General News Thread

[CornwallFox]

19 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

 I couldn't vote for Labour at the last election mainly due to what I saw as a dishonest campaign. They promised the economy was safe in their hands, fully costed and budgeted, with no tax rises and an end to the abject failure of the Conservatives. I'm not sure the public were conned in to believing most of their pledges as the electorate just wanted change and to punish the last lot. They could've got elected without the nastiness. 

 

The rehearsed soundbites, £22b black hole, 14 years of the Conservatives etc over and over has turned people off. The new Home Office minister even used the further and faster thing on her first day! Just stop it!

 

The one thing you can say about Reform is they are the only party holding the Governments feet to the fire in such strong terms. Labour need to get a grip and soon.

 

I really, really want Labour to turn this around but I dont have confidence they have the ability or know how to do it.

 

For the first time ever, I didnt vote in the last election as I couldn't endorse any party.

The sound bites thing is an incredibly annoying thing across all parties, agree there be better off properly getting across what they're doing and why, instead of resorting to slogans. 

 

The £22bn black hole was real though. An example of something that was part of that: public sector pay rises. The Tories had received the independent pay panel recommendations well before the election (and those panels take into account the government's line on pay) and were going to have to be paid (particularly as the year before public sector pay was miles behind inflation and the Tories had pointed to the panel's recommendations as almost a binding reason they couldn't give more), so the Tories simply sat on the reports and didn't allocate any money. So when labour came in they needed to enact the pay panel recommendations and there was a black hole. Basically the whole thing was already a trap by the Tories. And there are loads of other examples that made up the £22bn. 

[Greg2607]

I was listening to a really interesting debate on LBC earlier which resonated with me... which was essentially this.... 

 

The "conservative" and "labour" voters of the past currently don't really have a choice in terms of political parties....   The Centre Right has been abandoned by the Conservatives and the Tories are moving increasingly into the space that Reform are occupying (which must be further right whichever way you look at it) 

 

The current labour government has probably moved to the Centre Right or at least closer to it than any previous Labour government... so those of a left leaning persuasion feel like they aren't represented either. 

 

which leaves us in a scenario where at the next GE...  in a system designed really for 2 or 3 parties at MOST, we are likely to end up with The Greens (who are doing well under Zack Polanski) Lib Dems, Labour, Conversatives AND Reform.... all taking votes off of each other and a result that is entirely unpredictable. 

 

FPTP wasn't designed for a 5 party system (and that's not including anything that Corbyn comes u with) - we could end up with a result that almost no one wants - which is arguably the situation labour have found themselves in this time around... 

 

it almost brings the argument for PR to the fore... at least that way, everyone's vote counts to a certain extent.  

 

 

Edited 15 September 2025 by Greg2607

[CornwallFox]

6 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

I was listening to a really interesting debate on LBC earlier which resonated with me... which was essentially this.... 

 

The "conservative" and "labour" voters of the past currently don't really have a choice in terms of political parties....   The Centre Right has been abandoned by the Conservatives and the Tories are moving increasingly into the space that Reform are occupying (which must be further right whichever way you look at it) 

 

The current labour government has probably moved to the Centre Right or at least closer to it than any previous Labour government... so those of a left leaning persuasion feel like they aren't represented either. 

 

which leaves us in a scenario where at the next GE...  in a system designed really for 2 or 3 parties at MOST, we are likely to end up with The Greens (who are doing well under Zack Polanski) Lib Dems, Labour, Conversatives AND Reform.... all taking votes off of each other and a result that is entirely unpredictable. 

 

FPTP wasn't designed for a 5 party system (and that's not including anything that Corbyn comes u with) - we could end up with a result that almost no one wants - which is arguably the situation labour have found themselves in this time around... 

 

it almost brings the argument for PR to the fore... at least that way, everyone's vote counts to a certain extent.  

 

 

Pr should have been implemented years ago. It's the only truly democratic way to elect a government.

[Lcfcbl]

13 minutes ago, StanSP said:

It's been debated as you wished since you asked it, not all posts have mentioned any side of politics... 

Apologies, I meant to quote Cornwall Fox replay, it wasn't a wider question.

[CornwallFox]

33 minutes ago, Lcfcbl said:

So if I'm a Reform supporter (currently wouldn't vote for them fwiw) it's not a fair question but if I'm not then it is? This is what I was touching on in my earlier posts, it seems we have to be pigeon-holed left or right but can not just have a honest debate about the simple question in front of us? 

No Id assumed wrongly that you were talking about potential privatisation of the NHS under reform as I didn't read your post correctly. 

That isn't what you were asking about though. 

'fair question' simply meant I thought your idea wasn't necessarily a terrible idea, certainly compared to what I thought you were getting at. 

Edited 15 September 2025 by CornwallFox

[Lcfcbl]

5 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

No Id assumed wrongly that you were talking about potential privatisation of the NHS under reform as I didn't read your post correctly. 

That isn't what you were asking about though. 

'fair question' simply meant I thought your idea wasn't necessarily a terrible idea, certainly compared to what I thought you were getting at. 

Fair play, thank you.

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, StanSP said:

You see some clips sometimes of Farage supporters being interviewed. 

 

They've got no idea what a Reform government would do once in power (apart from stopping the boats). When they're told the rich will essentially get richer and that they may need to start paying for NHS/Healthcare, they're baffled. 

 

A lot of the voters are wrapped up into the only one thing that they seemingly are supposed to care about - boats and immigration. 

I find it especially weird that so many people in the north, relatively unaffected by immigration, get drawn into this.

 

Stop the small boats! Where from? Denmark? That was over a 1000 years ago!

 

Of course Reform and the more uglier right wing groups will then say, "but Muslim grooming gangs, children murdered in Southport", neither of which were perpetuated by actual immigrants - just people of a different colour. 

 

Which isn't excusing that, but it's an entirely different subject, that in some areas even 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants feel marginalised or even flat out refuse to integrate. Nothing to do with stopping boats. Needs to be addressed in a completely different way.

[CosbehFox]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

Quick maths suggest there was 380 million GP appointments last year, charging for every single one at £20 a pop would raise almost £8bn for the NHS.

 

Before anyone jumps on my back and gouges my eye balls from their sockets, lets assume only 50% are chargeable, so that would raise £4bn approx.   

GPs are effectively private businesses though aren’t they? They are generally not managed by the NHS trust but rsther the group of doctors involved. Wages, admin et al. 
 

The best example would be potentially dentists - and outside of any check in, cleaning, the prices there get high very quickly 

[Sampson]

28 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

I was listening to a really interesting debate on LBC earlier which resonated with me... which was essentially this.... 

 

The "conservative" and "labour" voters of the past currently don't really have a choice in terms of political parties....   The Centre Right has been abandoned by the Conservatives and the Tories are moving increasingly into the space that Reform are occupying (which must be further right whichever way you look at it) 

 

The current labour government has probably moved to the Centre Right or at least closer to it than any previous Labour government... so those of a left leaning persuasion feel like they aren't represented either. 

 

which leaves us in a scenario where at the next GE...  in a system designed really for 2 or 3 parties at MOST, we are likely to end up with The Greens (who are doing well under Zack Polanski) Lib Dems, Labour, Conversatives AND Reform.... all taking votes off of each other and a result that is entirely unpredictable. 

 

FPTP wasn't designed for a 5 party system (and that's not including anything that Corbyn comes u with) - we could end up with a result that almost no one wants - which is arguably the situation labour have found themselves in this time around... 

 

it almost brings the argument for PR to the fore... at least that way, everyone's vote counts to a certain extent.  

 

 

100% agree with you on this. FPTP is designed for a 2 party system and we’ve now split into a European style 5 party system where you need it so every party gets represented so you end up with “blocks” - it’s not perfect and has its issues, but it’s surely better than everyone taking votes off each other and some party just randomly getting in on 20% of the vote just because of how their vote was distributed rather than who or how many actually voted for them.

[Samilktray]

I’ve found it a lot easier in the last 12 months or so to get a GP appointment #thankyoukeir

Edited 15 September 2025 by Samilktray

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

Quick maths suggest there was 380 million GP appointments last year, charging for every single one at £20 a pop would raise almost £8bn for the NHS.

 

Before anyone jumps on my back and gouges my eye balls from their sockets, lets assume only 50% are chargeable, so that would raise £4bn approx.   

Surely it'd be easier to gauge your eyes out if we jumped on your front?

 

See, this is what happens when you don't fund healthcare - people have no idea about anatomy.

Edited 15 September 2025 by Trav Le Bleu

[Md9]

So maga go on about free speech again yet as soon as someone says something horrible about Kirk ( I know there is some horrible stuff on there and no one should be killed for not agreeing with other peoples option ) they have been getting them fired from their jobs or attempting to put them all over the internet. They were not very sympathetic when Biden was diagnosed with cancer . It’s bizarre 

[Tommy G]

50 minutes ago, CosbehFox said:

GPs are effectively private businesses though aren’t they? They are generally not managed by the NHS trust but rsther the group of doctors involved. Wages, admin et al. 
 

The best example would be potentially dentists - and outside of any check in, cleaning, the prices there get high very quickly 

Correct but the funding towards GP salaries, premises and associated running costs will come from the state. 
 

Each way you look at it is I’m suggesting a nominal fee to see your GP exempting certain groups of people having to pay for it to raise £bn’s. 
 

 

 

 

[bovril]

29 minutes ago, Md9 said:

So maga go on about free speech again yet as soon as someone says something horrible about Kirk ( I know there is some horrible stuff on there and no one should be killed for not agreeing with other peoples option ) they have been getting them fired from their jobs or attempting to put them all over the internet. They were not very sympathetic when Biden was diagnosed with cancer . It’s bizarre 

https://www.economist.com/united-states/2025/06/10/does-america-now-have-a-woke-right

[kenny]

1 hour ago, CosbehFox said:

GPs are effectively private businesses though aren’t they? They are generally not managed by the NHS trust but rsther the group of doctors involved. Wages, admin et al. 
 

The best example would be potentially dentists - and outside of any check in, cleaning, the prices there get high very quickly 

The NHS would pay each surgery less each time the end user paid meaning the NHS budget would go further. Some of the problems with GPs are because they are run as businesses though, mostly by doctors that are really bad at running businesses.

[Heathrow fox]

Reading the last few pages you would think using the NHS is totally free.Roughly 5% of average bods income tax goes on funding it.Not enough maybe but the NHS certainly isn’t free.

[Tommy G]

Some good intelligent debate today (mostly) 

[CornwallFox]

3 hours ago, CosbehFox said:

GPs are effectively private businesses though aren’t they? They are generally not managed by the NHS trust but rsther the group of doctors involved. Wages, admin et al. 
 

The best example would be potentially dentists - and outside of any check in, cleaning, the prices there get high very quickly 

They are but they're governed by their NHS contract. They're very different to dentists. It could be done with GPs and would be similar to pharmacists taking the prescription charge. Not saying it's a good or bad idea, just trying to give some clarity on the fact it could work sensibly.

[Salisbury Fox]

11 hours ago, RobHawk said:

Ok, serious question here, I understand the optics and that he had to go, but what has Mandelson actually done wrong that has negatively effected this country? 

 

My understanding (and I may have missed something) is that he was best friends with Epstein, suckered in like many others were. Once convicted he stood by his friend, questioned the conviction, he says he hadn't seen anything along the lines of what he was being convicted for and ultimately he took Epstein's word at face value. He definitely showed poor judgement in this regard and hindsight shows it was a big error. 

 

So yes, poor judgement, yes poor optics, ok lose you job, but is that it? 

 

This is coming from a Tory party that cost the tax payer Billions of pounds, lining their mate's pockets and is a huge reason why our economy is so ****ed. Not to mention all the sleaze and scandal from Boris et al. 

 

What am I missing? 

He compromised his security vetting if he failed to disclose information that could be used against him by another party. Should be considered as a very serious offence given the potential implications to national security.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Tommy G said:

Some good intelligent debate today (mostly) 

I feel my healthcare comments were most informed.

Edited 15 September 2025 by Trav Le Bleu

[leicsmac]

One topic of conversation for the forthcoming state dinner:

 

"So, Don... did you happen to run into my mate Peter/my dear Andrew while you were being entertained on Epstein Island? Could do with knowing."

[Jon the Hat]

4 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

One topic of conversation for the forthcoming state dinner:

 

"So, Don... did you happen to run into my mate Peter/my dear Andrew while you were being entertained on Epstein Island? Could do with knowing."

Noooo you can't deny knowing it if you ask Donald, he will no doubt post it on social media on the way home.

[leicsmac]

6 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Noooo you can't deny knowing it if you ask Donald, he will no doubt post it on social media on the way home.

Fair point well made. 

[Zear0]

Wonder if his body will go into shock eating something other than McDonald's? 

[Jon the Hat]

21 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

Wonder if his body will go into shock eating something other than McDonald's? 

If you were fed as much fancy rich food as these leaders are fed, you would be craving some simple fast food as well!