CornwallFox

No I'm not saying that, I'm just asking why we constantly raise china as different to other state actors.

If your generation ever stops voting against the interests of the younger generations then we might stand a chance.

I didn't ask you to accept any guilt. But I'm fed up of reading a narrative that kids today are easy, previous generations had it so much harder, blah blah blah. It isn't true. Yes you may have had a hard childhood. That doesn't detract from saying that it's even harder today. I don't know why so many older folk can't differentiate between these two things.

I do not gaf about amortisation or book values.

Out of interest, genuine question here, but we're never, ever, ever going to be at war with China. They aren't a rival or adversary as they are a global superpower and we are a fairly average country with perhaps above average diplomatic clout historically, though probably not now. What exactly is it we're supposed to be scared of the Chinese doing?

Two people with bottom tier factory jobs and kids still owned a three bed semi and a car. The rest would probably be the same now but they wouldn't own the house now would they? Many things are on credit now because your generation has voted continuously to make the world like this. A new car then was affordable in a decent job. Now you end up with finance deals and lease cars because, like houses, cars have inflated much faster than wages. Kids now are much better educated, smoke less, drink less, do less drugs on average than previous generations. They were told to go to university to get a good job, now unless you work in a trade going to university gets you minimum wage. They've put more time and effort into their studies than your generation, paying and having huge debts, with a chunk of their wages then going towards that debt for decades, for virtually no benefit. Two adults with degrees can't afford a house, can't afford to start a family, they get stuck living with parents much longer. This is the world your generation and above has created.

People then had the equivalent for the time. You sound like you have zero clue what it's like to be young today but are full of bile towards younger people. You are wrong. All of the statistics say you're wrong. Personal experience shows you're wrong. I'd suggest you try to look open minded at the world as it is today.

Absolute nonsense. I'm not young, I'm mid forties. Men in the 70s and 80s went to work and had a stay at home wife. In a normal blue collar job they earnt enough, in a sensible amount of hours, to run a house and take a fortnight holiday in Spain. That is a thousand million miles away from the experience of young workers now, who have it far harder in terms of work that pays, the fact both adults now work and can't have a fortnight abroad, the fact they can't afford a house, or kids, or anything much. You need to open your eyes to the world.

Walkers back in it's rightful place would be a winner

What is not understood by many is that sea level has risen by 8-10 inches over the last hundred years, most of that more recently. It's a small amount per year but recent years have seen the rise increasing in pace. There has been a sudden increase in the rate of sea level rise | New Scientist https://share.google/hnxCMr5dyzqMLg84G

Procurement is an issue because the private sector rips the public sector off. Beyond that, everything that can be cut has been cut. I've sat in meetings where the accounts have been poured over and all they've found the year before were some non-recurrent savings, and the only possible future cuts are direct cuts to services. This vague shout of waste that's constantly used is basically nonsense unless somebody can actually put exact names and numbers on the waste, and alternative options.

Shearer was the best out and out striker on the planet. You could argue he didn't do enough with England I suppose, but then aside from one tournament we never really delivered. Shearer in the man utd team would've had another 200 goals. And it always annoys me they don't count his pre-prem goals when they talk about him on TV

Private sector taking advantage of public sector procurement is an issue around the world. All the companies get together and raise their prices way beyond what they'd normally charge. And then their owners complain about tax rates.....

I'm not sure. General immigration has fallen by about 80%. It's only may but so far this year small boat crossings have fallen by 42%. Removals are running at record levels. Hotels aren't being used now. 3 years from now will this still be an issue that can be pushed in the same way? Whatever anybody says it's hard to overlook the fact labour have actually made pretty good progress. Obviously this could all turn around, but it's clearly something they're very focused on. As I've been saying, I think cost of living is everything. They maybe only have a year to get this right, but if they can cut energy bills - they're looking at delinking from gas prices - and do something about wider inflation, that's there only chance. Otherwise I think cost of living will be the issue.

The private sector taking advantage of government procurement definitely does need looking at

Vardy and Mahrez came 5th and 6th in the Ballon Dor list that year. That could be pointed at as recognition that they peaked at a world class level to enable us to win the league.

If the business you work for operated in an environment where ordinary people had money and/or the government was injecting additional funds into the economy to rebuild our nation, then the tax level would be less important, because there'd be more liquidity in the economy, there'd be more opportunity to make money, more reason to invest. You can cut taxes as much as you want but nobody has any money to spend in the first place. And government spending, which underpins the entire economy, has been held back year after year. No business is going to invest without orders, whatever the tax rate. Tax cuts for businesses in the UK have not produced the investment or growth claimed when tried before. Here's an article on this very thing. https://www.ippr.org/articles/cutting-corporation-tax-not-magic-bullet-for-increasing-investment

Indeed, taxation has gone up. Good article here: https://taxpolicy.org.uk/2025/06/27/uk-workers-tax-wedge-infographics/ Thing is, we've hugely reduced taxes on the rich over the years and had to recoup it elsewhere. The public sector is in pieces after years of cuts, there is nothing more to cut except services, as reform have found out in local government where they've been cutting local services and still having to raise taxes. Cost of living is the biggest political issue of our time and the reason why focus is on immigrants, benefits etc is because nobody working has any money and sees those other things as unfair. They weren't such big issues before cost of living hugely increased, and really the economy never recovered from 2008 as it was stifled by austerity at every turn. The choices are either blame foreigners and benefit recipients, cut both them discover they weren't the issue . Or spend some money as a government, get British businesses creating for the British people, fund them to invest. By actually turning on the taps for the first time in a generation.

There's also something lesser spoken about: the rise of self employment. The self employed are often tradesmen who made their way in their chosen craft before launching themselves. As business people though, although they see themselves as working class, they don't vote for anything the working class traditionally voted for. They don't like minimum wage rises, employment rights etc. They like less tax on business. They actually vote against the working class at every turn. They apparently hate graduates. Graduates now often earn less, have huge debt, careers like teaching just don't pay, many highly qualified individuals go to the public sector where they are treated and talked about not much better than dirt. But they are actually the struggling strivers now, who still vote for wage rises, business taxes etc, but are somehow considered the middle class. And, of course, the more self employed you have, the less tax revenue as they use every possible way of getting around paying tax. But with the numbers involved now that has a serious impact on what other tax rates need to be.

Since Harold Wilson, taxes on employees were at their lowest under Sunak, and their second lowest under Starmar. Cost of living is way too high. That's the issue. Prices won't come down, but they need to stabilise and then wages grow. But obviously any time the minimum wage is raised we get nashing of teeth on the right. Well how else do you propose cost of living is dealt with? Tax employees less, okay, so who do you want to tax more to make up the shortfall?

Just saw some sky adverts. Ten years ago today we lifted the premier League trophy.

Years ago they did a fan's match that was free with old players being the managers of the two teams. That was better than this.

Is this just because migrants are disproportionately in low paying jobs which the welfare state subsidises? The problem is low wages.

Error in climate related measurements..... Things are even worse than was thought re vehicle related CO2 emissions Climate scientist finds large errors in a global climate pollution database https://share.google/LAiZCav9eZWB2GIAd

Had never heard of Doechii until today but wow