The banker loving, baby-eating Tory party thread (regenerated)

[Sam-AVFC]

1 hour ago, Follyfoot said:

In all fairness she thought the microphone was off

I really don't think the swearing is the issue, it's that she reacts churlishly a millisecond after believing the conversation is out of the public eye.

Plenty of her party, including herself, are happy to berate reporters on camera for trying to do their job and get information from them. The fact she waited until the interview was over in this instance says it all.

[bickster]

1 hour ago, Follyfoot said:

In all fairness she thought the microphone was off

I’m really not sure what point you’re making. It’s what she said not how she said it

[Follyfoot]

31 minutes ago, bickster said:

I’m really not sure what point you’re making. It’s what she said not how she said it

It reminded me of the Big Ron situation hence the flippant microphone comment 

[chrisp65]

In fairness to her, she shouldn’t have to be responsible for something, she’s only the Government Minister.

The real power is with that bloke on PTA that always claims he knows Elton John when the school fete needs a guest to do the tombola.

What an absolute shower of shite this government is, responsible for nothing, doing nothing. Grifters every last one of them.

 

 

[Genie]

I’m here aren’t I, you should be a bit more grateful 

[foreveryoung]

3 hours ago, Follyfoot said:

In all fairness she thought the microphone was off

Unfortunately the mics never off on here. 

[bickster]

Soooooo.... working really f***ing hard whilst others sat on their arses....

Quote

The country is facing a school building crisis. A reliable source has informed us that in early February, two months after the risk level was raised to high, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan remarked, “We just need to keep the lid on this for two years and then it’s someone else’s problem.“

East Anglia Bylines

 

[blandy]

11 minutes ago, bickster said:

Soooooo.... working really f***ing hard whilst others sat on their arses....

East Anglia Bylines

 

Until seeing your post, I had a little bit of sympathy for her. This problem has been known about for 4 years, spending on schools hasn’t been something she’s had any control over and when the recent case came to light she seems to have got off her arse and done something, despite being in the job less than a year. But it’s only a slight bit of sympathy. She’s part of a government that for 13 years has been ideologically cutting budgets and making stuff worse and taking risks with safety, pollution, health and all the rest of it, each trying to dodge any responsibility when stuff inevitably happens.  They’re as rotten as the concrete is.

[chrisp65]

You’d have to wonder, if we’ve known about this since either 2022, or possibly 2018, and some suggest 2017… why they stopped using the product in the 1990’s.

I guess it must have just sort of went out of fashion. Like asbestos.

[desensitized43]

5 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

You’d have to wonder, if we’ve known about this since either 2022, or possibly 2018, and some suggest 2017… why they stopped using the product in the 1990’s.

I guess it must have just sort of went out of fashion. Like asbestos.

Because (as I understand it) in the 1990s the substance had already been in use for 30-40 years so the very earliest generations started to show signs of deterioration and subsequently it stopped being used for new construction with the understanding that the existing stuff would be removed but (in fairness to the Tories) successive governments failed to get all of it out and now we've run out of road. That's the bit that's generous to the Tories. The non-generous bit is that there was a plan to refurb a bunch of schools but Tories gonna Tory, so they'd rather give it the money to people like Michelle Mone who, lets face it, deserve it way more.

[bickster]

8 minutes ago, chrisp65 said:

You’d have to wonder, if we’ve known about this since either 2022, or possibly 2018, and some suggest 2017… why they stopped using the product in the 1990’s.

I guess it must have just sort of went out of fashion. Like asbestos.

Quote

Professional engineering concern was raised in 1995 about the structural performance of RAAC following inspections of cracked units in school roofs.[13] Structural deficiencies and signs of corrosion were observed in 1996.[14] It was then recommended that owners of buildings, including schools, arrange for RAAC roofs to be inspected.[5] Concern regarding the material was subsequently raised in July 2018, following a roof collapse at Singlewell primary school in Gravesend, Kent.[15][16] In 2022, the UK Government Property Agency stated that "RAAC is now life-expired and liable to collapse".[4][17] In 2023, the UK government raised concerns about the structural integrity of buildings containing RAAC, and ordered remedial action to be taken.[18]

Wiki

[bickster]

Sorry, also this bit from the above Wiki

Quote

RAAC has been shown to have limited structural reinforcement bar (rebar) integrity in 40 to 50 year-old RAAC roof panels, which began to be observed in the 1990s.[4][8][9][10][11] The material is liable to fail without visible deterioration or warning.[4][11] The material is not the root cause, rather inadequate roof maintenance, which permits water infiltration, and compromised budgets, which affect the cost-benefit judgement on whether to replace roofs.[12]

So it's not the concrete itself but inadequate maintenance caused by... yep, budget cuts.

 

[Oaks]

4 minutes ago, desensitized43 said:

Because (as I understand it) in the 1990s the substance had already been in use for 30-40 years so the very earliest generations started to show signs of deterioration and subsequently it stopped being used for new construction with the understanding that the existing stuff would be removed but (in fairness to the Tories) successive governments failed to get all of it out and now we've run out of road. That's the bit that's generous to the Tories. The non-generous bit is that there was a plan to refurb a bunch of schools but Tories gonna Tory, so they'd rather give it the money to people like Michelle Mone who, lets face it, deserve it way more.

Kicking the can down the road and concentrating on getting reelected isn't just this terms issue its been an issue really since Thatcher if now longer.

[desensitized43]

1 minute ago, bickster said:

Sorry, also this bit from the above Wiki

So it's not the concrete itself but inadequate maintenance caused by... yep, budget cuts.

 

That's the Sunak way really, isn't it? What's a budget for if not to be cut?

[chrisp65]

2 minutes ago, desensitized43 said:

Because (as I understand it) in the 1990s the substance had already been in use for 30-40 years so the very earliest generations started to show signs of deterioration and subsequently it stopped being used for new construction with the understanding that the existing stuff would be removed but (in fairness to the Tories) successive governments failed to get all of it out and now we've run out of road. That's the bit that's generous to the Tories. The non-generous bit is that there was a plan to refurb a bunch of schools but Tories gonna Tory, so they'd rather give it the money to people like Michelle Mone who, lets face it, deserve it way more.

 

2 minutes ago, bickster said:

Wiki

 

Apologies, I knew this, I was being my usual self.

Don’t listen to anyone saying we’ve acted quickly, we’ve talked about doing something for 30 years.

There was talk on the radio today of pursuing the insurance companies of the manufacturers that supplied the stuff. Might be worth checking out the specification they were working to in the government contracts first.

I’ll put 50p on the Client contract stating three things:

1, that structural elements of the building have to last a minimum of 25 years

2, lowest price wins

3, if there is a conflict between 1 and 2, lowest price wins

 

[bickster]

Just now, desensitized43 said:

That's the Sunak way really, isn't it? What's a budget for if not to be cut?

And if you can't cut it, divert it, tender the contract to Infosys

[desensitized43]

2 minutes ago, Oaks said:

Kicking the can down the road and concentrating on getting reelected isn't just this terms issue its been an issue really since Thatcher if now longer.

I'm not sure I necessarily agree that this is precisely what's happened.

Not all problems have to be solved in their entirity over the life of a single government as long as there's a pathway to it being dealt with in sufficient time. Hypothetically (and I'm not saying this happened because I don't know) a Tory government in 1995 identifies a problem with 1000 schools and decides to fix 50 schools a year for 20 years, presumably having taken advice that the stuff is safe to wait that long in the most extreme case, Labour comes in in 97 and continues at that pace, but billy bob bellend Osborne and his lot come in 2010 and decide that on a purely financial basis to cut all the work. So who's fault is it? It's a problem that predates Sunak but that's really not an excuse is it?

[bickster]

8 minutes ago, desensitized43 said:

It's a problem that predates Sunak but that's really not an excuse is it?

Well even there its a yes and no. Presented with a problem in 2018 he needed to fund 3-400 schools almost immediately, he went for 50 a year. The point is, he's still very much on the hook too. That's not to say you aren't correct, you are but Sunak as Chancellor has culpability too

[chrisp65]

‘It wasn’t just me that ignored the risk to your children, others did too.’

 

Hell of a defence that.

[blandy]

23 minutes ago, desensitized43 said:

successive governments failed to get all of it out and now we've run out of road

This might be pedantic, but it isn’t the government’s job or responsibility to fix buildings like these. It’s rightly the responsibility of the building owners or local authority. The government role is basically twofold. To, where appropriate, provide funding for councils for this type of non-recurring work and to provide information advice and support- alert authorities that “such and such has been discovered, you need to check your buildings…”

It’s also the case that new buildings for schools, hospitals etc are something the government is responsible for from the national budgets.

Buildings all eventually require maintenance and refurbishment and so on. Where a “pattern” defect like this RAAC or cladding come to light there’s more onus on government to get more involved and this is where the Tories have fallen massively short.