Thursday 6th March 2025

[refitman]

Morning all.

[Frog222]

Moaning

[Frog222]

The original JD --



That's like Jenrick having a change of heart and becoming progressive --

[Frog222]

Pushback !

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Back by no popular demand whatsoever QT review returns this evening.

[refitman]

[Sky'sGoneOut]

It's incredible really, just to be clear Labour are now either flat out lying or cynically manipulating what little truth they're prepared to offer.

As I've previously mentioned, little over a month ago the Public Accounts Committee produced this report -

https://committees.parliament.uk/commit ... ents-rise/

In which it states:

The report finds that benefit claimants received over £4bn less than they were entitled to in 2023-24. This increases the risk of financial hardship for the people losing out. This figure of underpayments has risen from £3.5bn in 2022-23. Underpayment rates are highest for disability benefits, such as Personal Independent Payment (PIP) and Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

Any mention of that from Reeves or her flunkies? Or the fact that overpayments are overwhelmingly due to the DWP's own errors? My Dad's currently having to pay back £5 grand due to them fucking up and paying him my Mum's Attendance Allowance when they shouldn't have been.

And as for them repeatedly claiming without evidence that 'the benefits bill is out of control', here's the truth using the OBR's own figures.



They're creating a narrative using half truths, blatant falsehoods, and cherry picked statistics. After a recent survey of disability/sickness benefit claimants they trumpeted that it showed 200,000 wanted to get back into work. What they didn't mention was using their own figures that represented only 5% of the respondents. It was an utterly cynical misrepresentation of the data that Iain Duncan Smith would have been proud of.

Make no mistake, what Labour are about to do to the sick and disabled is not some sad duty they being forced to perform out of necessity, it's something they want to do, it's entirely deliberate, and they're lying about their reasons for it.

[AnatolyKasparov]

Again, let's wait and see what they *actually* do shall we. We had this sort of blood-curdling speculation ahead of last year's budget as well.

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Again, let's wait and see what they *actually* do shall we. We had this sort of blood-curdling speculation ahead of last year's budget as well.

Need I remind you they were only stopped from going ahead with the Tory cuts and reforms because a disability campaigner took them to the high court? If Labour had won that case they had every intention of implementing those Conservative plans without consultation at the end of this month. That's not speculation, Reeves said as much herself and it was the only feasible reason for them continuing with the court case.

Let me ask you AK, if their intentions are noble why do you think they're openly lying about the level of social security spending? Why do they feel the need to misrepresent their own statistics? Why push a false narrative that benefit fraud is rife when all the evidence says otherwise? Why repeat dangerous right wing tropes about disabled people 'taking the mickey'? Please do tell me because I'd love to know.

[AnatolyKasparov]

In other news, looks like Trump might be "delaying" his tariffs again.

[Frog222]

In other news, looks like Trump might be "delaying" his tariffs again.

But only if you are bigly nice to him like President Sheinbaum

" The abrupt reversal and reprieve for Mexico raised immediate questions about the future of the Trump administration’s tariffs on Canada. Trump pointedly attacked Justin Trudeau, his Canadian counterpart, shortly before announcing the temporary exemption for Mexican exports. "

Regime change time !

[Frog222]

Also those "two opposition leaders" are both way behind the general --

[refitman]

[Sky'sGoneOut]

Question Time came tonight from Skipton. My Dad visited Skipton years ago with my Mum and when I asked if they'd enjoyed it he said no because there was nothing there apart from a big Tesco. Somehow he managed to miss a bloody great castle and its adjoining fabulous woodlands. Dumbass.

https://skipton.woodlandtrust.org.uk/

Before getting on to the panelists I just thought I'd mention Fiona Bruce received the loudest cheer of the evening when she told Richard Tice if he didn't shut up she was going to gag him.

For Labour we had Bridget Phillipson. Bridget is slowly getting better at this sort of thing, I mean yeah she still mostly comes across like a morose robot, but at least now it's one that's attempting to imitate basic human emotions. Perhaps Starmer's obsession with AI is actually about finding a cure for Bridget, I'm sure we'd all like to see her smile and laugh even if it costs billions and she eventually tries to wipe out humanity. This evening however she was on her best behaviour bigging up Starmer's diplomatic efforts as you would expect, rightly attacking Farage for his quisling ways, defending her governments economic policies. Even telling the sick and disabled they had nothing to worry about because cutting billions from their benefits was actually good for them and would help them into work (go fuck yourself Bridget). I did laugh though when a lady in the audience asked why new build housing wasn't required to have solar panels. Bridget said it was great idea and we should definitely be doing that when her own government watered down their legislation after pressure from housebuilders making solar panels merely optional. Perhaps Bridget needs a trip to IT to check her memory circuits.

For the Tories we had Harriett Baldwin. To be honest I know next to nothing about Harriett but on this evening's evidence she seemed mostly harmless. Yeah there was the usual bollocks about wealth creators this and lower taxes that as if we hadn't been trying all that for the last 14 years, but she seemed relatively sane compared to some of he colleagues and made it perfectly clear where her allegiances lay when it came to Ukraine.

For Reform we had Richard Tice. I have a feeling Richard thought he was having a pretty good outing this evening. There were a handful of (I presume) Reform supporters in the audience clapping everything he said which I assume is what emboldened him to behave like a total prick talking over everyone resulting in Bruce threatening to gag him after multiple warnings much to the rest of the audience's amusement. In other highlights Richard attempted to play down the effects human activity has had on climate change (but not completely deny them as he did a couple of weeks ago), and claimed Reform's economic policies would transform all our finances for the better despite having it pointed out to him that at the last election the IFS had described their policies as 'a complete fantasy'. It strikes me as bizarre that a party that is purportedly anti immigration would say, as Richard did this evening, that the 'smart' thing to do is to adapt to climate change when if things carry on as they are the entire equatorial region of this planet will become uninhabitable for humans. Where does he think those people are going to go? Fuckwit.

For the Greens we had Adrian Ramsey. Adrian had a good start on Ukraine given he was more free to say what he thought about Trump than robot Bridget, and when it came to the economy his call to tax the wealthy got a lot of applause. But then he allowed himself to be talked over by the twat mentioned above then sat quietly while said twat spouted a load of fossil fuel sponsored propaganda without raising a single objection. Not good enough. Bring back Caroline Lucas.

[Frog222]

Sky-- thanks for that. A public service !

[Sky'sGoneOut]

https://www.independent.co.uk/tv/news/b ... 10565.html

BBC Question Time’s Fiona Bruce threatens to ‘gag’ Reform MP Richard Tice in heated debate