not launched his leadership bid last summer. Would have been better to have sat this out as a personality carping from the sidelines at Hunt/Javid/Gove instead.
He could have been doing interviews now saying "of course we need to do something about the virus...but taking away the essential freedoms of our great citizens is not the way!"
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Last edited by sally cinnamon on Tue Mar 24, 2020 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Joined: May 25 2006 Posts: 8893 Location: Garth's Darkplace.
sally cinnamon wrote: There will be some Tory ministers now who wonder whether it was wise to have spent all these years slashing headcounts, outsourcing functions to dodgy private companies, and attacking the civil service as part of the "culture war".
I seriously doubt that.
"Well, I think in Rugby League if you head butt someone there's normally some repercusions"
seriously, since when has The One Show been 'part of daily life'
You did not read that article at all did you.
You are hilarious. I thought the other drivel you posted was serious. Now I know you are just a comedian . You really brighten up the forum with your posts please keep it up
seriously, since when has The One Show been 'part of daily life'
You did not read that article at all did you.
You are hilarious. I thought the other drivel you posted was serious. Now I know you are just a comedian . You really brighten up the forum with your posts please keep it up
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Huddersfield Giants 2014 under achievers ??????????
Durham Giant wrote:You did not read that article at all did you.
You are hilarious. I thought the other drivel you posted was serious. Now I know you are just a comedian . You really brighten up the forum with your posts please keep it up
Oh I read it all, all very rightepus and woke broadcasting, I am sure people are waiting, holding their breath, to see what smug self righteous stuff Packham comes out with and to watch the annoying Irish bloke 'interview' his fellow luvvies.
IR80 wrote:Oh I read it all, all very rightepus and woke broadcasting, I am sure people are waiting, holding their breath, to see what smug self righteous stuff Packham comes out with and to watch the annoying Irish bloke 'interview' his fellow luvvies.
Keep triggering the liberals and sticking it to the lefties. That's what it's all about.
"Back home we got a taxidermy man. He gonna have a heart attack when he see what I brung him."
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