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Politics, politics, politics (so long and thanks for all the fish)

Gilzeantoscore said:
If the Tories take parliament to term, I really think that they could be wiped out. There are some many allegations against them and the economy will in even deeper brick. I know that they are 25 points behind now, but it may be better than what lies ahead.
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They know they're done.
Leave a disaster for the next Govt and then point the finger because they aren't fixing anything
 
Gilzeantoscore said:
If the Tories take parliament to term, I really think that they could be wiped out. There are some many allegations against them and the economy will in even deeper brick. I know that they are 25 points behind now, but it may be better than what lies ahead.
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I think the coming General Strike will bring about an election by May. When theres no functioning public sector, the government is gone
 
Quelle Surprise !!


Arrests over alleged corruption at the European Parliament are "very, very worrisome", the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has said.

And Irish Foreign Affairs minister Simon Coveney said the charges against four people were "very damaging".

Among the arrested was European Parliament Vice President Eva Kaili - believed to be one of those charged.

Prosecutors suspect a Gulf state - reportedly Qatar - tried to influence parliament by donating money or gifts.

Qatar has denied misconduct.

Belgian police seized cash worth about €600,000 ($632,000; £515,000) in 16 searches in Brussels on Friday. Computers and mobile phones were also taken, to examine their contents.

Four people have been charged while two have been released, prosecutors said on Sunday.

No suspects have been publicly named but Ms Kaili is understood to be among those who have been indicted.

"They are charged with participation in a criminal organisation, money laundering and corruption," the Belgian federal prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Ms Kaili - an MEP for eight years - was suspended from her duties as one of 14 vice-presidents by president of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.

She has also been suspended from the parliament's Socialists and Democrats Group, and expelled from the Greek centre-left Pasok party.

Prosecutors in Greece have reportedly frozen all of Ms Kaili's assets.

Watchdogs and opposition MEPs said the bribery investigation could represent one of the biggest corruption scandals in European Parliament history.

"Certainly the news is very, very worrisome," Mr Borrell told reporters on Monday as he arrived at a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

"We are facing some events, some facts, that certainly worries me as a former president of the European Parliament."

Mr Borrell said the investigation did not target anyone from the EU's diplomatic service.

Also speaking before Monday's meeting, Mr Coveney said the allegations were "very damaging", adding that "we need to get to the bottom of it".

Meanwhile Terry Reintke, who co-chairs the Green bloc in parliament, has called for Ms Kaili's immediate resignation.

"We shouldn't even have to remove her from her vice president position," the German MEP said. "This should be done by her proactively."

Prosecutors said they suspected a Gulf state had been influencing economic and political decisions of the parliament for several months, especially by targeting aides.

Local media has named the state as Qatar, though the Qatari government said any claims of misconduct were "gravely misinformed".

Ms Kaili's responsibilities as vice-president include the Middle East. She has been a defender of Qatar in the past.

Ms Metsola flew from her native Malta to Brussels on Saturday evening to witness the searching of an MEP's house - as is required by the Belgian constitution.

Her spokesman said the European Parliament "stands firmly against corruption" and is "fully cooperating" with investigators.

The European Parliament is the EU's only directly-elected institution. Some 705 members of parliament, elected by voters in the 27 nations which make up the EU, meet to scrutinise proposed legislation and vote through European law.
 
At least the eu is investigating and prosecuting corruption as opposed to our government which is enabling it, engaging in it, and trying to cover their tracks!

tens of billions of pounds of ppe fraud and furlough fraud written off should be a national scandal and the end of the Conservative Party as we know it
 
Crab.C.Nesbitt said:
At least the eu is investigating and prosecuting corruption as opposed to our government which is enabling it, engaging in it, and trying to cover their tracks!

tens of billions of pounds of ppe fraud and furlough fraud written off should be a national scandal and the end of the Conservative Party as we know it
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The labour councilors in liverpool were arrested.
 
ricky2tricky4city said:
Here we go again...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63905505
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Actually some good ideas amongst this.

Our financial services sector is one of the few sectors the UK has that is up there with the best in the world. Brexit has damaged the sector somewhat and some sort of reform is required otherwise the UK risks one of our few revenue generating industries dwindling and a significant resultant loss of revenue to the exchequer
 
SpurMeUp said:
What good?

Listen I do agree. Brexit takes the brunt of the blame in the UK, and actually, its impact is not as profound as I and others suggest. There are all these other factors - war, covid, printing money and turning the QE taps off. But there is no doubt the UK has looked a complete shambles post Brexit. One thing you can certainly hang solely on Brexit is the state of our politics. We've had unelected PM after unelected PM. Each undermined by Brexit, each worse than the last incumbent. Hopefully, that has changed now. But the issue is Brexit is impossible to deliver in the way it was promised. There isn't cake from leaving the EU, just a slow, gradual decline of the UK. Lost academic funding and collaboration, lost trade, international presence etc etc. I never thought the effects would be felt overnight, but gradually. A gradual move from the center to the periphery for the UK. And I could take that if we were like Switzerland or the Nordic nations. But we are still getting massive immigration, and we're undermining our national services with less funding available while we add net .5m people.

It is time to be grown up about this, as our government are trying to find answers. Trying to implement a Swiss-like setup to undo some of the biggest issues.
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I'm sure it's true in many areas but in others...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1602935890036269057
 
P.D. said:
I'm sure it's true in many areas but in others...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1602935890036269057
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So many ways to measure things. Has that factored in 10% inflation for example? As outlined in the post you quoted, our national government has gone backwards since 2016. Those who run and are responsible for the NHS have been in limbo a lot of the time as their boss changed every couple of months. Many departments also had Brexit to contend with and restructuring and uncertainty around that too. Rather than move forward, the ministries have been firefighting or waiting. We are still in that unstable state now. With less money to spend and a 40b blackhole that needs to be filled.

I'd say the NHS probably hasn't had much more money spent, but the greater issue is how the money is spent and the management, motivation, vision etc are lacking.
 
SpurMeUp said:
So many ways to measure things. Has that factored in 10% inflation for example? As outlined in the post you quoted, our national government has gone backwards since 2016. Those who run and are responsible for the NHS have been in limbo a lot of the time as their boss changed every couple of months. Many departments also had Brexit to contend with and restructuring and uncertainty around that too. Rather than move forward, the ministries have been firefighting or waiting. We are still in that unstable state now. With less money to spend and a 40b blackhole that needs to be filled.

I'd say the NHS probably hasn't had much more money spent, but the greater issue is how the money is spent and the management, motivation, vision etc are lacking.
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Exactly this, the point of the strike is the money clearly isn't reaching the staff who have borne the brunt of the last couple of years. No doubt there has been bad spending in areas of the NHS by why should workers care about that
 
Grays_1890 said:
Exactly this, the point of the strike is the money clearly isn't reaching the staff who have borne the brunt of the last couple of years. No doubt there has been bad spending in areas of the NHS by why should workers care about that
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I think the interesting figures to see would be proportion of spending leaked into the private sector. The NHS needs to start acting like it's nationalised again and cut out private providers/withdraw from tendering regulations.
 
monkeybarry said:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63982819

For a country with such a strong focus and work/life balance and society, this feels like quite a significant statement.
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Different discussion but I find the concept of selling back annual leave a very odd one ,AL is there for work/life balance so it is essentially trading physical + mental wellbeing to attempt to stave off joke bills / prices that are unsustainable...

It's a balance (like everything) but work yourself to death and hate anyone else that doesn't have to do the same.
 
spurspinter1 said:
Different discussion but I find the concept of selling back annual leave a very odd one ,AL is there for work/life balance so it is essentially trading physical + mental wellbeing to attempt to stave off joke bills / prices that are unsustainable...

It's a balance (like everything) but work yourself to death and hate anyone else that doesn't have to do the same.
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I know what you mean.
But if you are in a position where you have the flexibility to buy or sell annual leave then you in a benefit credit when compared to the social baseline. You can't sell leave to a point where it's lower than the statutory minimum for leave - so all you doing is making a choice. That "generous" leave entitlement is nothing more than a salary reduction when a role is designed and costed.

You've just reminded me - I need to see how much it is to buy some annual leave. fudge working for a living.
 
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