Starmer's vision quest

[Rusty Nails]

I've heard quite a lot about Modern Monetary Theory recently and it's advocates say that a sovereign government with its own currency issuing central bank can basically print all the money it needs without having to go to the Bond traders who demand healthy interest on the bonds they buy. It's opponents point to Zimbabwe and Venezuela as examples of when too much money printing has had catastrophic consequences and they describe MMT as the Magic Money Tree. I'm open to persuasion but I've yet to hear Andy Burnham to say how it will work in practice.

AIUI there are arguments that those countries, plus the often quoted Weimar Republic example, did not operate the early equivalent of MMT as they had not satisfied several vital criteria for it's proper adoption. In other words they were already economic basket cases and MMT on its own was never going to be the answer.

As seems to be de riguer on this thread I will confess that I am not an economics expert, other than my 1963 'O' level in economics, and get my knowledge from quick Google searches. Always willing to learn from real experts.

 

[Psamathe]

I understand that NI doesn't matter to anyone here, some quite obnoxious in declaring their disinterest, but I think we should agree that UK State Forces shouldn't be given immunity for murder of UK citizens.

My personal view regarding "doesn't matter to anyone here is that there are so many different things happening in the world, so much of concern and only limited hours in each day so different people prioritise their focus. eg I recognise that I disproportionately focus on animal/wildlife/conservation issues which doesn't mean I think other stuff "doesn't matter" but with limited time I can't give it the focus it deserves.

But it's more complex as it's not just subject but also degree of wrong/impact so something of unusual important in area not normally getting enough attention will get a bit more attention.

Fortunately in life different people have different priorities and different focus so things often don't get missed completely.

 

[First Aspect]

My personal view regarding "doesn't matter to anyone here is that there are so many different things happening in the world, so much of concern and only limited hours in each day so different people prioritise their focus. eg I recognise that I disproportionately focus on animal/wildlife/conservation issues which doesn't mean I think other stuff "doesn't matter" but with limited time I can't give it the focus it deserves.

But it's more complex as it's not just subject but also degree of wrong/impact so something of unusual important in area not normally getting enough attention will get a bit more attention.

Fortunately in life different people have different priorities and different focus so things often don't get missed completely.

The problem I have is ignorance. I can't meaningfully reply to a post about NI politics, because it cuts through far less than even Scottish or Welsh politics.

It wasn't always so, but either I was too young to understand what was going on or how biased UK media was or was not, or it was some shouty politicians shouting about why they can't even get into the same room in order to shout at each other in a more formal setting, because of some matter of principle I don't understand the importance of but that very very clearly everyone but the person currently shouting has breached. And if I did understand it, I wouldn't really be entitled to have an opinion.

 

[briantrumpet]

I understand that NI doesn't matter to anyone here, some quite obnoxious in declaring their disinterest, but I think we should agree that UK State Forces shouldn't be given immunity for murder of UK citizens.

I suspect the disregard to NI was particularly heightened for you during Brexit: the sense that the fate of 2m was not even worth considering as part of the settlement was not always well hidden, and occasionally actually overtly expressed. NI was just an 'annoyance' to be ignored as much as possible.

 

[Beebo]

Reading the reports it sounds like Gwynne has managed to get a tame GP to give him what was needed to stand down whilst receiving his pension on the grounds of ill health. It all feels like there's been a bit of scheming going on behind closed doors.

Sounds like mental health and stress issues.