General UK politics

[Andy_Ross]

Long-promised plans to close the gap between rich and poor parts of the country have been announced by the government.

The strategy, unveiled by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, will take until 2030 and aims to improve services such as education, broadband and transport.

Mr Gove said it would "shift both money and power into the hands of working people".

But Labour said the plans contained no new money and little fresh thinking.

Mr Gove told the BBC the strategy was not aimed at providing new funding but ensuring it is spent effectively on local priorities.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60216307

 

[The Don]

Mr Gove told the BBC the strategy was not aimed at providing new funding but ensuring it is spent effectively on local priorities.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60216307

Which means that Conservative areas will be provided with sufficient funding (so long as their MP hasn't been mean to, or about, Boris Johnson) and will have plenty to show.

Labour areas will be starved of funding but blame will be firmly placed on local leaders who have clearly failed to address local priorities effectively.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Quite amazing to hear a Tory minister talking about their mission to ‘save forgotten communities’ as if we live in a parallel universe where they haven’t spent the last 12 years brutally cutting their way through those communities.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Which means that Conservative areas will be provided with sufficient funding (so long as their MP hasn't been mean to, or about, Boris Johnson) and will have plenty to show.

Labour areas will be starved of funding but blame will be firmly placed on local leaders who have clearly failed to address local priorities effectively.

Well yes, they only have themselves to blame for not voting Tory!

 

[The Don]

Quite amazing to hear a Tory minister talking about their mission to ‘save forgotten communities’ as if we live in a parallel universe where they haven’t spent the last 12 years brutally cutting their way through those communities.

It's all still Labour's fault. As someone (you ?) pointed out with respect to the NHS, but which can be applied across the board, Labour should have had spending so high that a decade of Conservative cuts would still have left sufficient in the budget

 

[Carrot Flower King]

Just to show how "levelling up" spending really works: https://www.theguardian.com/inequal...nding-inequality-exposed-by-guardian-research

Aaaaaah, those bleak post-industrial wastes of Bromsgrove, where Sajid Javid just happens to be MP...Poverty-stricken Hambleton, which just happens to include chunks of the Richmond constituency, "home" of Rishi Sunak...Oh, what about the desolation of Mid-Bedfordshire? Wait, who's MP there? Why, Nadine Dorries!

What has Tory Girl Trevelyan done to offend? Berwick could certainly do with some extra dosh, 'cos all governments ignore us - they think we are in Scotland...

 

[Lothian]

Just to show how "levelling up" spending really works: https://www.theguardian.com/inequal...nding-inequality-exposed-by-guardian-research

Aaaaaah, those bleak post-industrial wastes of Bromsgrove, where Sajid Javid just happens to be MP...Poverty-stricken Hambleton, which just happens to include chunks of the Richmond constituency, "home" of Rishi Sunak...Oh, what about the desolation of Mid-Bedfordshire? Wait, who's MP there? Why, Nadine Dorries!

What has Tory Girl Trevelyan done to offend? Berwick could certainly do with some extra dosh, 'cos all governments ignore us - they think we are in Scotland...

Leveling up areas where the Tory majority was marginal was the plan.
it does seem to have gone awry. I was brought up in Sunak's constituency. Classic, stick a blue rosette on a sheep and it will be elected territory. Don't know why they need the Tory vote boosting.
Is your constituency is solid blue or alternatively has it already been written off by Tory HQ?

 

[Carrot Flower King]

Leveling up areas where the Tory majority was marginal was the plan.
it does seem to have gone awry. I was brought up in Sunak's constituency. Classic, stick a blue rosette on a sheep and it will be elected territory. Don't know why they need the Tory vote boosting.
Is your constituency is solid blue or alternatively has it already been written off by Tory HQ?

Berwick was Liberal and then Lib Dem for quite some time when Alan Beith was the MP; it was ignored for spending.

Tory Girl was elected in 2015 after Beith stood down. The Tories had long been second.

Many folk who'd voted for Beith, self-included, felt betrayed by the coalition, which was essentially making us complicit in a Tory government we never wanted - own fault for not taking the Orange Book more seriously. So we stopped voting Lib Dem. The Lib Dem vote did collapse in 2015.

Some just gave in to their inner Tory and voted for Talent-Free Zone Trevelyan. We're still ignored for spending.

I do seriously believe that many folk think we are in Scotland - the old "North of Hadrian's Wall" thing - so they don't have to consider what happens in much of Northumberland. This is allied to the regular misuse of "Northumbria", which is akin to me never calling Dorset Dorset, but always Wessex.

 

[Andy_Ross]

"Northumbria".

That would be the area around Citta di Castello then?

 

[Andy_Ross]

Boris Johnson is facing further calls to resign, as Tobias Ellwood became the latest Tory MP to say he wants to oust him from office.

The Bournemouth East MP said he would be submitting a letter of no confidence in the PM, amid the ongoing row over lockdown parties in No 10.

He joins colleague Peter Aldous, who said on Tuesday he had done the same.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60227531

 

[Darat]

...snip...

I do seriously believe that many folk think we are in Scotland - the old "North of Hadrian's Wall" thing - so they don't have to consider what happens in much of Northumberland. This is allied to the regular misuse of "Northumbria", which is akin to me never calling Dorset Dorset, but always Wessex.

Establishing the kingdom of Northumbria would help with levelling up!

 

[Andy_Ross]

Anthony Mangnall and Sir Gary Streeter have put in letters of no confidence.

It means a total of nine MPs have now said publicly they have taken this step.

A further three have publicly called on Mr Johnson to resign, although they have not revealed whether they have sent in letters of their own.

Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries attacked the latest MPs to put in letters, claiming they were "a handful of egos [who] want to make it all about them. It's selfish, doing Labour's work and it's really not helping their constituents."

 

[Andy_Ross]

Nadine Dorries tweets
@NadineDorries
· 1h
The defining mission of the PM & this government is to level up the whole of the UK. On the very day we are setting out steps to make this happen, a handful of egos want to make it all about them. It's selfish, doing Labours work and it’s really not helping their constituents.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Impressive to see Tories saying Starmer was to blame for the actions of the CPS at the same time as saying Johnson is not to blame for the actions of Downing Street.

 

[Andy_Ross]

deleted

 

[The Don]

Today's the day that people will find out how much more expensive their energy is going to be.

Millions of people facing a spike in energy costs will find out shortly how much more they will have to pay.

The energy regulator's new price cap - the maximum amount suppliers can charge customers for each unit of energy - is likely to add hundreds of pounds onto the annual bill for 22 million homes.

A typical household will face an annual increase of more than £600 on their energy bill, with a further increase of as much as £400 to come in the winter after the next cap is set in six months' time, analysts at Cornwall Insight have said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60234732

I understand that the UK government has no control over global wholesale gas prices and the laissez-faire attitude to managing the UK's generation mix has meant that there's no control over electricity prices. Nevertheless, this combined with the inflationary effects of Brexit and the upcoming National Insurance increase will, as usual, end up hitting those who are least well off, hardest.

I hope people remember this when they step into the polls but I fear that they'll just blame everything on a Labour Party which by then hasn't been in office for 15 years.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

It's all still Labour's fault. As someone (you ?) pointed out with respect to the NHS, but which can be applied across the board, Labour should have had spending so high that a decade of Conservative cuts would still have left sufficient in the budget

Just yesterday someone called into LBC & stated that they voted for Johnson to get the country out of the doldrums caused by the previous Labour government. FFS....

 

[The Don]

Just yesterday someone called into LBC & stated that they voted for Johnson to get the country out of the doldrums caused by the previous Labour government. FFS....

Most people don't pay very much attention to what is going on and are likely under the impression that the government before the current one was a Labour government on the grounds that they just take it in turns.

If you're that uncurious then you're not going to look beyond your usual media and friends to get different information and even if you do find out that Labour hasn't been in power for more than a decade, you'd be disinclined to believe it because it simply doesn't "feel right" (in the same way it doesn't "feel right" that 1970 is as long ago from today as 1918 was to 1970).

Gut feel seems to be remarkably resilient in the face of facts.

 

[Darat]

Today's the day that people will find out how much more expensive their energy is going to be.





https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60234732

I understand that the UK government has no control over global wholesale gas prices and the laissez-faire attitude to managing the UK's generation mix has meant that there's no control over electricity prices. Nevertheless, this combined with the inflationary effects of Brexit and the upcoming National Insurance increase will, as usual, end up hitting those who are least well off, hardest.

I hope people remember this when they step into the polls but I fear that they'll just blame everything on a Labour Party which by then hasn't been in office for 15 years.

And Labour had no control of the 2008 crash but the Tories still managed to pin the blame on them. Sadly I doubt Labour will do the same in reverse.

 

[jimbob]

Meanwhile the Government's levelling up white paper:

https://assets.publishing.service.g...ata/file/1052060/Levelling_Up_White_Paper.pdf

[IMGW=640]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKn8bd9WUAkG-0B?format=jpg&name=large[/IMGW]

The earliest known permanent settlement to be classifed as urban was Jericho around 10,000 years ago (Figure 1.1). The city had natural irrigation from the Jordan River, allowing it to produce and export the most expensive essential oil in the ancient world.5 This enabled Jericho to become a hub not only for commerce and trade, but for people and skills, culture and finance.


Constantinople was the capital of the Roman/Byzantine Empire (330-1204 and 1261-1453), the Latin Empire (1204-1261) and the Ottoman Empire (1453-1922). Its growth followed a similar model. Built on the Bosphorus Strait, it was easily accessible to other parts of the Roman Empire via the Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea and Danube River. It too became a magnet for commerce, culture and finance.

As social animals, humans have always congregated in groups. These communities were typically found close to natural resources and seaways, for food and trade. The earliest known permanent settlement to be classified as urban was Jericho around 10,000 years ago.
The strategic importance of London’s location was first recognised by the Romans, with the town of Londinium established around AD 47-50. Its location on the deepest and second longest river in the UK allowed large military and trading vessels access to the world’s seaways. This quickly established London as a multicultural hub for people, commerce, finance and culture, a position (unusually by historical standards) that it has retained for 2,000 years.

Spurious and repetitive dusting of irrelvant facts - On brand for Johnson. Presumably he thinks it helps.