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

[sidcow]

21 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

A friend of a friend tells me you can get a 4DVD box set of every episode for about 20 quid on EBay

 

[one_ian_taylor]

On 17/04/2024 at 23:56, blandy said:

My MP. Previously caught up, a few years ago, in some kind of Brazilian rent boy and drugs story, who said he was gonna clear his name in court, but somehow never quite got round to it.  I mean, what they do in their lives is their business and if they like cocaine and prostitution, hypothetically, that’s y’know, not really any concern of mine. But it is a bit of a sign of some vulnerability and insecurity. It sounds like he’s not got his life in order.

He nearly found a spine about fracking, but…didn’t. He nearly found a spine about…a few things, but didn’t. Soon enough, or perhaps not soon enough, someone else will be the MP for here. See ya, Mark, another who put party before the people who he represents or his own prospects.

Now **** off.

On the news last night they said that there was also some previous investigation about getting a dog drunk. Just your every day Tory MP stuff really

[Genie]

What I often ask myself, are they words removed and so get attracted to the Tory party or are they initially quite normal but then turn into words removed after being in the Tory party for a period of time?

[mjmooney]

48 minutes ago, Genie said:

What I often ask myself, are they words removed and so get attracted to the Tory party or are they initially quite normal but then turn into words removed after being in the Tory party for a period of time?

The old biddy who was asked for the five grand to pay The Bad People: 

Quote

She said her family had been loyal Conservatives for generations.

"The party has been part of my life, I've run every election campaign here for 40 years.

"I work myself into the ground for the party - all they hear is a 78-year-old little old lady."

She added: "I am not having this brushed under the carpet."

"The party has let me down. I have said; my faith in the party is like my faith in God... they've let me down.

"I watch people go for a walk in this quiet area. Do I want them to go out and vote for a man who gets himself locked up and needs money to get him out? No."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68851004

(Link does not embed). 

[wishywashy]

Sunak plans to tackle unemployment. Is he going set up programmes to help particularly younger people into work? Incentivise training and encourage businesses to do the same? 

No, he's going to stop GPs from being able to sign people off work to tackle 'sick note culture'. And of course, good old fashioned stripping of benefits.

Of course, said 'sick note culture' is a complete myth:

EDIT: Was wondering what all this talk was clearly hiding. Turns out they're about to gut PIP. JFC.

 

Edited April 19 by wishywashy

[Xann]

It really is interesting looking back through the political threads here, because they do work as some sort of diary.

This article was linked in the Brexit thread in 2017.

Quote

 

FOR a think tank few have heard of, the Legatum Institute has a lot of influence. Funded with £4m a year from secretive billionaire Christopher Chandler, its surveys are namechecked by newspaper columnists, while it promotes the hard Brexit cause from its Mayfair offices.

As the Eye went to press, Legatum was planning to show its pulling power at the Conservative party conference, where Boris Johnson would be star speaker at a Legatum rally on how to create a “Global Britain”. If Johnson resigns from government to lead a right-wing assault on Theresa May, he will make good use of Legatum’s argument that no compromise that leaves Britain “locked in” to EU regulations or standards is acceptable.

The think-tank was not always a home for EU rejectionists. Until September 2016 it supported liberal ideas and employed acclaimed US historian Anne Applebaum and Peter Pomerantsev, an authority on oppression in Putin’s Russia. Then Baroness (Philippa) Stroud took over. Best known as an ally of Iain Duncan Smith, she had little time for colleagues who worried Brexit might go wrong. “Almost the entire staff has left or been fired,” one ex-Legatum employee tells the Eye. “Some agreed to be fired or even jockeyed to be fired in order to be paid off.”

Right-wing ministers
In their place have come the hardmen and women of the Tory right. Toby Baxendale, who helped run Andrea Leadsom’s Tory leadership campaign, is a trustee. Matthew Elliott, chief executive of Vote Leave, is a senior fellow, along with Tim Montgomerie, founder of Conservative Home, who recently accused the BBC of “looking unpatriotic” when it reported that the French were poaching jobs from post-Brexit Britain.

Right-wing ministers have welcomed Legatum’s “expertise”. It’s not just Johnson who entertains its gurus. Shanker Singham, Legatum’s director of economic policy, has advised David Davis and Liam Fox. Although the media describe Singham as a “former US trade negotiator”, a former US trade official told the Times: “He didn’t negotiate anything.” To imply that he was an authority on trade deals was “a bit of a stretch”.

Although Montgomerie plays the patriotic card, no organisation could be further from Britain than the Legatum Institute. It is funded by a foundation registered in Bermuda and controlled by a company in the Cayman Islands. Behind it stands Christopher Chandler, a remarkably shy billionaire from New Zealand. With his brother Richard, he turned a family inheritance of $10m into $5bn. They have given just one press interview in the 21st century – to Institutional Investor in 2006. Even then, Richard did most of the talking.

The Chandlers’ Sovereign Global Investment made money by finding undervalued assets the rest of market ignored, Richard explained – “transition economies or distressed sectors where information is not easily available and standard metrics don’t apply”. Sovereign was one of the first funds to pile into Brazil when the country opened to outside investors in 1991. It moved into Russia after the collapse of communism, and bought up assets in Japan and Korea during the banking crisis of the early 2000s.

The idea that investors could swoop on cheap assets after Brexit wrecks the British economy is, of course, so preposterous no sane person could entertain it. For, as no less a statesman than Boris Johnson told the Telegraph: “I am here to tell you that this country will succeed in its new national enterprise, and succeed mightily.” Who can doubt it?

 

https://www.private-eye.co.uk/

It's from Private Eye, their website has changed I think? The link goes to the homepage now.

Look at the names and what's happened since?

Collapsing councils in fire sales shocker.

 

Edited April 19 by Xann

[Genie]

1 hour ago, wishywashy said:

Sunak plans to tackle unemployment. Is he going set up programmes to help particularly younger people into work? Incentivise training and encourage businesses to do the same? 

No, he's going to stop GPs from being able to sign people off work to tackle 'sick note culture'. And of course, good old fashioned stripping of benefits.

I have mixed feelings on this because like most things this government touch it’ll lead to widespread suffering no doubt I know family members that absolutely take the piss with sick leave.

My mother in law will regularly take several weeks off because she feels like a break. The GP’s just can’t be arsed to challenge it (and she knows it). She has a colleague/friend who is equally piss taking.

Shes currently on a 7 week break which started because they asked her to do something she doesn’t usually do when someone else was on holiday.

She’ll take the first week (self certifying), then book appointment with GP and complain of stress. GP issues 2 week sick-note and before she leaves she’ll make another appointment for the day it expires to get it renewed.

I’d estimate she has a sickness rate of about 20-25% as she just plays the system when she wants a few weeks off.

Theres definitely room in the current process to get work shy people back to work and not clog up GP diaries, I doubt this government know how to do it safely though.

[markavfc40]

15 minutes ago, Genie said:

I have mixed feelings on this because like most things this government touch it’ll lead to widespread suffering no doubt I know family members that absolutely take the piss with sick leave.

My mother in law will regularly take several weeks off because she feels like a break. The GP’s just can’t be arsed to challenge it (and she knows it). She has a colleague/friend who is equally piss taking.

Shes currently on a 7 week break which started because they asked her to do something she doesn’t usually do when someone else was on holiday.

The trouble is for everyone like your mother in law there will be 10 genuine cases of people who are ill and will now potentially be assessed as to whether they are fit to work by someone who is incentivised to find them fit for work.

Digging a little deeper it seems that these Tory proposals include wanting to reform PIP which is a benefit to support those with long term illness/disabilities. Things like cancer, parkinsons, MS, COPD. In a lot of cases illnesses that are unlikely to ever be cured. Instead of giving cash payments he wants to replace those payments with access to treatment apparently. In 2024 in the 6th richest country in the world you'd expect people who are ill to be getting access to treatment anyway but the Tories have run down the NHS that much they are now looking to get people who are ill to give up their disability/sickness benefits to pay for treatment. Just when you think the bastards couldn't sink any lower. 

Just to add insult to injury the guy who announced these proposals today is a billionaire. 

[ender4]

I'm intrigued who is going to sign off people as sick if it's not GP's? Medically trained staff? 

Maybe get asylum seekers to sign off sick people, and get the sick people to assess asylum claims? Win win.

[sidcow]

44 minutes ago, Genie said:

I have mixed feelings on this because like most things this government touch it’ll lead to widespread suffering no doubt I know family members that absolutely take the piss with sick leave.

My mother in law will regularly take several weeks off because she feels like a break. The GP’s just can’t be arsed to challenge it (and she knows it). She has a colleague/friend who is equally piss taking.

Shes currently on a 7 week break which started because they asked her to do something she doesn’t usually do when someone else was on holiday.

She’ll take the first week (self certifying), then book appointment with GP and complain of stress. GP issues 2 week sick-note and before she leaves she’ll make another appointment for the day it expires to get it renewed.

I’d estimate she has a sickness rate of about 20-25% as she just plays the system when she wants a few weeks off.

Theres definitely room in the current process to get work shy people back to work and not clog up GP diaries, I doubt this government know how to do it safely though.

Yeah, it's a difficult problem. My brother in laws whole family is like that. It does seem a cultural thing. They're literally all doing it. Talk about it openly like a badge of honour. 

The GPs not challenging anything is well known. 

As you say they'll not actually root these people out though, they'll just move on and find the next loophole, but plenty of genuine cases will find themselves let down. 

I'd love to know who's going to do the assessments. Are they going to take medically qualified people away from doctors and hospitals fuelling the staff shortages? More likely they'll employ a bunch of completely unqualified clueless people who are just instructed to tick the rejection box at all times. 

Edited April 19 by sidcow

[sidcow]

To be honest it just sounds like more soundbytes from Sunak. I expect this morning there's a lot of red faced Gammons shaking their Daily Mails in the air shouting about finally sorting out the spongers. 

But will he ever actually get to implement anything? 

Edited April 19 by sidcow

[Genie]

1 minute ago, sidcow said:

But will he ever actually get to implement anything? 

Nope. I expect absolutely nothing will change between now and then being booted out.

[ender4]

49 minutes ago, Genie said:

I have mixed feelings on this because like most things this government touch it’ll lead to widespread suffering no doubt I know family members that absolutely take the piss with sick leave.

My mother in law will regularly take several weeks off because she feels like a break. The GP’s just can’t be arsed to challenge it (and she knows it). She has a colleague/friend who is equally piss taking.

Shes currently on a 7 week break which started because they asked her to do something she doesn’t usually do when someone else was on holiday.

She’ll take the first week (self certifying), then book appointment with GP and complain of stress. GP issues 2 week sick-note and before she leaves she’ll make another appointment for the day it expires to get it renewed.

I’d estimate she has a sickness rate of about 20-25% as she just plays the system when she wants a few weeks off.

Theres definitely room in the current process to get work shy people back to work and not clog up GP diaries, I doubt this government know how to do it safely though.

Yes, i know people like this as well. I have no idea how you can separate the ones playing the system from those that are genuinely sick. I suspect you just can't. 

I have had to sack a couple of people over the years who were 100% just taking the piss. They'd tell other staff they weren't really sick and then word would get back to me or other management. People really are daft, if you're faking illness at least don't tell your work colleagues about it!

[limpid]

6 minutes ago, sidcow said:

To be honest it just sounds like more soundbytes from Sunak. I expect this morning there's a lot of red faced Gammons shaking their Daily Mails in the air shouting about finally sorting out the spongers. 

But will he ever actually get to implement anything? 

It's a dog whistle to their (dwindling) base.

[sidcow]

9 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Yes, i know people like this as well. I have no idea how you can separate the ones playing the system from those that are genuinely sick. I suspect you just can't. 

I have had to sack a couple of people over the years who were 100% just taking the piss. They'd tell other staff they weren't really sick and then word would get back to me or other management. People really are daft, if you're faking illness at least don't tell your work colleagues about it!

A lot of insurance claims these days are kicked out when people put stuff up on social media. 

A particular favourite of mine was a fork lift driver claiming he could barely walk any more after a back injury but he was an Elvis impersonator and had videos of him loading his large heavy PA system into his van and gyrating on stage.

Another good one (from a Private Investigator) was a guy, same issue (it's always the back) walking down the road with enough sense to use his walking sticks but went to his mothers who was clearing her house. He helped out by lifting an old style massive TV above his head to throw it in the skip, and also physically climbing into it to rearrange stuff. 

These days it's usually social media stuff though. They can't help but put up videos of themselves doing gymnastics and martial arts. 

Edited April 19 by sidcow

[bickster]

Sunak really is trying to kill the Tory Party. Which demographic do you reckon this will affect the most?
People with cancer and the disabled are generally stacked at the older end of the demographic spectrum, you know, the ones that actually still vote for them.

And then of course there the question… who on earth is going to vote for a party that takes away their sickness benefit? 

How many court cases do you reckon will come out of this? How many unions are going launch cases against this? (Like all of them) 

He'll never get this done in this parliament (look how long Rwanda has taken and that isn’t over yet),I can see huge rebellion in the Lords, because… they are mainly old, so I can only presume this is going to be one of the main tenets of their manifesto.

Given the Union connection with Labour, there’s absolutely no way they'll allow Labour to run with their support if Labour don’t oppose it.

If he’s trying to pick an issue to set the Tories and Labour apart, he'll succeed but he'll absolutely be in the wrong side of public opinion in doing so. I have to question if they are that detached from reality and can only come to the conclusion that yes they are.

 

[wishywashy]

lol

[Genie]

41 minutes ago, wishywashy said:

lol

I have feeling this is the latest in the series of Rishi knew and did nothing because nobody was looking.

[bickster]

2 hours ago, wishywashy said:

lol

But most of the Tory Party's money is donors money in some shape or form, what they really mean is it was local donors not big fish donors but either way that isn’t a good look for them of true

[Captain_Townsend]

If I was Liz Truss I would hide away somewhere and hope people forget about me. 

Cannot believe the sheer brass neck of her to keep trying to get into the media spotlight after being such a wrecking ball of a UK PM. Also, given her support of Ukraine how can she look at herself in the mirror while endorsing Putin puppet Trump?