Thursday 12th January 2023

[refitman]

Morning all.

[gilsey]

Good morning.


from the G

Sadiq Khan condemns Brexit 'amnesia' and calls for 'pragmatic debate' about case for rejoining single market.............

tonight Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, is going to step into this argument in a speech at the Mansion House in London, some extracts from which have been released in advance. London voted remain, and so, unlike Starmer, can speak out on this without worrying about alienating his electoral base............

Khan will call for a “pragmatic debate” about the case for rejoining the single market and the customs union. Starmer has firmly rejected both these options. But Khan will say:
After two years of denial and avoidance, we must now confront the hard truth: Brexit isn’t working.

It’s weakened our economy, fractured our union and diminished our reputation. But, crucially, not beyond repair.

We need greater alignment with our European neighbours – a shift from this extreme, hard Brexit we have now to a workable version that serves our economy and people.

That includes having a pragmatic debate about the benefits of being a part of the customs union and the single market.

Light the blue touchpaper and stand well back.

[frog222]

Good morning. from the G
Light the blue touchpaper and stand well back.

Here is a graph from the What UK Thinks website showing what has happened to the polling since 2016 on the question was Britain right or wrong to leave. The green line represents wrong.



https://www.theguardian.com/politics/li ... da3e65d248
Oh dear !

" Rishi Sunak voted for Brexit not primarily because he wanted to end free movement, a logical reason for voting leave, but because he thought Brexit would in time be good for trade and economic growth, which is increasingly looking like a colossal misjudgment. It is obvious why he is keen to avoid the subject. "

[AnatolyKasparov]

Light the blue touchpaper and stand well back.

Using outriders is something the Tories have been very skilled at over the years.

In contrast, the traditional Labour attitude has been that everything has to be done by The Leader (and this is true regardless of faction)

If the above is a sign of that starting to change, then good.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

I see Jonathan Ashworth is accusing the Tories of stealing his ideas after his speech to a right wing think tank.

In fact if you read the article the government's plans are apparently far more ambitious than anything Labour are offering.

People could return to work but keep claiming sickness benefits

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/9143 ... f42ee8ed01

(No paywall).

A health and disability white paper due before the spring budget will recommend reforming or scrapping the “work capability assessment” system used to assess eligibility for benefits, as Stride pushes for “ambitious and extensive” reforms. Ministers want to remove what is described as a “perverse incentive to prove how sick you are” and replace it with a system that encourages claimants to show what work they might be capable of taking.

This is long overdue, and while it's entirely possible the Tories will find a way to make things worse, at least somebody is finally accepting the system as it is needs to be changed. Of course I'd much rather it was a Labour government making those changes (despite them being responsible for creating the system in the first place), but since Starmer became leader we haven't heard a peep about reforming the Work Capability Assessment. All Ashworth was offering was a less onerous route back into work, but for those not working the assessments and 'conditionality' would have continued as before.

What's galling is despite years of complaints about the manifest flaws and outright cruelty of the assessment system it's not the suffering of the sick and disabled that's spurred the Tories and Labour into action. It's a labour shortage. Although given the fact that about 70% of those who've passed the WCA are deemed unfit for any work at all it's hard to see how they think any reforms will make a genuine dent in the problem unless they're going to force employers to take on people with complex physical and mental health problems.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

I see the NASUWT has failed to reach the 50% turnout in its ballot for strike action. My brother will be spitting feathers.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Well, let's see what the Tories actually come out with first.

You surely haven't failed to notice that another idea they are floating is the truly bats*** insane "remove over-50s from income tax" thing.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

It looks like they're talking about raising the tax threshold for over fifties for a limited length of time if they go back into work rather than exempting them from income tax altogether

And yes let's see what they come up with, as I said they could make things worse, but there are laws prohibiting them from simply forcing sick and disabled people back into work, in fact just last year the DWP had to accept a legally binding agreement with the EHRC or face legal action over its treatment of claimants with mental health problems. They can't simply wield a bigger stick or they'll find themselves tied up in the courts for years.


Edited because I forgot what year it was.

[frog222]

Twitter has been enjoying the "reduce tax to return to working " wheeze -

Take a sabbatical (Shhh)

Return to work (£££'s !)

[frog222]

THE ENEMY WITHIN

[refitman]

[AnatolyKasparov]

He doesn't actually know that some of the unions aren't even affiliated to Labour, does he?

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Back despite a total lack of demand it's the first QT review of the year!

Tonight QT came from Birmingham, a place recently described by a Tory activist as 'a dump'.

For the Conservatives we had Alex Chalk. If anyone wants to see a consummate performance in brown nosing your boss they should check out Alex's effort this evening. With the enthusiasm of a loyal puppy Alex made it clear that everything Rishi Sunak says is absolutely brilliant and the best thing anyone has ever said in the whole history of people saying things. He was very polite and courteous for the most part but came across as if he'd been brainwashed by a cult. Maybe it was his peculiarly fixed expression or the fact that he seemed completely oblivious to external stimuli but I found him distinctly creepy. One can only hope that when he sits on the floor next to Sunak's chair and gets a pat on the head his little tail wags and he maybe even gets to lick Rishi's hand.

For Labour we had Bridget 'beep boop' Phillipson who has done her best robot impersonation every time she's been on QT, but what's this? There's been a change! Bridget has decided she's human and was all the better for it (not that I have anything against robots). In an almost unprecedented transformation Bridget displayed passion, emotion and at one stage even indulged in an attempt at humour. There are two possibilities here. Either Bridget is a human who has overcome her robotic tendencies, or she's a robot which has become sentient and is now capable of successfully passing itself off as a human. Let's hope it's the former because otherwise we're in trouble.

For Remainers we had Anna Soubry. Anna's always been a bit pompous and despite agreeing with most of what she said tonight I still think it would be fair to describe her as a self important windbag. Probably the most important exchange she had was with Fiona Bruce when she was asked why she was ever a Tory in the first place given the slagging she was giving the current government. Her answer was that the Tories were no longer a traditional Conservative party and had been taken over by loony right wing ideologues as a result of brexit. Which I think we can all agree is an accurate description of the current state of play.

For the lefty online media we had Ash Sarkar. I like Ash but for whatever reason she wasn't on form tonight. Despite sitting next to a Tory puppy she never really landed a blow. Not that I'm suggesting hitting puppies is acceptable even if they are conservative I'm just saying she was curiously sub par.

For elaborately coiffured dilettantes we had Tim Stanley. I've been reading Tim in the Telegraph for a while now and if there's one thing that annoys me it's people writing about politics but only offering glib, smug, intellectually vacuous garbage. It should be banned.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Must admit that I am warming a bit to Phillipson. She comes across as serious (in the best sense of that word) whilst Streeting - who turns 40 next week - is still basically a student politician who hasn't grown up yet.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

I can't exaggerate the change in her demeanour, it was as if she'd been freed from some kind of captivity.

Logically I can only assume what's happening is Starmer, inspired by a lot of second rate Scandi Noir, is holding his female MPs in various concrete basements and Bridget has escaped.

Fortunately a determined female police officer is on the case despite having their own problems that will stretch things out for at least 8 episodes.