General News Thread

[Fazzer 7]

Reform will become the official opposition in the Welsh Senedd. From virtually nowhere to opposition in one night. If that isn't a seismic shift I don't know what is. There is no denying it. Farage is the most effective politician in the country. 

[Lionator]

Just now, Fazzer 7 said:

Reform will become the official opposition in the Welsh Senedd. From virtually nowhere to opposition in one night. If that isn't a seismic shift I don't know what is. There is no denying it. Farage is the most effective politician in the country. 

I mean Plaid being the main party is the bigger story. While I don’t think we’ll have a Welsh independent movement, we’ve actually got a Welsh nationalist party leading Welsh government!!

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, Fazzer 7 said:

Reform will become the official opposition in the Welsh Senedd. From virtually nowhere to opposition in one night. If that isn't a seismic shift I don't know what is. There is no denying it. Farage is the most effective politician in the country. 

And thus we come back to the point that in this day and age of fast food politics, "effective" does not always or even often = "good" in terms of actual policy.

 

Edit: if you're keen on elaboration rather than the typically cheap hit and run, @Muzzy_no7, I'm sure someone will be about.

Edited 8 May by leicsmac

[CornwallFox]

41 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

You do wonder how large bureaucracies in other places appear to mostly work with better end results than in the UK, at least on the surface. How do they deal with this kind of problem, I wonder?

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.....

[StanSP]

Aside from the obvious immigration stuff Reform rely on, what other policies have Reform got that are actually worth considering or mulling over? 

[kenny]

1 minute ago, CornwallFox said:

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.....

Nothing to do with the truly horrific list of requirements by the procurement process of course. The hoops we have to jump through for public jobs mean we have to charge double what we would were it a private one.

[leicsmac]

8 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

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.....

 

5 minutes ago, kenny said:

Nothing to do with the truly horrific list of requirements by the procurement process of course. The hoops we have to jump through for public jobs mean we have to charge double what we would were it a private one.

Again, I'm curious as to why it appears (emphasis there) to not be as big an issue in other countries with similar large bureaucracies, both government and otherwise.

[The boy Linacre]

2 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Aside from the obvious immigration stuff Reform rely on, what other policies have Reform got that are actually worth considering or mulling over? 

I was going to ask what economic policies the voting population are making their decisions on, because these new incumbents will manage many of the day to day services Joe Public use and rely on.

In the end we are a very unhappy disillusioned electorate, and the party’s in power are/have not/not doing a great job, and being continually criticised plants the seed and propagates and supports that negativity and move towards those more extreme edges.

Can we have the positivity and hope of the 90’s back…..Time to get out things can only get better 😂😂

[leicsmac]

7 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Aside from the obvious immigration stuff Reform rely on, what other policies have Reform got that are actually worth considering or mulling over? 

Abandoning any kind of effort to fight climate change and so advocating a race to the bottom with other nations that inevitably ends in disaster.

 

Their other scientific policy areas appear to have more than a whiff of RFK Jr about them, too.

[Leicester_Loyal]

5 hours ago, davieG said:

It was like that at the County Council

 

57 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I think you'll find any large organisation is.

 

Royal Mail is too. We can't even change a bulb on a van, it has to go into the workshop and might not be seen again for weeks, to do a 5 min job. It's got to the point that drivers don't report small problems, because you invariably get a reserve van that's in worse condition than yours.

Public Sector has been like this for years, billions of pounds wasted every year, and the solution seems to be to give them even more money.

[Mike the Metal Ed]

8 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Abandoning any kind of effort to fight climate change and so advocating a race to the bottom with other nations that inevitably ends in disaster.

 

Their other scientific policy areas appear to have more than a whiff of RFK Jr about them, too.

To be fair Streeting has demonstrated he hasn't got a clue about medicine, so not much would change on that front.

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, Mike the Metal Ed said:

To be fair Streeting has demonstrated he hasn't got a clue about medicine, so not much would change on that front.

No reason to contradict you there, but I'm also certain he or a large portion of his voter base don't buy into straight anti-vaxxer sentiment.

[Parafox]

5 hours ago, davieG said:

It was like that at the County Council

It's a procurement thing. Neither the NHS nor the council can go to Mark's Electricals for example and buy a fridge. It has to be done through the identified suppliers. I'm not saying it's right, just that's the way it is.

 

Although if they bought from Mark's Electricals it might go some way to getting that building project on the old Grey Lady site finished. What an eyesore that has become.

 

 

Edited 8 May by Parafox

[foxy tiler]

I do think that the main media is generally owned by right wing millionaires and as such even when labour do get something right they wont get any credit. Only have to look at how Raynor was treated compared to nigel with his 5 million quid gift and dodgy house purchase. Media now isn't news its just opinion peices telling folk who to hate....then theres the oversees donors......

[Lionator]

44 minutes ago, StanSP said:

Aside from the obvious immigration stuff Reform rely on, what other policies have Reform got that are actually worth considering or mulling over? 

The plan will be massive tax cuts, especially for businesses. The plan will be to try and get more business in the UK, Singapore style. Like others have said in the past few days, Reform would run the country in the way that Japan and South Korea are economically ran. Away with workers rights, renters rights, disability rights, maternity rights, with the ambition that it’ll bring more business to the country and lead to economic growth. Of course for economic growth in the 21st century you need migration and cheap labour, so they will have a choice to make, economy or immigration. You can’t have both. 

[CornwallFox]

41 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

 

Public Sector has been like this for years, billions of pounds wasted every year, and the solution seems to be to give them even more money.

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. 

Edited 8 May by CornwallFox

[leicsmac]

6 minutes ago, Lionator said:

The plan will be massive tax cuts, especially for businesses. The plan will be to try and get more business in the UK, Singapore style. Like others have said in the past few days, Reform would run the country in the way that Japan and South Korea are economically ran. Away with workers rights, renters rights, disability rights, maternity rights, with the ambition that it’ll bring more business to the country and lead to economic growth. Of course for economic growth in the 21st century you need migration and cheap labour, so they will have a choice to make, economy or immigration. You can’t have both. 

Both Japan and South Korea have large and mostly effective public services, even if their welfare state is nowhere near as good. 

[Parafox]

1 hour ago, CornwallFox said:

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 give you... PPE. The prime example of ripping off.

[Lionator]

11 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Both Japan and South Korea have large and mostly effective public services, even if their welfare state is nowhere near as good. 

Ok it’ll be Japan and South Korea without the effective public services 😂 I guess basically then we’d be more like the worst parts of the USA. 

[leicsmac]

7 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Ok it’ll be Japan and South Korea without the effective public services 😂 I guess basically then we’d be more like the worst parts of the USA. 

Yeah, that's more like it. 

[LCFCJohn]

1 hour ago, StanSP said:

Aside from the obvious immigration stuff Reform rely on, what other policies have Reform got that are actually worth considering or mulling over? 

Scrap anything green - let’s ignore climate change and cause more extreme weather events and floods.

 

Scrap NHS. Leave people to suffer and die or get into debt over health.

 

Cosy up to Russia.

 

Generally tank the economy and industry in this country. 
 

There’s probably more…

[Tommy G]

57 minutes ago, Parafox said:

It's a procurement thing. Neither the NHS nor the council can go to Mark's Electricals for example and buy a fridge. It has to be done through the identified suppliers. I'm not saying it's right, just that's the way it is.

 

Although if they bought from Mark's Electricals it might go some way to getting that building project on the old Grey Lady site finished. What an eyesore that has become.

 

 

I was wondering why he hadn’t started building it, really odd 

[Tommy G]

49 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

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. 

There is no real incentive for anyone in the public sector to save money either, the decision makers. There is just the constant flow of the public purse, no incentives or demand from management, it’s a factor no doubt 

[Leicester_Loyal]

1 hour ago, CornwallFox said:

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. 

Those who work in the public sector see the waste first hand on a daily basis.

 

The red tape is off the scale and we seem to spend more time discussing or planning how to do work rather than actually doing it.

 

An example for you, we have to book our work hotels through certain companies, rather than booking.com etc. When we compare the prices, it's sometimes 3x more expensive, but we're not allowed to book through anything else other than an approved 3rd party, why? I can book the same hotel at the same time, for the same dates at a 3rd of the price. Just a pointless waste of money.

 

As someone else said above, can't even change bulbs on work vehicles, have to get someone out to change it, must cost a fortune in petrol, time, bulb, admin costs, all for a £1 bulb change.

[Tommy G]

46 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Those who work in the public sector see the waste first hand on a daily basis.

 

The red tape is off the scale and we seem to spend more time discussing or planning how to do work rather than actually doing it.

 

An example for you, we have to book our work hotels through certain companies, rather than booking.com etc. When we compare the prices, it's sometimes 3x more expensive, but we're not allowed to book through anything else other than an approved 3rd party, why? I can book the same hotel at the same time, for the same dates at a 3rd of the price. Just a pointless waste of money.

 

As someone else said above, can't even change bulbs on work vehicles, have to get someone out to change it, must cost a fortune in petrol, time, bulb, admin costs, all for a £1 bulb change.

And imagine that across the whole public sector. Billions wasted