Politics Today

[DB9]

Because it was only a real problem for the UK so no-one else cared.

As Mike said, we were very successful. So people wanted to come here to live, earn better money, learn English.

Was it? Germany, France, Italy have had problems in this area.

 

[RedPaul]

Was it? Germany, France, Italy have had problems in this area.

Not EU migration they didn't. They had issues with non-EU migration which is a different issue.

 

[IndoMike]

The disadvantages of leaving the EU far outweigh the advantages. It is a simple equation.

Leaving was a purely political decision based on nationalism It makes no sense
economically nor culturally.

Nationalism is an abstract concept, has no practical value, and is the home of bigots, opportunists, and populists.

You only have to look at the most prominent supporters of BREXIT to understand that. Farage, Robinson. Cummings, Trump, Bannon, Putin.
A motley crew if ever there was one.

The idea that we are taking back control is risible. Firstly the current Govt couldn't control goldfish in a goldfish bowl. And secondly, we have become geopolitical pawns of Putin and Trump (for it is they who really wanted us to leave).

Our Govt can't even control hundreds of thousands going to the beach. We are certainly not in control of BREXIT negotiations, negotiations which are vital for our future.

After BREXIT we will be seen as a minor player, in Realpolitik terms a 2nd rate nation We will be bullied by China , Russia and the US and will continuously have to swallow our pride We will have no clout, no influence on improving human rights around the world, no nothing.

We will revert to being a nation of shopkeepers living on a cold, wet and windy island : a nation which few will care about. The world will pass us by. Prime Minister Cummings and his sidekick will have the power they so crave.

A gloomy future.But that's what happens when people confuse nationalism with patriotism.

 

[IndoMike]

"Schools in England are being promised a £1bn rebuilding programme as Boris Johnson commits to giving children a “world-class education” after months out of the classroom, and pledges help for the economy to bounce back from the coronavirus crisis.

The 10-year investment plan for upgrades and refurbishments comes ahead of the prime minister’s key speech on Tuesday in the Midlands, where he will set out how he thinks major infrastructure projects – including hospital and house building – will form part of his plan for the country’s economic revival."

10- year plan? Ahem. Excuse me old man : haven't you forgotten there's an election in 4 years.
1 billion over 10 years (which includes money already budgeted)? Not much, is it?
Will you u turn again in 3 months and say you'll have to postpone the idea because not enough money?

This would be the first major schools rebuilding programme since 2014. It comes a decade after Labour’s flagship Building Schools for the Future scheme was scrapped by the Conservatives in 2010, an initial casualty of austerity that halted 715 rebuild projects.

 

[tavyred]

Because it was only a real problem for the UK so no-one else cared.

As Mike said, we were very successful. So people wanted to come here to live, earn better money, learn English.

Unfortunately that 'success' was predicated on a low wage, low productivity economy where too many workers were encouraged to work part time and top up their wages with in-work benefits. For every French or Irish EU immigrant earning big bucks in the City, there were many more mostly from eastern Europe who were encouraged to game the benefits system by UK companies happy to employ cheap state subsidised EU labour rather than invest in productivity.
Merkel was spot on when she said that the UK had it in its own gift to change its non-contributory benefits system and thus make it less of a draw for EU workers, but under EU rules that would've meant changing it for UK workers too.
In the end, the British electorate saw the unfairness, grew tired of it and made the decision for our Government in June 2016. QED.

 

[arthur]

Dear art and all other Labour Party supporters

I have just been reading the new books review in the Observer. Andrew Rawnsley reviews a new book by Andrew Adonis “Ernest Bevin: Labour’s Churchill”

I have just ordered it from the Guardian bookshop. I hope some of you might do so too.

Excellent review by Rawnsley. I also liked his analysis of the Long Bailey sacking
"You should really be somewhere other than the opposition frontbench if you can’t land blows on a cabinet minister as useless as Gavin Williamson."

Last sentence of the book review is horribly poignant and true. As we get to our age Al, I have started to accept that some things, and ways of doing things, have gone forever.

""He was the first of a kind" says Adonis. Alas, he was also the last of a kind"

 

[arthur]

Unfortunately that 'success' was predicated on a low wage, low productivity economy where too many workers were encouraged to work part time and top up their wages with in-work benefits. For every French or Irish EU immigrant earning big bucks in the City, there were many more mostly from eastern Europe who were encouraged to game the benefits system by UK companies happy to employ cheap state subsidised EU labour rather than invest in productivity.
Merkel was spot on when she said that the UK had it in its own gift to change its non-contributory benefits system and thus make it less of a draw for EU workers, but under EU rules that would've meant changing it for UK workers too.
In the end, the British electorate saw the unfairness, grew tired of it and made the decision for our Government in June 2016. QED.

We await Stunning's plan to recalibrate this low wage low productivity economy where workers top up their wages with in work benefits.

 

[tavyred]

We await Stunning's plan to recalibrate this low wage low productivity economy where workers top up their wages with in work benefits.

The eventual end of FOM should help in that regard art.
Unfettered EU migration and its wage suppressing effects will hopefully be a thing of the past in a few months.

 

[arthur]

The eventual end of FOM should help in that regard art.
Unfettered EU migration and its wage suppressing effects will hopefully be a thing of the past in a few months.

Silly me. There was I thinking unfettered EU migration had kept the nation fed, nursed and its bottoms wiped during the last few months

 

[tavyred]

Silly me. There was I thinking unfettered EU migration had kept the nation fed, nursed and its bottoms wiped during the last few months

Silly you indeed.
The end of FOM will have to be be offset by present and future Governments organising themselves to the extent where reliance on cheap foreign workers is reduced.
I want to live in a country with a high wage, high productivity economy and that means the UK has to end its obsession with a subset of temporary workers driving down wages for everybody else.