Reform, and the death of the Tory Party

[briantrumpet]

This thread is hanging on by a thread.... I'll get my coat.....

Don't forget your capo.

 

[Rusty Nails]

No need to get crotchety.

I’m not sharp enough to beat you at this. I’d just lower the tone.

 

[briantrumpet]

I assume that Farage is doing a Trumpian "I hardly know the guy" deflection. I'm sure that the BBC is right on the case.

 

[briantrumpet]

Oh.

 

[matticus]

FT headline:
"Ex-leader of Reform in Wales admits taking bribes in return for pro-Russia messages"
(The article's behind a pay wall, soz!)

 

[Ian H]

I’m not sharp enough to beat you at this. I’d just lower the tone.

It's just a clash of symbols.

 

[briantrumpet]

It's just a clash of symbols.

Carry on like that, and you'll get barred. Note the warning triangle.

 

[Pinno718]

<Trolling is being raised to a fever pitch.>

 

[Pinno718]

They're eating the Swans!

 

[CXRAndy]

Catch up, plenty of videos of people taking swans, geese from water ways

 

[briantrumpet]

A genuinely bizarre headline & opinion. Which party ballooned the debt when it was in power for 14 years? How is the Tory Party even vaguely near the centre? Where was the sharp leftward turn in politics (examples, please)? At least there's an implicit admittance that the current Tory Party isn't sane.

 

[Stevo 666]

A genuinely bizarre headline & opinion. Which party ballooned the debt when it was in power for 14 years? How is the Tory Party even vaguely near the centre? Where was the sharp leftward turn in politics (examples, please)? At least there's an implicit admittance that the current Tory Party isn't sane.


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Where the Tories failed was to govern too much like Libs and not like proper Tories, economically speaking - hence the debt levels (at least the part not forced by Covid). However Labour isn't exactly addressing the issue, is it?

 

[Pross]

Where the Tories failed was to govern too much like Libs and not like proper Tories, economically speaking - hence the debt levels (at least the part not forced by Covid). However Labour isn't exactly addressing the issue, is it?

I think it was pointed out on Cake Stop quite a few times that the Tories had become financially left wing with tax and spend, especially under Johnson. Not just Covid but the payment of a percentage of everyone’s energy bills after the invasion of Ukraine pushed up prices. Much of it was probably necessary, especially during Covid, as the financial impact on the country of mass redundancies would have been worse.

However, there was also a huge amount of waste and almost certainly a lot of corruption due to the urgency causing lack of oversight. The big issue for Labour is that they now have to find vast sums just to cover the interest on that debt and have tied one hand behind their backs with all the options for raising tax revenue they ruled out.

 

[Stevo 666]

I think it was pointed out on Cake Stop quite a few times that the Tories had become financially left wing with tax and spend, especially under Johnson. Not just Covid but the payment of a percentage of everyone’s energy bills after the invasion of Ukraine pushed up prices. Much of it was probably necessary, especially during Covid, as the financial impact on the country of mass redundancies would have been worse.

However, there was also a huge amount of waste and almost certainly a lot of corruption due to the urgency causing lack of oversight. The big issue for Labour is that they now have to find vast sums just to cover the interest on that debt and have tied one hand behind their backs with all the options for raising tax revenue they ruled out.

Agree, big problem for them is that they have tied their own hands on tax (although further tax rises are likely to impact growth and investment) and have completely failed to cut spending - which is in my view what any govt in this position should be doing.

 

[Pross]

Agree, big problem for them is that they have tied their own hands on tax (although further tax rises are likely to impact growth and investment) and have completely failed to cut spending - which is in my view what any govt in this position should be doing.

Problem is the infrastructure of the country is falling apart and needs investment. Austerity (which I still think was needed) allowed things to deteriorate and when we were starting to get some economic growth everything stalled while the only thing on the government’s order of business was ‘getting Brexit done’. Not even considering whether leaving the EU has been an economic disaster the 2 or 3 years of total inertia it created in running the country didn’t help anything.