UK Politics Thread: The Mandelson Effect

[Nea Skotia]

Dragging the thread back onto topic, would that be rerailing rather than derailing?

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjr5vydwx0xo the dutch system does have its benefits. Though things have changed a bit recently. When I booked early, I got a significant discount(40% in my case), as long as I took the train between 09:00 and 12:00 in the morning. That was new for me. But I had to book in advance(which I was also not used to in the Netherlands), and my trip had to start and end between these hours.

So "Generally speaking, it is the same fare all day, every day. " is not entirely true.

Up here in Scotland, ScotRail was nationalised in 2022, and that has resulted in benefits.

The public sector absolutely can do things right - when it's not deliberately hamstrung to so-called prove it can't.

[Celritannia]

First Kent, now SEVEN more Reform-led councils are ‘considering tax increases’
When Reform promise you savings on your council tax bill, what else could you expect? It's not going to plan for the DOGE unit...

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

First Kent, now SEVEN more Reform-led councils are ‘considering tax increases’
When Reform promise you savings on your council tax bill, what else could you expect? It's not going to plan for the DOGE unit...

because it went so extremely well for the American "DOGE" thing.

[Emotional Support Crocodile]

First Kent, now SEVEN more Reform-led councils are ‘considering tax increases’
When Reform promise you savings on your council tax bill, what else could you expect? It's not going to plan for the DOGE unit...

Making promises to get elected is easy, actually running things isn't.

[The BlAAtschApen]

First Kent, now SEVEN more Reform-led councils are ‘considering tax increases’
When Reform promise you savings on your council tax bill, what else could you expect? It's not going to plan for the DOGE unit...

because it went so extremely well for the American "DOGE" thing.

The only place that went quite well for a long time with a doge was Venice.

[Emotional Support Crocodile]

because it went so extremely well for the American "DOGE" thing.

The only place that went quite well for a long time with a doge was Venice.

Farage ain't no Dandalo

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

First Kent, now SEVEN more Reform-led councils are ‘considering tax increases’
When Reform promise you savings on your council tax bill, what else could you expect? It's not going to plan for the DOGE unit...

Making promises to get elected is easy, actually running things isn't.

the far-right machine turning electoral victories into national dumpsterfires asap
like fricken clockwork

[The BlAAtschApen]

The only place that went quite well for a long time with a doge was Venice.

Farage ain't no Dandalo

I don't think Farage wants to invade Constantinople.

It would bring lots of Turks as migrants to the UK

[Dumb Ideologies]

Hiring external consultants to look for "waste" is actually very expensive and councils are generally nowadays very lean due to the massive cuts in funding* so I'm not surprised the DOGE approach didn't save any money.

*on a personal basis I have observed that cutbacks and stagnation of wages mean fewer staff AND the new hires having the minimum qualifications rather than any extra specialist knowledge. This means that when any long term strategy/policy documents need to be replaced or renewed the vast majority of the content needs to be written by...very expensive external consultants.

Big Consult are absolutely raking it in at the moment all around.

[NewAlbion]

Farage ain't no Dandalo

I don't think Farage wants to invade Constantinople.

It would bring lots of Turks as migrants to the UK

At least you called it what it is, Constantinople.

[The Notorious Mad Jack]

I don't think Farage wants to invade Constantinople.

It would bring lots of Turks as migrants to the UK

At least you called it what it is, Constantinople.

It's none of your business what it's called.

[The BlAAtschApen]

I don't think Farage wants to invade Constantinople.

It would bring lots of Turks as migrants to the UK

At least you called it what it is, Constantinople.

I went for the name how it was called in Dandalo's time.

Personally, I like Lygos as a name

[NewAlbion]

At least you called it what it is, Constantinople.

It's none of your business what it's called.

It will always be my business so long as people lecture me on my own ancestry. If they cannot mind their own business, I cannot mind my own either.

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

It's none of your business what it's called.

It will always be my business so long as people lecture me on my own ancestry. If they cannot mind their own business, I cannot mind my own either.

What if you maturely rose above them?

[The Notorious Mad Jack]

It's none of your business what it's called.

It will always be my business so long as people lecture me on my own ancestry. If they cannot mind their own business, I cannot mind my own either.

Bro lighten up it was a reference to this song

Anyway it's clearly called Lygos, no matter what some Trojan-descended barbarian decided to call it hundreds of years later.

[Velstrania]

First Kent, now SEVEN more Reform-led councils are ‘considering tax increases’
When Reform promise you savings on your council tax bill, what else could you expect? It's not going to plan for the DOGE unit...

Problem with any plans to cut council tax is that councils aren't spending money on nice to haves anymore, they're spending it on things the government insist they spend it on without giving them the money to spend.

[Platypus Bureaucracy]

because it went so extremely well for the American "DOGE" thing.

The only place that went quite well for a long time with a doge was Venice.

Fortunately the Right's approach to climate change means many Reform controlled areas will eventually resemble Venice.

[Forsher]

In 2025 we have attempted this hypothesis of "privatising everything and giving rich ppl with fat wads of money tax exemption will improve society" for 45 years (since 1980). The Cold War, lasting from 1945 to 1991 was 46 years.

At some point neoliberal ideas became "try the same failed plan over and over again, each time expecting different results".

There's a great novel about this... Not Our Problem.

It's an NZ setting but basically just imagine it as a "what if Thatcher/Major/Blair neoliberalised the NHS?" and you'll get the idea.

[Waowstan]

Poland is nearly as rich as the UK. How has it caught up so fast?

Good read in The Times. The short answer to the question in the headline appears to be: they actually build stuff in Poland.

[Sibersky]

First Kent, now SEVEN more Reform-led councils are ‘considering tax increases’
When Reform promise you savings on your council tax bill, what else could you expect? It's not going to plan for the DOGE unit...

And there are still idiots voting for them.
All reform voters are racists as they vote for racists, lock them all up

[NewAlbion]

First Kent, now SEVEN more Reform-led councils are ‘considering tax increases’
When Reform promise you savings on your council tax bill, what else could you expect? It's not going to plan for the DOGE unit...

And there are still idiots voting for them.
All reform voters are racists as they vote for racists, lock them all up

Plenty of people will vote for Reform, and so will I, as I have done already. There is nothing you can do about that.
Even then, Reform is not right enough.

[Sibersky]

And there are still idiots voting for them.
All reform voters are racists as they vote for racists, lock them all up

Plenty of people will vote for Reform, and so will I, as I have done already. There is nothing you can do about that.
Even then, Reform is not right enough.

I won't respect anyone who votes for Reform as my rights as a trans person are NOT negotiable

[The Xenopolis Confederation]

And there are still idiots voting for them.
All reform voters are racists as they vote for racists, lock them all up

Plenty of people will vote for Reform, and so will I, as I have done already. There is nothing you can do about that.
Even then, Reform is not right enough.

What would a party need to be in order to be right enough for you?

[Austria-Bohemia-Hungary]

Plenty of people will vote for Reform, and so will I, as I have done already. There is nothing you can do about that.
Even then, Reform is not right enough.

What would a party need to be in order to be right enough for you?

presumably it needs to have The Great Disruptor and Rebel Elon Musk in charge.

[Camtropia]

What would a party need to be in order to be right enough for you?

presumably it needs to have The Great Disruptor and Rebel Elon Musk in charge.

Musk supporters are so funny because they're all like "we're anti-establishment!" while licking the boots of the richest man in the world.