UK Politics Thread IX: Try turning the UK off and on again.

[Shrillland]

I don't watch TV much, however, this is still a concern. One could consider this a form of Corporate censorship.

Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

Pity...C4 could only go beyond the bounds because they didn't have to worry about profit. And what happens to S4C after this? Does Wales end up getting shafted again?

[Vassenor]

I don't watch TV much, however, this is still a concern. One could consider this a form of Corporate censorship.

Channel 4 privatisation to go ahead

Pity...C4 could only go beyond the bounds because they didn't have to worry about profit. And what happens to S4C after this? Does Wales end up getting shafted again?

Problem is the Conservative Party doesn't understand the concept of something being run for the public good rather than for hard profit.

[Philjia]

The list of candidates for the local elections in Gateshead are out. I'll be up against the Labour incumbent, and a token Conservative and Liberal Democrat. All candidates except the Labour incumbent are ward residents, with the Labour councillor living in a neighbouring ward. For reasons that are unlikely to become clear, a lot of Gateshead's Lib Dems use the description "Liberal Democrat Focus Team" on ballot papers. In addition to the parties standing my ward, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition and Save Us Now (a wingnut anti-5G and antivax party) are both contesting some seats in the borough.

[Nationalist Northumbria]

The list of candidates for the local elections in Gateshead are out. I'll be up against the Labour incumbent, and a token Conservative and Liberal Democrat. All candidates except the Labour incumbent are ward residents, with the Labour councillor living in a neighbouring ward. For reasons that are unlikely to become clear, a lot of Gateshead's Lib Dems use the description "Liberal Democrat Focus Team" on ballot papers. In addition to the parties standing my ward, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition and Save Us Now (a wingnut anti-5G and antivax party) are both contesting some seats in the borough.

There's a Green in my North Tyneside ward.

[West Bromwich Holme]

Channel 4 has an individualistic streak, as we've seen in its documentaries, but will this continue with the privatization?

Dispatches was, FWIW, fairly good, but will this commitment to serious news journalism continue, or will we end up seeing it focus on fluffy stories like Kendall Jenner and Love Island stars?

[Philjia]

The list of candidates for the local elections in Gateshead are out. I'll be up against the Labour incumbent, and a token Conservative and Liberal Democrat. All candidates except the Labour incumbent are ward residents, with the Labour councillor living in a neighbouring ward. For reasons that are unlikely to become clear, a lot of Gateshead's Lib Dems use the description "Liberal Democrat Focus Team" on ballot papers. In addition to the parties standing my ward, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition and Save Us Now (a wingnut anti-5G and antivax party) are both contesting some seats in the borough.

There's a Green in my North Tyneside ward.

Ideally we try to get a candidate in every ward so everyone who wants to vote Green can vote Green even if we're only aiming to win one seat, but as we're a small party this isn't always possible. Unfortunately, Gateshead haven't managed it this time.

[The Huskar Social Union]

Found this site via reddit earlier, it tracks the expenses of MP's and is laid out in a quite easy to read manner and breakdowns on how that money has been spent

So if anyone wants a little looksie into how much their MP spends regarding expenses, here you go.

[Nationalist Northumbria]

Anyone have any book recommendations for British politics? Interesting biographies, niche studies, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for.

[Philjia]

Anyone have any book recommendations for British politics? Interesting biographies, niche studies, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for.

Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle. Alexei Sayle's parents were communists. They were so communist they named him after Maxim Gorky. Stalin Ate My Homework is Sayle's account of his childhood and teenage years, all of which were spent deeply immersed in the far left politics of 1950s and 60s Britain.

[The Nihilistic view]

Found this site via reddit earlier, it tracks the expenses of MP's and is laid out in a quite easy to read manner and breakdowns on how that money has been spent

So if anyone wants a little looksie into how much their MP spends regarding expenses, here you go.

Definitely not an attempt to make it look like they take more money than they do by adding in salaries instead of just expenses.

[The Nihilistic view]

Channel 4 has an individualistic streak, as we've seen in its documentaries, but will this continue with the privatization?

Dispatches was, FWIW, fairly good, but will this commitment to serious news journalism continue, or will we end up seeing it focus on fluffy stories like Kendall Jenner and Love Island stars?

I'm not sure Channel 4 is that serious, some of their news team are unable to keep their own views out of interviews with people. I know it's a problem with the BBC to an extent as well but I think it's worse here. There is also so much shite on the Channel that has nothing to do with being a public good. There has been some great stuff in the past but I feel the trend has been downhill although I'd say that isn't much different to the state of TV in general. So I'm not sure what I think at the moment.

[Vassenor]

Channel 4 has an individualistic streak, as we've seen in its documentaries, but will this continue with the privatization?

Dispatches was, FWIW, fairly good, but will this commitment to serious news journalism continue, or will we end up seeing it focus on fluffy stories like Kendall Jenner and Love Island stars?

I'm not sure Channel 4 is that serious, some of their news team are unable to keep their own views out of interviews with people. I know it's a problem with the BBC to an extent as well but I think it's worse here. There is also so much shite on the Channel that has nothing to do with being a public good. There has been some great stuff in the past but I feel the trend has been downhill although I'd say that isn't much different to the state of TV in general. So I'm not sure what I think at the moment.

Ah, so they insisted on criticising the government. That explains the desperation to sell.

[Glevenschester]

Anyone have any book recommendations for British politics? Interesting biographies, niche studies, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for.

Revolt Against the Modern World

[Souseiseki]

The irony of talking about energy company profits after at least 31 have gone bust in six months.

pretty sure people are mainly just talking about the big six. apparently they're down from 99% of the market in 2008 to 70% of the market recently and afaik they're still all making profits. and the reason all the companies you're talking about are going bust is probably directly related to the factors that lead us to the big six in the first place. so, like, what even was the point of the post? i refuse to believe that you've been hanging out on UK politics threads for the better part of a decade and don't know what people are actually talking about. so why pretend that you don't?

[Nationalist Northumbria]

Anyone have any book recommendations for British politics? Interesting biographies, niche studies, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for.

Stalin Ate My Homework by Alexei Sayle. Alexei Sayle's parents were communists. They were so communist they named him after Maxim Gorky. Stalin Ate My Homework is Sayle's account of his childhood and teenage years, all of which were spent deeply immersed in the far left politics of 1950s and 60s Britain.

Thanks; looks interesting.

Anyone have any book recommendations for British politics? Interesting biographies, niche studies, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for.

Revolt Against the Modern World

No.

[The Nihilistic view]

The irony of talking about energy company profits after at least 31 have gone bust in six months.

pretty sure people are mainly just talking about the big six. apparently they're down from 99% of the market in 2008 to 70% of the market recently and afaik they're still all making profits. and the reason all the companies you're talking about are going bust is probably directly related to the factors that lead us to the big six in the first place. so, like, what even was the point of the post? i refuse to believe that you've been hanging out on UK politics threads for the better part of a decade and don't know what people are actually talking about. so why pretend that you don't?

Although given that bill are probably going to jump again that profit doesn't exist. But regardless not even a percent of profit and its always been like that. Margins in retail energy are tiny and make no noticeable diffrence to a bill.

I know what people are generally trying to get at, unfortunately it's pretty much always an ideological energy fallacy that companies make loads of money off your bill but the facts don't support that and never have. Nationalisation of energy isn't going to provide people with a massive windfall and once you factor in the potential for Unions holding certain governments over the barrel it could well end up a fair bit more expensive long term. There are many reasons for the level of our energy bills however the profit of gas and electricity suppliers isn't one of them.

[Kerwa]

The list of candidates for the local elections in Gateshead are out. I'll be up against the Labour incumbent, and a token Conservative and Liberal Democrat. All candidates except the Labour incumbent are ward residents, with the Labour councillor living in a neighbouring ward. For reasons that are unlikely to become clear, a lot of Gateshead's Lib Dems use the description "Liberal Democrat Focus Team" on ballot papers. In addition to the parties standing my ward, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition and Save Us Now (a wingnut anti-5G and antivax party) are both contesting some seats in the borough.

There's a Green in my North Tyneside ward.

Home of the other New York.

[Celritannia]

pretty sure people are mainly just talking about the big six. apparently they're down from 99% of the market in 2008 to 70% of the market recently and afaik they're still all making profits. and the reason all the companies you're talking about are going bust is probably directly related to the factors that lead us to the big six in the first place. so, like, what even was the point of the post? i refuse to believe that you've been hanging out on UK politics threads for the better part of a decade and don't know what people are actually talking about. so why pretend that you don't?

Although given that bill are probably going to jump again that profit doesn't exist. But regardless not even a percent of profit and its always been like that. Margins in retail energy are tiny and make no noticeable diffrence to a bill.

I know what people are generally trying to get at, unfortunately it's pretty much always an ideological energy fallacy that companies make loads of money off your bill but the facts don't support that and never have. Nationalisation of energy isn't going to provide people with a massive windfall and once you factor in the potential for Unions holding certain governments over the barrel it could well end up a fair bit more expensive long term. There are many reasons for the level of our energy bills however the profit of gas and electricity suppliers isn't one of them.

At least if it's nationalised, people don't have to decide if they put money on energy, or use money for food.

That's really the serious problem that you have not factored in.

I know my mum and I will be struggling more because of the increased energy prices.

[The Nihilistic view]

(Image)

Although given that bill are probably going to jump again that profit doesn't exist. But regardless not even a percent of profit and its always been like that. Margins in retail energy are tiny and make no noticeable diffrence to a bill.

I know what people are generally trying to get at, unfortunately it's pretty much always an ideological energy fallacy that companies make loads of money off your bill but the facts don't support that and never have. Nationalisation of energy isn't going to provide people with a massive windfall and once you factor in the potential for Unions holding certain governments over the barrel it could well end up a fair bit more expensive long term. There are many reasons for the level of our energy bills however the profit of gas and electricity suppliers isn't one of them.

At least if it's nationalised, people don't have to decide if they put money on energy, or use money for food.

That's really the serious problem that you have not factored in.

I know my mum and I will be struggling more because of the increased energy prices.

No you still have to pay, it's a choice people had to make when the network was state owned. More so in fact on balance.

But this is what I mean by many reasons for it and those are the reasons you need to sort out if you want substantially cheaper energy.

I know before you've said your family situation can be tight, but it's more than superficial profit that will change your situation. As it happens I don't think my party can do that but I also don't think other parties will either. Just as one example I don't think the poorer households in society should be paying any sort of green levey or tax really at all. That's £250 or about eight times the profit level. But Labour and Lib Dems love these sorts of taxes, Labour introduced the origional scheme in 2002 and Lid dems didn't seem bothered in coalition. So I don't think that any main parties will really help in that regard.

Nor the Greens, their policies often seem to forget the behavioural change they desire isn't realistic for lots of people and you need a much better way of managing the transition. And no I don't Philjia is one of those sort of greens, I think he would agree with me we need to make sure that extra transition costs don't fall at all on the poorer. I just feel that too many people in positions of influence in his movement focus too much on demanding stuff instantly and not enough on how do we actually manage a realistic period of change that doesn't adversely affect the less well off.

I do think some of the current hardship has happened because of a lack of shorter term planning around making sure we have the mix of generation and energy supplies to cope with this sort of shock in a head long rush for being green. You don't have to slow down the pace to secure domestic gas supplies or not serious cut down spare generation capacity from other sources. You just have to preserve those things in tandem to help protect poorer people from the consequences of supply shocks and morally speaking I fall on that side.

Things that will instantly knock 10 or 20% off your bill not something that may or may not knock 1% in the medium term.

[The Huskar Social Union]

NEW from @IpsosUK: Rishi Sunak's favourability scores fall to their lowest since he became Chancellor:

Favourable: 26% (-10 from March)
Unfavourable: 44% (+11)
Net: -18

Sunak has only ever had a negative favourable rating one other time in our series (-6 in Jan 2022)

[The Nihilistic view]

NEW from @IpsosUK: Rishi Sunak's favourability scores fall to their lowest since he became Chancellor:

Favourable: 26% (-10 from March)
Unfavourable: 44% (+11)
Net: -18

Sunak has only ever had a negative favourable rating one other time in our series (-6 in Jan 2022)

About time, I've been saying for about five months he's far too soft touch, good to see public opinion has caught up with me.

[Vassenor]

NEW from @IpsosUK: Rishi Sunak's favourability scores fall to their lowest since he became Chancellor:

Favourable: 26% (-10 from March)
Unfavourable: 44% (+11)
Net: -18

Sunak has only ever had a negative favourable rating one other time in our series (-6 in Jan 2022)

About time, I've been saying for about five months he's far too soft touch, good to see public opinion has caught up with me.

So what should he be doing then?

[The Nihilistic view]

About time, I've been saying for about five months he's far too soft touch, good to see public opinion has caught up with me.

So what should he be doing then?

Some off the stuff I've said multiple times but things like, removing VAT from petrol, energy bills etc. At the very least delay the NI increase but preferably work it so it is only paid over £50k. Scrap car tax on cars below a certain list price when new. That's just a few things.

[The Nihilistic view]

Scrap insurance premium tax, that would be a pet project.

[Philjia]

Nor the Greens, their policies often seem to forget the behavioural change they desire isn't realistic for lots of people and you need a much better way of managing the transition. And no I don't Philjia is one of those sort of greens, I think he would agree with me we need to make sure that extra transition costs don't fall at all on the poorer. I just feel that too many people in positions of influence in his movement focus too much on demanding stuff instantly and not enough on how do we actually manage a realistic period of change that doesn't adversely affect the less well off.

In fairness one of our big policies that's got pretty solid support across the party is Universal Basic Income which is squarely aimed at making sure everyone has enough money to live on, although I do agree our manifesto can be rather wobbly and all over the place, which is a side effect of being democratically run. There's nothing in the manifesto our members didn't vote for, but the downside is that because it's unreasonable to get everyone to memorise 100% of what we already support, individual policies don't always link up as well as they could do.