General Election (blues)

Newchodge

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    Nov 8, 2012
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    The Tories are 27% behind labour in one of the Polls announced yesterday.

    What are the odds of Trump back in the White House and Boris back to face Starmer in the election?
    I know the Tories are both stupid and unprincipled, but are they really that bad?

    It would be interesting. The standards committee (or whatever it was called) would have recommended that Johnson be suspended from Parliament for 90 days, had he not resigned. Would that decision be acted upon if he came back?
     
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    IanSuth

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    There are other issues. For example the national debt is expressed as a proportion of GDP. We have been subject to major austerity since at least 2010. That meant the government spent a great deal less, reducing GDP so increasing the debt:GDP ratio.

    I agree that we should, as one of the wealthiest countries in the world, have a proper infrastructure, education system, health system. justice system, police service, care provision for those who need it. But we don't.
    Also remember from a macroeconomic perspective the govt would like a bit of inflation - it reduces the effective size of that debt:gdp ratio all the time we have gdp (whether through inflation or productivity) growing faster than debt interest
     
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    japancool

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    Also remember from a macroeconomic perspective the govt would like a bit of inflation - it reduces the effective size of that debt:gdp ratio all the time we have gdp (whether through inflation or productivity) growing faster than debt interest

    Unless your debt is index linked, of course, and your economy isn't growing.
     
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    IanSuth

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    Yeah, and Labour are stupid and anti-Semitic.

    Applying broad-brushed labels to vast chunks of the population is lazy. The majority of Conservative MPs and party members are neither of these things.
    I would edit that to "the majority of traditional Conservative MP's are neither of those things", I am less sure of the current batch.

    I mean the current crop hardly measure up well vs the like of Thatcher, Heseltine, Clarke, Tebbit or even Major, Hague and Lawson. The decent intelligent young ones like Rory Stewart have been pushed out for not blindly following the current party line. It is hardly the broad church it was in the recent past
     
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    tony84

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    The level of poverty has been reduced

    What?! Are you kidding?
    I have never known as many food banks as there are today. My mum seen a soup kitchen last month on her travels. She said she has not seen a soup kitchen since the 70s or 80s!

    I read that a local foodbank near us has a waiting list!

    There is absolutely no way poverty has reduced.
     
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    Chris Ashdown

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    Because they're not being paid enough here, possibly.
    Actually they become bank nurses where they can select what days they are going to work and get far better wages, If Hospitals stopped using bank nurses by gradually reducing how often they use them it would be far better all round with hospitals having more money for other things. They could also use their power to reduce bank nurses costs, supply and demand are powerful on both sides
     
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    Because they're not being paid enough here, possibly.
    Very likely. But no point in funding the training if people are going to leave. That's just wasting more money.

    When you say reduce bank nurse costs, what you're saying is pay nurses less.

    Hospitals could use their power to pay nurses less.

    What effect would that have on the economy?
     
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    japancool

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    Actually they become bank nurses where they can select what days they are going to work and get far better wages, If Hospitals stopped using bank nurses by gradually reducing how often they use them it would be far better all round with hospitals having more money for other things. They could also use their power to reduce bank nurses costs, supply and demand are powerful on both sides

    Some do.
     
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    It's not an either or. If you want more nurses, training has to affordable, then if you want to keep them, you have to pay them enough.
    Increase the funding, give accommodation, etc as a loan, don't charge any interest.

    The loan is reduced by X after 12 months in the NHS role, Y after 5 years and Z (the full amount) after 10 - Z includes a refund of all payments that they've previously made with interest at base + 5%

    Any that leave to work elsewhere have to repay.
     
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    DontAsk

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    Ask the Joseph Rowntree Foundation
    I did, and they said "Poverty has increased, close to pre-pandemic levels" https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk It's pretty flat since 2010 for thge period in that report.

    Having said that, I am firmly of the belief that food banks and soup kitchens are not the best proxies for measuring poverty.

    You also need to carefully define your measure of poverty. At one time (maybe still is), "relative" poverty was calculated from earnings in such a way that it was guaranteed to get worse as incomes increased.
     
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    japancool

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    Increase the funding, give accommodation, etc as a loan, don't charge any interest.

    The loan is reduced by X after 12 months in the NHS role, Y after 5 years and Z (the full amount) after 10 - Z includes a refund of all payments that they've previously made with interest at base + 5%

    Any that leave to work elsewhere have to repay.

    If they provided subsidised nursing accomodation like they used to, that would be one thing. But they don't any more.

    Whatever the solution is, what they're doing now is not working.
     
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    I did, and they said "Poverty has increased, close to pre-pandemic levels" https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2024-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk It's pretty flat since 2010 for thge period in that report.

    Having said that, I am firmly of the belief that food banks and soup kitchens are not the best proxies for measuring poverty.

    You also need to carefully define your measure of poverty. At one time (maybe still is), "relative" poverty was calculated from earnings in such a way that it was guaranteed to get worse as incomes increased.

    I didn't say it had improved by much, but it has improved.

    Looking at how "poverty" is calculated also explains why many children are in "poverty". People tend to have children when they're younger and have not reached their full earning potential, so they earn less than the average wage.

    To put it another way, people in their twenties earn less than people in their forties.

    This is entirely expected but seems to come as a surprise to many people, especially those who benefit from being surprised by it.
     
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    tony84

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    Ask the Joseph Rowntree Foundation or Big Issue... Hardly the most unbiased sources, but facts are facts.

    Scroll down to the first table, 21% in 2010/11 and 22% of people in 2021-22 (22-23 was not on there).
    I cant imagine it has improved as everyone was still a bit flush from the lockdowns and furlough pay.

    Further down it says:
    Inflation is still running at twice its target level, benefits are taking time to catch up with rising prices, employment is starting to fall, earnings are still below their 2008 levels, and housing costs are increasing rapidly. Given the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that average household disposable incomes will continue to fall until 2024/25, these effects will have a profound impact on many people’s living standards for years to come.
     
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    tony84

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    I didn't say it had improved by much, but it has improved.

    Looking at how "poverty" is calculated also explains why many children are in "poverty". People tend to have children when they're younger and have not reached their full earning potential, so they earn less than the average wage.

    To put it another way, people in their twenties earn less than people in their forties.

    This is entirely expected but seems to come as a surprise to many people, especially those who benefit from being surprised by it.
    Im not saying it does not happen, but generally speaking if you are in poverty you are not having children.
    Poverty is not where you sit in on the last weekend before pay day because your skint. Poverty is where you are going without throughout the whole month.

    Of course people in their 20s earn less. That has always been the case and will continue to always be the case. I do not think anyone is surprised by that statement.
     
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    Chris Ashdown

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  • Dec 7, 2003
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    Very likely. But no point in funding the training if people are going to leave. That's just wasting more money.

    When you say reduce bank nurse costs, what you're saying is pay nurses less.

    Hospitals could use their power to pay nurses less.

    What effect would that have on the economy?
    This was just for bank nurses, apparently they get very high wages as self employed through agencies who vary prices depending on available staff to meet a requirement, if they want to have bank nurses it should be at a fixed contract cost for all their nurses i.e £xxx per hour so they don't milk the system
     
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    ecommerce84

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    This election is all but guaranteed to be a Labour win.

    Support for the SNP has weakened considerably in Scotland, and for the first time in a long time Labour lead the SNP in the polls, and I believe they will win more seats than the SNP.

    Reform will also take a lot of votes from the Conservatives but whilst it is unlikely so see them getting any seats, it will be enough to gift Labour victory in a not insignificant amount of constituencies.

    The Conservatives will probably clear 100 seats, and I think Labour are on course for a majority of at least 250.

    The Conservative’s are in a mess all of their own making, and they’ll be in opposition for at least the next decade.
     
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    Scroll down to the first table, 21% in 2010/11 and 22% of people in 2021-22 (22-23 was not on there).
    I cant imagine it has improved as everyone was still a bit flush from the lockdowns and furlough pay.

    Further down it says:
    Inflation is still running at twice its target level, benefits are taking time to catch up with rising prices, employment is starting to fall, earnings are still below their 2008 levels, and housing costs are increasing rapidly. Given the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that average household disposable incomes will continue to fall until 2024/25, these effects will have a profound impact on many people’s living standards for years to come.
    2009/2010 is 14 years ago.
     
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    Im not saying it does not happen, but generally speaking if you are in poverty you are not having children.
    Poverty is not where you sit in on the last weekend before pay day because your skint. Poverty is where you are going without throughout the whole month.

    Of course people in their 20s earn less. That has always been the case and will continue to always be the case. I do not think anyone is surprised by that statement.

    "Poverty" is defined as 60% of the average income. Average income is £35k, so poverty is £21k, which is basically minimum wage if you're working full time.

    Plenty of people on minimum wage jobs have children, they also get support from the government to boost this income.
     
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