news & politics:discussion

[steviewevie]

14 minutes ago, lost said:

Yes it needs to be done. Huge rise in young people unable to work due to depression or anxiety. Possibly another unintended consequence of scaring the crap out of them during coivd.

or the fact their futures look pretty sh*t.

[steviewevie]

just feels like young people made a whole load of sacrifices to help the oldies during the pandemic, and are not getting anything in return.

[zahidf]

 

[gizmoman]

1 hour ago, steviewevie said:

But schools thing, along with state of NHS, along with things like Grenfell...shows what happens when spending is cut. Someone needs to be honest with the country, public spending needs to increase, that money needs to come from somewhere, the amount we can borrow is more limited than the past, growth is not much above zero, taxes are already higher than have been for a long time...but we need more...tax wealth, tax capital.

Good luck with that if you're in Birmingham,

Birmingham City Council 'effectively bankrupt'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66715441

 

[Nobody Interesting]

4 minutes ago, gizmoman said:

Good luck with that if you're in Birmingham,

Birmingham City Council 'effectively bankrupt'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-66715441

 

If any major western government was judged on the same financial rules councils like Birmingham are then every single major western government would be 'effectively bankrupt'. The UK is, sadly, world leading when judged under those measures.

[lost]

1 hour ago, steviewevie said:

just feels like young people made a whole load of sacrifices to help the oldies during the pandemic, and are not getting anything in return.

Its debatable if being left to a life on benefits is a "reward" Life expectancy in areas with alot of long term unemployment appears to be a lot lower than areas without.

[Crazyfool01]

1 hour ago, Nobody Interesting said:

If any major western government was judged on the same financial rules councils like Birmingham are then every single major western government would be 'effectively bankrupt'. The UK is, sadly, world leading when judged under those measures.

looking at it many councils both Tory and labour are chronically short of money ....surely the issue is from the top ? if it was purely down to bad management it wouldn't as many ... councils have been cutting services for years ... 

[Nobody Interesting]

6 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

looking at it many councils both Tory and labour are chronically short of money ....surely the issue is from the top ? if it was purely down to bad management it wouldn't as many ... councils have been cutting services for years ... 

A lot is cos budgets from central government have been slashed - 70% best guess - the other 30% is down to councils failing to learn from previous mistakes.

Our local lot (Lib Dem) have cut drain cleaning budgets to 'save money' and in doing so we have (like we did 10 years ago when they did the same) have created loads of blocked drains so that when it rains it floods and the flood on the road makes more potholes that cost more money than they saved on drain cleaning to repair.

It seems all parties do not understand the vital importance of simple maintenance to save money in the long run.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, steviewevie said:

just feels like young people made a whole load of sacrifices to help the oldies during the pandemic, and are not getting anything in return.

The young made a whole load of sacrifices and now sadly older, more well of people are trying to move on and ignore it. That same elder generation that had much better chances when they were younger. 

[steviewevie]

38 minutes ago, lost said:

Its debatable if being left to a life on benefits is a "reward" Life expectancy in areas with alot of long term unemployment appears to be a lot lower than areas without.

not arguing that should be the reward at all. 

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, Barry Fish said:

Birmingham in trouble due to equal pay claims as they choose to pay women less than men.

That's management...

massively underfunded too id imagine as they all seem to be 

[pink_triangle]

47 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

The young made a whole load of sacrifices and now sadly older, more well of people are trying to move on and ignore it. That same elder generation that had much better chances when they were younger. 

Won’t change unless Young people start to vote.

[Nobody Interesting]

3 minutes ago, Barry Fish said:

That is subjective. 

My local council have cut back on none mandatory services like green bin collections (garden waste) - we now have to pay for this.

But its still meeting its mandatory obligations. 

So is it under funded ?

The reality is they are bcash cows and will consume as much money as you throw at them so you have to expect limits, controls and balance - basically, budgeting... 

All too much depends on who runs your local council now sadly.

I will try and locate it later but I saw a chart of %cuts and Labour, Lib Dem and Hung councils all had much more cut than Conservative ones - and recent grant hand outs have 80% gone the way of blue run co8ncils too.

Johnson even said once, not long before council elections, that if people wanted more funding then vote Conservative would give them more funding.

Mandatory Obligations were watered down in May 2019 so meeting them means less than ever before.

The whole thing is a mess though, and is not getting better any time soon regardless of who wins any election.

 

 

[Nobody Interesting]

2 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

Won’t change unless Young people start to vote.

So true - they did once (2017) and then felt utterly let down after everything changed and policy they supported vanished from most parties - and this is not me saying I support any particular policy or party, just saying how it was cos I know a lot of young voters who have all told me this.

[Neil]

just for@barry_fish poly toynby has written him an article.

 

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/sep/05/lucy-letby-nhs-management-critics-hospital-austerity

[Neil]

1 minute ago, Barry Fish said:

NHS is in a mess and it starts from the execute board downwards.  Its not really up for debate to be honest.  Its just a fact.

Do like the many coats you wear 🙂   One day pretending to be a Socialist and the next day defending high paid executives failing at their jobs.

do like the ignorance you display, unable to work it out. i've worked out you took your attack from the daily telegraph couldn't even think it up for yourself.

[Neil]

1 minute ago, Barry Fish said:

Todays topic is Council funding and Labours plans for social care.  

its the same thing - social care fell apart cos of cuts to council funding, sort out social care sorts out the nhs.

[steviewevie]

At least 26 English councils ‘at risk of bankruptcy in next two years’ | Local government | The Guardian

[Neil]

12 minutes ago, Barry Fish said:

Well it would certainly help the NHS but won't fix all the issues.

it will remove the bed blocking.

[steviewevie]

3 minutes ago, Neil said:

it will remove the bed blocking.

bed blocking beats?

[Crazyfool01]

28 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

At least 26 English councils ‘at risk of bankruptcy in next two years’ | Local government | The Guardian

yeah that's what I talked about when I mentioned the central govt funding issues .... if it were one or two then miss management would be more likely ... but with increased numbers then the fact they aren't getting the money to start with becomes more likely . Austerity has been hitting budgets for years and services are pretty stretched 

[Crazyfool01]

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/councils-bankruptcy-tax-uk-b2400419.html

 

“The funding system is completely broken. Councils have worked miracles for the past 13 years, but there is nothing left.”

nothing to do with Torys of course just mismanagement of councils 

[steviewevie]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

Won’t change unless Young people start to vote.

not enough of them. sh*t loads of old people though.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Won’t change unless Young people start to vote.

You’re right but I can understand why they don’t bother to vote. That doesn’t change the wider issue of the older generation in general treating youngsters like rubbish.

[Crazyfool01]

onshore wind .... gets go ahead ..... will see what actually happens