UK Politics Thread V: Upon This Blasted Heath

[Souseiseki]

The next day, I signed up for membership of the British Fascist Union.*

Alright everyone - enough. Apologies for being a killjoy, but this isn't designed to be a shitposting chat thread.

hmm...........

It's a very demanding and often around-the-clock job, constantly being under high pressure and intense scrutiny, being hated by half the country on a good day. It's not fair to politicians to claim they sit around all day doing nothing when that clearly isn't the case.

they vote for mass surveillance and vague laws that leave entire sections of society constantly watching their every move in case they accidentally violate one, but oh they're under such scrutiny, most of which is from the media they repeatedly refuse to reign in even after said media is caught a small network of crimes. they directly help spread the lies that demonize entire sectors of society (you included, from what i assume) but they're so hated. whenever a bullshit law comes up that will personally affect them they manage to secure special exemptions by virtue of being MPs or being in the political circle, but it's just so hard. you might have noticed where i'm going with this at this point.

[Vassenor]

The next day, I signed up for membership of the British Fascist Union.*

Alright everyone - enough. Apologies for being a killjoy, but this isn't designed to be a shitposting chat thread.

hmm...........

It's a very demanding and often around-the-clock job, constantly being under high pressure and intense scrutiny, being hated by half the country on a good day. It's not fair to politicians to claim they sit around all day doing nothing when that clearly isn't the case.

they vote for mass surveillance and vague laws that leave entire sections of society constantly watching their every move in case they accidentally violate one, but oh they're under such scrutiny, most of which is from the media they repeatedly refuse to reign in even after said media is caught a small network of crimes. they directly help spread the lies that demonize entire sectors of society (you included, from what i assume) but they're so hated. you might have noticed where i'm going with this at this point.

Wasn't Val the one who thought that all people should be tracked 24/7 because that will magically prevent all crime? I forget.

[Imperializt Russia]

I was walking with a friend through Liverpool city centre. He has a job, I obviously do not.

He gave change (fair quantity) to the first homeless man, then another one just down the street wanted some alcohol, so we took him to the offie and bought him some.

Was a weird evening.

Stop giving homeless people money.

It doesn't help them. They need more help than a quick can of beer or small change from passers by.
It is up to government services to help them.
In some cases they are also fraudsters.

If you want to help them buy them some food or coffee if you really must.

I just told you I didn't, my friend did.
I'm not going to tell him what he can spend his money on.

shhhhh, important news, Ed Balls is going on Strictly

We in Young Labour are going to be running phone banks to drum up support for him. I'm working on a script, how is this introduction?

'Hi there, is this <name of Strictly viewer here>? My name is ____ and I'm here on behalf the 'Ed Balls for Strictly Winner' campaign. We're just calling up to ask how you felt how Ed Balls' Strictly performance was.'

Really, really clinical.

Southern Rail owner profits hit £100m one day after £20m government 'bailout'

...isn't the whole point of privatizing shit to ensure government doesn't need to keep funding them?

Allegedly.

[Wolfmanne2]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/201 ... inked-wage

Ed Miliband continues his Theresa May impersonation.

[Souseiseki]

And on behalf of myself congratulations to me on now having a reason to post in the UK thread due to residence. I also give props to the Daily Mail on educating and informing me on the complex intricacies of British politics, and I highly recommend the DM to anyone new to Britain for getting up to speed.

also i desperately desperately desperately want to know what insights the daily mail has given you into the intricacies of british politics

[Dooom35796821595]

Southern Rail owner profits hit £100m one day after £20m government 'bailout'

...isn't the whole point of privatizing shit to ensure government doesn't need to keep funding them?

No, it to ensure the government can't make any revenue from them.

This is why I think the government should seize vital national assets, instead of buying them back, and frack anyone who invests money on a company making money from vital infrastructure.

[Great Nepal]

...isn't the whole point of privatizing shit to ensure government doesn't need to keep funding them?

No, it to ensure the government can't make any revenue from them.

This is why I think the government should seize vital national assets, instead of buying them back, and frack anyone who invests money on a company making money from vital infrastructure.

There's no need for extreme action, just refuse to renew any franchises and withdraw franchises when companies breach the terms, awarding these to new tfl-esque organisation; meanwhile start preparing lines for driver less operation and once we have all lines back - do a massive replacement across the line.

[Souseiseki]

now that we are free of the EU we can finally take back the trains etc. without fear

truly, brexit was not all that bad

[Great Nepal]

now that we are free of the EU we can finally take back the trains etc. without fear

truly, brexit was not all that bad

We already had tfl, and germany has Deutsche Bahn within EU...

[Dooom35796821595]

No, it to ensure the government can't make any revenue from them.

This is why I think the government should seize vital national assets, instead of buying them back, and frack anyone who invests money on a company making money from vital infrastructure.

There's no need for extreme action, just refuse to renew any franchises and withdraw franchises when companies breach the terms, awarding these to new tfl-esque organisation; meanwhile start preparing lines for driver less operation and once we have all lines back - do a massive replacement across the line.

There is a need for extreme action to dissuade any future governments or companies from privatising/buying vital national assets again at a loss for the taxpayer.

[Elepis]

why do I feel oddly happy that Arch is OP again?

[Imperializt Russia]

now that we are free of the EU we can finally take back the trains etc. without fear

truly, brexit was not all that bad

We already had tfl, and germany has Deutsche Bahn within EU...

If you already have nationalised industries, then what's the EU going to do?
It's renationalising them that's questionably dodgy.

[Ifreann]

And on behalf of myself congratulations to me on now having a reason to post in the UK thread due to residence. I also give props to the Daily Mail on educating and informing me on the complex intricacies of British politics, and I highly recommend the DM to anyone new to Britain for getting up to speed.

also i desperately desperately desperately want to know what insights the daily mail has given you into the intricacies of british politics

Well, the Daily Mail is read by the wives of the people who run the country.

[Great Nepal]

There's no need for extreme action, just refuse to renew any franchises and withdraw franchises when companies breach the terms, awarding these to new tfl-esque organisation; meanwhile start preparing lines for driver less operation and once we have all lines back - do a massive replacement across the line.

There is a need for extreme action to dissuade any future governments or companies from privatising/buying vital national assets again at a loss for the taxpayer.

Not a big fan of that; if some services are better delivered on contract - there's no problem with that happening.

We already had tfl, and germany has Deutsche Bahn within EU...

If you already have nationalised industries, then what's the EU going to do?
It's renationalising them that's questionably dodgy.

Same thing it could do if British government awarded franchises to company it owns; order diversification. Of course it won't because doing so would just be silly.

[Val Halla]

Ignoring the legitimacy of DM's stories, they're still a terrible paper. Their headlines are too long.

[Dooom35796821595]

There is a need for extreme action to dissuade any future governments or companies from privatising/buying vital national assets again at a loss for the taxpayer.

Not a big fan of that; if some services are better delivered on contract - there's no problem with that happening.

I think it's already been proven that private companies are incapable of that, so I'm all for state ownership.

And I'm sure there is a way around the EU crap, even if you have to revert to the 'national security' excuse.

[Constantinopolis]

We already had tfl, and germany has Deutsche Bahn within EU...

If you already have nationalised industries, then what's the EU going to do?
It's renationalising them that's questionably dodgy.

Indeed, the EU rules are, basically "you are allowed to take a step towards free-market capitalism, but you are not allowed to take a step away from it".

And it's pretty obvious what happens in the long term to any country that is under that rule.

[Great Nepal]

Not a big fan of that; if some services are better delivered on contract - there's no problem with that happening.

I think it's already been proven that private companies are incapable of that, so I'm all for state ownership.

And I'm sure there is a way around the EU crap, even if you have to revert to the 'national security' excuse.

Not necessarily, post office privatization for instance went quite well.

[Dooom35796821595]

I think it's already been proven that private companies are incapable of that, so I'm all for state ownership.

And I'm sure there is a way around the EU crap, even if you have to revert to the 'national security' excuse.

Not necessarily, post office privatization for instance went quite well.

I was referring specifically to private rail franchises.

[Souseiseki]

I think it's already been proven that private companies are incapable of that, so I'm all for state ownership.

And I'm sure there is a way around the EU crap, even if you have to revert to the 'national security' excuse.

Not necessarily, post office privatization for instance went quite well.

show

[Elepis]

I think it's already been proven that private companies are incapable of that, so I'm all for state ownership.

And I'm sure there is a way around the EU crap, even if you have to revert to the 'national security' excuse.

Not necessarily, post office privatization for instance went quite well.

there was the wholes scandal about them under selling it

[Souseiseki]

why do I feel oddly happy that Arch is OP again?

because you have yet to truly feel the effects of his bantz crackdown

Not necessarily, post office privatization for instance went quite well.

there was the wholes scandal about them under selling it

i think the post office was sold before royal mail, it's weird

[Great Nepal]

Not necessarily, post office privatization for instance went quite well.

I was referring specifically to private rail franchises.

On private rail franchises, they haven;t succeeded however there is no reason for government to heavy handedly step in and tear up the contracts damaging their ability to do business in other sectors down the line. If someone else wants to come along and privatize the railways again, stop them in parliament.

If you already have nationalised industries, then what's the EU going to do?
It's renationalising them that's questionably dodgy.

Indeed, the EU rules are, basically "you are allowed to take a step towards free-market capitalism, but you are not allowed to take a step away from it".

And it's pretty obvious what happens in the long term to any country that is under that rule.

Reading on this, EU court quite explicitly said what Germany did was fine - it was British decision to go much further and privatize railway entirely; there's no indication it'd then find something similar to German system unlawful in UK. Sure if you try to jump in and tear up all contracts EU courts will quite rightly disapprove but refusing to renew contracts - no.

Not necessarily, post office privatization for instance went quite well.

there was the wholes scandal about them under selling it

Which was rather silly; government went on cautious side to avoid having to redo it which would have massively destroyed Royal Mail's perceived value - which is entirely valid approach to take. When startups go public, their value in subsequent days increases (hopefully), does that mean they were undersold?

Not necessarily, post office privatization for instance went quite well.

show

What? I haven't seen any reports of deterioration of service since royal mail privatization unless you've something that says contrary?

[Souseiseki]

What? I haven't seen any reports of deterioration of service since royal mail privatization unless you've something that says contrary?

profits slumped, jobs were cut, prices rose immediately, stocks were sold way under their real value. when you said "quite well" i imagined you meaning it was improved not simply not worse than before, which leaves us with little reason to ever do it in the first place.

e: fuck it, scrolling it you said "better" in the earlier post. it's up to you to show it's doing better.

[Wolfmanne2]

What? I haven't seen any reports of deterioration of service since royal mail privatization unless you've something that says contrary?

profits slumped, jobs were cut, prices rose immediately, stocks were sold way under their real value. when you said "quite well" i imagined you meaning it was improved not simply not worse than before, which leaves us with little reason to ever do it in the first place.

Well, the mail still gets delivered, so no biggie.