More Tory lies

[Dawnrazor]

2 minutes ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

It's cool bro.. there was plenty pits that were still viable,some did require closing,I don't dispute that. One example,the Tories wanted ravenscraig shut,so they made sure the main pit supplier of coking coal was flooded, despite installation of a multi million pound pump😳 The miners stood up for the working class, crush the miners and you can ride roughshod over the rest,and boy did the Tories know this,and have done since😞 They started stockpiling coal years before the strike. Buying heavily subsidised coal from abroad. The bonus scheme introduced late 70s by labour was a contributing factor that split the NUM. 

I was from a mining community and was in second year at high school, Lasswade, when the strike was on, truly horrible times, there was a big percentage of kids at Lasswade at time who's Dad's were miners.

[henrysmithsgloves]

15 minutes ago, Dawnrazor said:

I was from a mining community and was in second year at high school, Lasswade, when the strike was on, truly horrible times, there was a big percentage of kids at Lasswade at time who's Dad's were miners.

The bright side of my auld man getting made redundant was he got precious time to spend with my mam before cancer got her. Most of the miners that got made redundant were incorrectly taxed on their payments , luckily one of my dad's mates from the pits,got out early and became a financial advisor noticed it. Got my dad a fair whack returned from HMRC . The returns made from the NUM pension scheme make a fortune now for the government,a lot more than was paid in redundancy,not a lot of people know that😳 so in a way still making money from the pits, city of London and the Tory profiteering 🤬

[Victorian]

https://news.sky.com/story/thames-water-shareholders-blame-ofwat-as-they-pull-funding-13103112

 

And there it is.  The major shareholders of Thames Water refuse to reinvest in it because there's not enough of a grift to be had.  They've had all of the asset stripping share dividends over years.  The business is insolvent.  No money for infrastructure.  Shareholders not interested.  

 

Pension funds and Chinese wealth funds have had theirs.  Taxpayers and bill payers will deal with the aftermath.

 

 

[manaliveits105]

It's started the mere hint of a labour government and investors start to bolt 

[Footballfirst]

15 minutes ago, Victorian said:

https://news.sky.com/story/thames-water-shareholders-blame-ofwat-as-they-pull-funding-13103112

 

And there it is.  The major shareholders of Thames Water refuse to reinvest in it because there's not enough of a grift to be had.  They've had all of the asset stripping share dividends over years.  The business is insolvent.  No money for infrastructure.  Shareholders not interested.  

 

Pension funds and Chinese wealth funds have had theirs.  Taxpayers and bill payers will deal with the aftermath.

It's actually worse than that. The company has borrowed £14bn in order to finance their spending, interest payments and dividends.  

 

They also want to increase bills by 8% each year for the next 5 years. A licence to print money while taking no responsibility for the state of the company, or indeed the infrastructure.

 

That's what privatisation buys you. 

[Footballfirst]

5 minutes ago, manaliveits105 said:

It's started the mere hint of a labour government and investors start to bolt 

Yes. They know that the gravy train is about to be derailed.

[Victorian]

5 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

It's actually worse than that. The company has borrowed £14bn in order to finance their spending, interest payments and dividends.  

 

They also want to increase bills by 8% each year for the next 5 years. A licence to print money while taking no responsibility for the state of the company, or indeed the infrastructure.

 

That's what privatisation buys you. 

 

It's an oligarchy,  nothing less.  These are absolute monopolies with a captive market.  

 

The shareholders want these bill increases,  as well as the removal of regulations (lol) and sanctioning powers (lol).  

 

Borrowing money for the purpose of dividend payments is about the most corrupt and criminal commercial behaviour you can get.  Thames now seems to be content to have a stand-off with Ofwat and the government.  Allow the new grift or the business collapses.  The only thing that can be met with is immediate nationalisation.  One way or another,  taxpayers and bill payers are going to be hit.  Might as well make sure the current shareholders don't get any more benefit.

 

 

[Victorian]

The ultimate ownership / shareholding of these companies should eventually fall to an arms length national wealth fund.  With meaningful regulation on corporate decision making.  Unregulated private corporate predation in a monopolised marketplace is just another wealth stripping drain on society.

[Lone Striker]

45 minutes ago, manaliveits105 said:

It's started the mere hint of a labour government and investors start to bolt 

"investors",   aye ?     Perhaps you can explain what these Thames Water investors did to prevent the  River Thames becoming a toilet - while  gladly pocketing absurd dividends and  supporting a reduction in infrastructure projects prior to the Tideway Tunnel being started.

 

 

This is from 9 months ago -

 

In charts: how privatisation drained Thames Water’s coffers

Decades of underinvestment and bumper dividends have left the firm debt-laden and under investigation

 

 

Sandra Laville, Anna Leach and Carmen Aguilar García

Fri 30 Jun 2023 06.00 BST

Share

 

 

In a little over three decades, Thames Water, the biggest water and sewerage company in England, serving 15 million people, has transformed from a debt-free public utility into what critics argue is a privately owned investment vehicle carrying the highest debt in the industry.

Over those years – as admitted by Sarah Bentley, the firm’s departing CEO – its executives and the shareholders and private equity companies who own it have presided over decades of underinvestment, aggressive cost-cutting and huge dividend payments.

 

The symptom of these decades can be seen in the scale of sewage discharges, the record leaks from its pipes and the state of its treatment plants – which are now at the centre of a criminal investigation by the Environment Agency into illegal sewage dumping and a regulatory inquiry by Ofwat.

Analysis of the accounts of Thames Water between 1990 and 2022 reveal a story that is echoed to some degree across the industry. The figures show how privatisation – which was intended to lead to a new era of investment, improved water quality and low bills – turned water into a cash cow for investment firms and private equity companies, none more so than the Australian infrastructure asset management firm Macquarie which, with its co-investors, bought Thames Water in 2006 from a German utility firm for£4.8bn.

 

By the time Macquarie sold its stake in Thames Water in 2017, debts had more than tripled from £3.2bn to £10.5bn, unadjusted for inflation. Its pattern was to borrow against its assets to increase dividend payments to shareholders.

By 2017, when Macquarie sold its last stake, the pattern of debt remained, and the rate of accruing debt continued on the same trajectory.

Macquarie and its co-investors made their position clear from the start, hiking dividends in the first year of their operations, 2007, to £656m when profits were a fraction of that at £241m.

Over their 11 years of control, Macquarie and its co-investors paid out £2.8bn to shareholders, which is two-fifths of the total £7bn in dividends that Thames Water has paid between 1990 and 2022. The average yearly dividends paid during the Macquarie period were five times higher than those paid after it sold its final stake in 2017. The consortium that took over ownership of Thames Water in 2017 has not taken a dividend since, but the company has paid internal dividends – including £37m in the year to 31 March 2022.

 

Ofwat recommends that companies maintain a ratio of debt to capital value of 60%. But Thames Water’s debt now amounts to £14.3bn – almost a quarter of the total £60bn debt run up by the privatised water companies in just over three decades.

This weight of debt is at one of the highest levels in the industry, with Thames Water’s gearing at 80%. More than half of this debt is inflation-linked, leaving Thames facing hikes on its debt repayment, even as it is being told to invest billions more fixing the infrastructure which has been left to crumble.

 

Edited March 28 by Lone Striker

[Lone Striker]

For some reason the photos in the articles didn't copy over. 

 

As today's news articles demonstrate (e.g. the Sky one posted by @Victorian, private equity investment companies should never have been  allowed anywhere near a privatised utility company which enjoys a monopoly position with its region's customers.    Ofwat is in a catch 22 situation as a result - impose a big fine on Thames Water for continual pollution of rivers & beaches, but end up seeing it reduce its spending in order to pay for the extra borrowing  required to meet its shareholders expectations as if no fine had been imposed.

 

Utterly outrageous.  

[The Real Maroonblood]

19 minutes ago, Lone Striker said:

For some reason the photos in the articles didn't copy over. 

 

As today's news articles demonstrate (e.g. the Sky one posted by @Victorian, private equity investment companies should never have been  allowed anywhere near a privatised utility company which enjoys a monopoly position with its region's customers.    Ofwat is in a catch 22 situation as a result - impose a big fine on Thames Water for continual pollution of rivers & beaches, but end up seeing it reduce its spending in order to pay for the extra borrowing  required to meet its shareholders expectations as if no fine had been imposed.

 

Utterly outrageous.  

What a farce it is.

[Gundermann]

From the BBC: Thames Water may have to be taken over by the government if it runs out of money.

 

Private "enterprise" being bailed out by the public once again. I really hope this socialism for the rich starts to trickle down soon.

[Gundermann]

Nice for some. I'm glad the Brexit vote swept all those establishment types away and replaced them with honest sons of toil.

 

 

A neck too brassy even for the Daily Mail.

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/scottish-daily-mail/20171012/281762744477948

Edited March 28 by Gundermann

[ehcaley]

2 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

"investors",   aye ?     Perhaps you can explain what these Thames Water investors did to prevent the  River Thames becoming a toilet - while  gladly pocketing absurd dividends and  supporting a reduction in infrastructure projects prior to the Tideway Tunnel being started.

 

 

This is from 9 months ago -

 

In charts: how privatisation drained Thames Water’s coffers

Decades of underinvestment and bumper dividends have left the firm debt-laden and under investigation

 

 

Sandra Laville, Anna Leach and Carmen Aguilar García

Fri 30 Jun 2023 06.00 BST

Share

 

 

In a little over three decades, Thames Water, the biggest water and sewerage company in England, serving 15 million people, has transformed from a debt-free public utility into what critics argue is a privately owned investment vehicle carrying the highest debt in the industry.

Over those years – as admitted by Sarah Bentley, the firm’s departing CEO – its executives and the shareholders and private equity companies who own it have presided over decades of underinvestment, aggressive cost-cutting and huge dividend payments.

 

The symptom of these decades can be seen in the scale of sewage discharges, the record leaks from its pipes and the state of its treatment plants – which are now at the centre of a criminal investigation by the Environment Agency into illegal sewage dumping and a regulatory inquiry by Ofwat.

Analysis of the accounts of Thames Water between 1990 and 2022 reveal a story that is echoed to some degree across the industry. The figures show how privatisation – which was intended to lead to a new era of investment, improved water quality and low bills – turned water into a cash cow for investment firms and private equity companies, none more so than the Australian infrastructure asset management firm Macquarie which, with its co-investors, bought Thames Water in 2006 from a German utility firm for£4.8bn.

 

By the time Macquarie sold its stake in Thames Water in 2017, debts had more than tripled from £3.2bn to £10.5bn, unadjusted for inflation. Its pattern was to borrow against its assets to increase dividend payments to shareholders.

By 2017, when Macquarie sold its last stake, the pattern of debt remained, and the rate of accruing debt continued on the same trajectory.

Macquarie and its co-investors made their position clear from the start, hiking dividends in the first year of their operations, 2007, to £656m when profits were a fraction of that at £241m.

Over their 11 years of control, Macquarie and its co-investors paid out £2.8bn to shareholders, which is two-fifths of the total £7bn in dividends that Thames Water has paid between 1990 and 2022. The average yearly dividends paid during the Macquarie period were five times higher than those paid after it sold its final stake in 2017. The consortium that took over ownership of Thames Water in 2017 has not taken a dividend since, but the company has paid internal dividends – including £37m in the year to 31 March 2022.

 

Ofwat recommends that companies maintain a ratio of debt to capital value of 60%. But Thames Water’s debt now amounts to £14.3bn – almost a quarter of the total £60bn debt run up by the privatised water companies in just over three decades.

This weight of debt is at one of the highest levels in the industry, with Thames Water’s gearing at 80%. More than half of this debt is inflation-linked, leaving Thames facing hikes on its debt repayment, even as it is being told to invest billions more fixing the infrastructure which has been left to crumble.

 

Wouldn't bother replying to him he's a troll !

[ehcaley]

15 hours ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

It's cool bro.. about the same in closing pits ...there was plenty pits that were still viable that the Tories closed,some did require closing,I don't dispute that. One example,the Tories wanted ravenscraig shut,so they made sure the main pit supplier of coking coal was flooded, despite installation of a multi million pound pump😳 The miners stood up for the working class, crush the miners and you can ride roughshod over the rest,and boy did the Tories know this,and have done since😞 They started stockpiling coal years before the strike. Buying heavily subsidised coal from abroad. The bonus scheme introduced late 70s by labour was a contributing factor that split the NUM. 

From 1945 onwards hundreds of unproductive or exhausted pits closed ,every single one was done by agreement between the NCB and relevant unions(there might have been more during  Labour governments, it's simply irrelevant).Most men would've transferred to bigger pits and what became known as superpits.

The bonus scheme had nothing to do with the government,British Coal introduced it on a pit by pit section by section basis and in my opinion was a disaster.

Here is where I become controversial,I didn't give a shit about what happened to the the steelworkers etc,they had their chance and didn't take it.I was there when Yuill and Dodds brought in  coal from Hunterston at Ravenscraig and wee Tommy Brennan and his friends didn't lift a finger to stop them.In my opinion the steelworkers going in were no better than scabs.

I still give the finger to Yuill and Dodds trucks,childish I know but it gives me a wee bit pleasure🖕

Edited March 28 by ehcaley

[Footballfirst]

The Tories have (unsurprisingly) watered down the Renters Reform Bill in favour of landlords, to the benefit of many Tory front and back benchers.

 

[Footballfirst]

Rishi Sunak has suggested he inherited the “worst hospital pass” of any new prime minister in decades when he took over from predecessor Liz Truss.

However, Sunak said he was “entirely confident that there are better times ahead”.

The comments came in a podcast interview published by The Times with Lord Hague, the former foreign secretary and someone widely considered to be a mentor to the PM. Sunak succeeded Lord Hague as the MP for Richmond after the 2015 general election. 

 

I wonder which government gave him that "hospital pass".

[Footballfirst]

Better times ahead, you say?

 

According to the latest official stats:

- UK economy is now smaller than when Sunak took over

- Debt at highest levels since the 1960s

- NHS (England) waiting times still at near record highs

- Small boat crossings hit new record in first three months of 2024

[The Real Maroonblood]

2 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

Rishi Sunak has suggested he inherited the “worst hospital pass” of any new prime minister in decades when he took over from predecessor Liz Truss.

However, Sunak said he was “entirely confident that there are better times ahead”.

The comments came in a podcast interview published by The Times with Lord Hague, the former foreign secretary and someone widely considered to be a mentor to the PM. Sunak succeeded Lord Hague as the MP for Richmond after the 2015 general election. 

 

I wonder which government gave him that "hospital pass".

He’s an arsehole just like his supporters.

[Daktari]

9 hours ago, Dawnrazor said:

they made sure the main pit supplier of coking coal was flooded

Which pit was that out of interest?

 

[Gundermann]

5 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

Better times ahead, you say?

 

According to the latest official stats:

- UK economy is now smaller than when Sunak took over

- Debt at highest levels since the 1960s

- NHS (England) waiting times still at near record highs

- Small boat crossings hit new record in first three months of 2024

 

England's waters are crystal clear though...

 

[Dawnrazor]

1 minute ago, Daktari said:

Which pit was that out of interest?

 

You've miss quoted me.

[Ulysses]

5 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

Rishi Sunak has suggested he inherited the “worst hospital pass” of any new prime minister in decades when he took over from predecessor Liz Truss.

However, Sunak said he was “entirely confident that there are better times ahead”.

The comments came in a podcast interview published by The Times with Lord Hague, the former foreign secretary and someone widely considered to be a mentor to the PM. Sunak succeeded Lord Hague as the MP for Richmond after the 2015 general election. 

 

I wonder which government gave him that "hospital pass".

 

Backwards and sideways, comrades.  Backwards and sideways.

 

 

[henrysmithsgloves]

1 hour ago, ehcaley said:

From 1945 onwards hundreds of unproductive or exhausted pits closed ,every single one was done by agreement between the NCB and relevant unions(there might have been more during  Labour governments, it's simply irrelevant).Most men would've transferred to bigger pits and what became known as superpits.

The bonus scheme had nothing to do with the government,British Coal introduced it on a pit by pit section by section basis and in my opinion was a disaster.

Here is where I become controversial,I didn't give a shit about what happened to the the steelworkers etc,they had their chance and didn't take it.I was there when Yuill and Dodds brought in  coal from Hunterston at Ravenscraig and wee Tommy Brennan and his friends didn't lift a finger to stop them.In my opinion the steelworkers going in were no better than scabs.

I still give the finger to Yuill and Dodds trucks,childish I know but it gives me a wee bit pleasure🖕

Apologies I meant under a labour government, not by😬 True the steelworkers made their bed👍🏻 didn't want to see the bigger picture 😞 the bonus scheme,am I right in saying Scargill warned the miners,it was a bad thing. But the notts benefited the most from it. You were there sir and I salute you. By the time of the strike my auld boy was in nacods union,but was still a staunch socialist., I drove him to polkemmet ,he got out the car asked the num delegate if he was allowed past,if they said no,I drove him home,his union were telling him to pass the picket line😳 less said about that transport company the better. Anyhow FTT👍🏻

[henrysmithsgloves]

7 minutes ago, Daktari said:

Which pit was that out of interest?

 

 

1 minute ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

Apologies I meant under a labour government, not by😬 True the steelworkers made their bed👍🏻 didn't want to see the bigger picture 😞 the bonus scheme,am I right in saying Scargill warned the miners,it was a bad thing. But the notts benefited the most from it. You were there sir and I salute you. By the time of the strike my auld boy was in nacods union,but was still a staunch socialist., I drove him to polkemmet ,he got out the car asked the num delegate if he was allowed past,if they said no,I drove him home,his union were telling him to pass the picket line😳 less said about that transport company the better. Anyhow FTT👍🏻

 

[Konrad von Carstein]

5 hours ago, manaliveits105 said:

It's started the mere hint of a labour government and investors start to bolt 

[Cade]

OFWAT: "Stop pouring shit in the rivers and not fixing your broken pipes or we'll hit you with a massive fine."

 

Thames Water: "No. We demand to be allowed to hike our prices by 40%, continue polluting the waterways, pay lower fines and keep paying out massive dividends to our shareholders, or we threaten to go bust."

 

[Ulysses]

52 minutes ago, Konrad von Carstein said:

 

 

Fake pic.  Needs more sewage around the shark.

[Lone Striker]

1 hour ago, Footballfirst said:

Rishi Sunak has suggested he inherited the “worst hospital pass” of any new prime minister in decades when he took over from predecessor Liz Truss.

However, Sunak said he was “entirely confident that there are better times ahead”.

The comments came in a podcast interview published by The Times with Lord Hague, the former foreign secretary and someone widely considered to be a mentor to the PM. Sunak succeeded Lord Hague as the MP for Richmond after the 2015 general election. 

 

I wonder which government gave him that "hospital pass".

JKB's "comrade" will be along soon to tell us it was the Blair/Brown government.

 

 

[The Real Maroonblood]

28 minutes ago, Lone Striker said:

JKB's "comrade" will be along soon to tell us it was the Blair/Brown government.

 

 

The village the poster lives in must be shite.

[Footballfirst]

Tories will be Tories.  It's all being done in plain sight now.

 

 

[Mikey1874]

Full list. Pretty much expect to get an honour for being a Tory MP. We should be so grateful.

 

 

 

[Mikey1874]

13 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

Tories will be Tories.  It's all being done in plain sight now.

 

 

 

More background 

 

 

[Cade]

The entire Honours systems needs scrapping.

No more.

Make all previous titles and gongs null and void.

 

Disband the House of Lords.

Replace it with committee panels. (Labour has been touting such citizen assemblies for local councils).
Committees will be made up of legal experts, trade union reps, representatives of the industries affected by the proposed bill and a few laypersons, selected in a similar way to jury duty.

Give these committees binding powers to amend or outright reject bills.

 

Drag this stupid nation kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Most of our governmental processes are rooted in the 18th century FFS.

 

Get it done and let them howl.

Edited March 28 by Cade

[Daktari]

3 hours ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

 

 

Thanks for that. I was in Whitburn at the time and I remember there being quite a bit of anger over how the pit was closed. The narrative went that the union had agreed to provide safety cover. These men weren't strike breakers but miners approved by the union basically keeping the pit open. There was some sort of dispute over payment or hours and the union unilaterally withdrew the cover. The NCB basically said 'thanks very much' as the pit gradually flooded and was declared a write off. It would likely have happened anyway, but it gave the NCB the excuse to do it early. I remember seeing graffiti on the outside walls of the bath house after the strike about the local union leader. I won't quote it in case I get his name wrong, but it said '***** *****  closed this pit', the inference being that union bloodymindedness had played into the NCB/government narrative. I remember it being quite contentious at the time. 

[Psychedelicropcircle]

9 hours ago, manaliveits105 said:

It's started the mere hint of a labour government and investors start to bolt 

Was it labours fault it’s up past it’s tits in debt?

[Victorian]

41 minutes ago, Cade said:

The entire Honours systems needs scrapping.

No more.

Make all previous titles and gongs null and void.

 

Disband the House of Lords.

Replace it with committee panels. (Labour has been touting such citizen assemblies for local councils).
Committees will be made up of legal experts, trade union reps, representatives of the industries affected by the proposed bill and a few laypersons, selected in a similar way to jury duty.

Give these committees binding powers to amend or outright reject bills.

 

Drag this stupid nation kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Most of our governmental processes are rooted in the 18th century FFS.

 

Get it done and let them howl.

 

First thing I would do is to test the legitimacy and commitment of all government appointees.  No more daily allowance.  Minimum levels of attendance and participation or your peerage is revoked.  

 

No more lifetime parliamentarians in name only.

[henrysmithsgloves]

14 minutes ago, Daktari said:

Thanks for that. I was in Whitburn at the time and I remember there being quite a bit of anger over how the pit was closed. The narrative went that the union had agreed to provide safety cover. These men weren't strike breakers but miners approved by the union basically keeping the pit open. There was some sort of dispute over payment or hours and the union unilaterally withdrew the cover. The NCB basically said 'thanks very much' as the pit gradually flooded and was declared a write off. It would likely have happened anyway, but it gave the NCB the excuse to do it early. I remember seeing graffiti on the outside walls of the bath house after the strike about the local union leader. I won't quote it in case I get his name wrong, but it said '***** *****  closed this pit', the inference being that union bloodymindedness had played into the NCB/government narrative. I remember it being quite contentious at the time. 

All planned by Thatcher years ahead. Portillo said as much on his program on BBC 2 tonight.scum the lot of them 🤬

[Psychedelicropcircle]

I had to eat stovies for a ****ing year! The day the strike ended I vowed to never eat stovies again. I’ve had them once since quaffed down with a glass of champagne when thatcher died. 

[i wish jj was my dad]

7 hours ago, ehcaley said:

From 1945 onwards hundreds of unproductive or exhausted pits closed ,every single one was done by agreement between the NCB and relevant unions(there might have been more during  Labour governments, it's simply irrelevant).Most men would've transferred to bigger pits and what became known as superpits.

The bonus scheme had nothing to do with the government,British Coal introduced it on a pit by pit section by section basis and in my opinion was a disaster.

Here is where I become controversial,I didn't give a shit about what happened to the the steelworkers etc,they had their chance and didn't take it.I was there when Yuill and Dodds brought in  coal from Hunterston at Ravenscraig and wee Tommy Brennan and his friends didn't lift a finger to stop them.In my opinion the steelworkers going in were no better than scabs.

I still give the finger to Yuill and Dodds trucks,childish I know but it gives me a wee bit pleasure🖕

Your last point is understandable but tragic.  I can absolutely understand how guys at the sharp end still feel bitter after all these years. Those ******** knew what they were doing dividing the guys in the firing line and they are deploying the same strategy now cos they know it works. 

[The Real Maroonblood]

2 hours ago, Cade said:

The entire Honours systems needs scrapping.

No more.

Make all previous titles and gongs null and void.

 

Disband the House of Lords.

Replace it with committee panels. (Labour has been touting such citizen assemblies for local councils).
Committees will be made up of legal experts, trade union reps, representatives of the industries affected by the proposed bill and a few laypersons, selected in a similar way to jury duty.

Give these committees binding powers to amend or outright reject bills.

 

Drag this stupid nation kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Most of our governmental processes are rooted in the 18th century FFS.

 

Get it done and let them howl.

Spot on.

[Cade]

2 hours ago, Victorian said:

 

First thing I would do is to test the legitimacy and commitment of all government appointees.  No more daily allowance.  Minimum levels of attendance and participation or your peerage is revoked.  

 

No more lifetime parliamentarians in name only.

 

No more 2nd home allowance bollocks. 

Portcullis House is where all MPs have their London office space, situated right next to Parliament itself.
As part of the Westminster upgrade, convert every office into a bedsit so they have somewhere to stay when on Westminster duty.

No more free food, free bars or any other expenses.
Feel free to bump their base wage up to 100k, but that's it.
They'll pay their own way.

 

I'd even go so far as to make 7 new assemblies in England (London, south-east, south-west, east midlands, west midlands, north-east, north-west) each with powers equal to that of the Scottish, NI and Welsh assemblies with all 10 parts of the UK having full control over local matters.
Westminster is then the Federal assembly, 30 MPs from each of the 10 regions to total 300 Federal MPs. Westminster handles foreign policy, defence, regional disputes and anything else which requires national action.
This would include the newly Nationalised industries, which would be anything deemed to be a national strategic asset.
Education, the health service, prison service, steelmaking, arms manufacturing, water, energy, maybe telecoms, roads, rail, air, the lot. Maybe even farming, forestry, fishing and mining. 

[Mikey1874]

And then there's this going on.

 

 

[SectionDJambo]

3 hours ago, Cade said:

The entire Honours systems needs scrapping.

No more.

Make all previous titles and gongs null and void.

 

Disband the House of Lords.

Replace it with committee panels. (Labour has been touting such citizen assemblies for local councils).
Committees will be made up of legal experts, trade union reps, representatives of the industries affected by the proposed bill and a few laypersons, selected in a similar way to jury duty.

Give these committees binding powers to amend or outright reject bills.

 

Drag this stupid nation kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Most of our governmental processes are rooted in the 18th century FFS.

 

Get it done and let them howl.

Agreed.

The Honours system has had almost all of its legitimacy destroyed in recent years. There were always some awards that raised eyebrows back in the day, but now it’s become a reward for cronies and a return for favours given to government.

Sadly, it devalues the awards given to those who have earned them through their devoted and selfless service to the nation and it’s people.

[i wish jj was my dad]

8 hours ago, Footballfirst said:

Rishi Sunak has suggested he inherited the “worst hospital pass” of any new prime minister in decades when he took over from predecessor Liz Truss.

However, Sunak said he was “entirely confident that there are better times ahead”.

The comments came in a podcast interview published by The Times with Lord Hague, the former foreign secretary and someone widely considered to be a mentor to the PM. Sunak succeeded Lord Hague as the MP for Richmond after the 2015 general election. 

 

I wonder which government gave him that "hospital pass".

While I think that is a fair assesment, I'd bet the kids that on his own, Sunak would never have described the shit show he inherited as a 'hospital' pass. I doubt our PM has any concept of the origin of the phrase, never mind being kicked up in the air after receiving one

[Footballfirst]

12 minutes ago, i wish jj was my dad said:

While I think that is a fair assesment, I'd bet the kids that on his own, Sunak would never have described the shit show he inherited as a 'hospital' pass. I doubt our PM has any concept of the origin of the phrase, never mind being kicked up in the air after receiving one

Sunak: I inherited worst hospital pass for a new PM Let's look at his record

Chief Sec to Treasury July 19-Feb 2020

Chancellor Feb 2020 - July 2022.  

PM since Oct 2022  

Fined by police for a "partygate" event in June 2020

 

Now who made that hospital pass Sunak?  I think you have caught your own misplaced one.

[i wish jj was my dad]

29 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

Sunak: I inherited worst hospital pass for a new PM Let's look at his record

Chief Sec to Treasury July 19-Feb 2020

Chancellor Feb 2020 - July 2022.  

PM since Oct 2022  

Fined by police for a "partygate" event in June 2020

 

Now who made that hospital pass Sunak?  I think you have caught your own misplaced one.

Face palm on my part. I've had a few si u never spotted what was in front of me  

 

Fair comment and all that

 

[Ulysses]

 

 

[manaliveits105]

11 hours ago, Ulysses said:

 

Backwards and sideways, comrades.  Backwards and sideways.

 

 

Who will you vote for ?

[Ulysses]

35 minutes ago, manaliveits105 said:

Who will you vote for ?

 

You first, comrade.