foolhandy
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Favourite CUFC match: vs Leicester C (H) 1982. Without that...?
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Post by foolhandy on Jul 6, 2024 22:07:14 GMT
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Post by champair79 on Jul 6, 2024 22:07:22 GMT
Changing the subject rapidly......... Admittedly it`s nearly forty years since I scraped a pass in A-Level Economics but it was always my understanding that public services in this country were funded by taxation. If that is indeed the case can somebody cleverer than me please explain why , when we`ve got the highest level of taxation since the Second World War - Our schools are literally crumbling The NHS is on the point of complete collapse Our prisons are having to let criminals out early because they`re at bursting point The police are so short staffed that they routinely don`t investigate burglaries Our road network is falling to pieces with potholes causing billions of pounds worth of damage to vehicles every year Public transport is an overpriced unreliable joke The court system has such a massive backlog that cases are taking up to FIVE YEARS to be heard The welfare and benefits system has broken down completely (I`ve been waiting SEVEN MONTHS for a decision which I was told should take no longer than six weeks) What am I missing? We have an increasing elderly population with pensions to pay, a health service to keep them alive and social care (and councils in general) stretched to the limit. Also, a lot of post-war infrastructure is coming to end-of-life. We’ve been kicking the can down the road for decades not replacing these buildings with modern, more energy efficient new ones. Most of our personal wealth seems to be tied up in housing too. Then you have Brexit and Covid just to rub salt into the wound. I feel like I pay a fortune in tax but recognise I probably need to pay more if we’re somehow going to reverse the decline. I’m happy to do that as long as I can see tangible benefits. |
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Brophypants
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What are you doing with my badge? :(
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Post by Brophypants on Jul 7, 2024 1:03:37 GMT
Changing the subject rapidly......... Admittedly it`s nearly forty years since I scraped a pass in A-Level Economics but it was always my understanding that public services in this country were funded by taxation. If that is indeed the case can somebody cleverer than me please explain why , when we`ve got the highest level of taxation since the Second World War - Our schools are literally crumbling The NHS is on the point of complete collapse Our prisons are having to let criminals out early because they`re at bursting point The police are so short staffed that they routinely don`t investigate burglaries Our road network is falling to pieces with potholes causing billions of pounds worth of damage to vehicles every year Public transport is an overpriced unreliable joke The court system has such a massive backlog that cases are taking up to FIVE YEARS to be heard The welfare and benefits system has broken down completely (I`ve been waiting SEVEN MONTHS for a decision which I was told should take no longer than six weeks) What am I missing? The mass transfer of wealth to the already rich. This "small state" is a vessel for moving taxpayer funds towards shareholder pockets. Some examples. Privatised water companies not only failed to invest their profits in infrastructure, they actively decommissioned reservoirs, and charged the taxpayer to do so. They took huge profits, and one of the first things the government did in the pandemic was to remove the "red tape" around waste discharge. NHS supplies are contracted out in bulk, so if you want to use this company's high end equipment, you have to pay a hundred times the market value for the dressings they also provide. Many many contracts in all realms of government expenditure have explicitly costly terms to the state. Some include guaranteed profits, the ability to sue the government for not making enough money, underwriting of expenditure, writing off outgoing debt but taking on incoming debt. Breaking the contract off early if it becomes unfavorable at any point to the provider. Removing expertise from the state, so that future governments don't have a choice but to use private expertise is another fun one. Hell, HMRC second staff from the big tax companies to write the rules around tax changes, which they then go back to their clients and teach how to avoid. Councils all used to have people that would check the quality of new builds, but those got sacked off and now the job goes to big private companies that have to follow less regulations. They don't even check all properties these days. Just check a "representative" property that we promise wink wink nudge nudge is exactly the same as the others and sign them all off. In a word, then, it's all corruption. But it's a corruption that we teach is just economics, as if no other economics existed before neoliberal economics, and that any alternative is clearly ludicrous. Which would be great if core tenets of it didn't rely on nothing more than faith and disproved psychology. We, with the US and the Chicago school and the WEF, practiced disaster capitalism for decades on upturned economies in the middle east, Latin America etc, and then decided it was profitable enough that instead of waiting for other countries to be destabilised, we could exacerbate our own micro-crises at home and profit from those more consistently. And if we keep going "look, look, foreign/poor/young/disabled/trans people are getting a better deal than you!" muppets actually believe they're the problem. They think inclusive language from the "alphabet army" or "you people" is the problem with the NHS, not the deliberate sabotaging of it by consecutive health secretaries that literally wrote the book on how to dismantle it. The evidence is all around, but they don't understand it, so they shout about change to safe things they learned about in primary school. Only I learned about the "tongue map" in primary school and knew it was horseshit even then, and science has long since disproven it. You can progress with the world as very smart people's understanding of it gets better; you can relax and accept that some things you just don't know and other people just might be worth listening to; or you can sit and go not in my day and dehumanise woke lefty mobs or hordes of immigrants or whatever today's enemy of the weak (sic) is. |
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Post by kentishu on Jul 7, 2024 5:50:47 GMT
Corruption (both explicit and implicit) is a massive issue for sure but incompetence is probably just as big a factor.
Have any of you ever been involved in trying to win a regular government contract? Overwhelming reams of paperwork and procurement teams focused only on finding the lowest cost provider. Which means many good quality providers don't bother to compete (the company that I worked for, the market leaders in their field, didn't), and the chosen supplier is either stupid (accepting terms which are inherently unprofitable and delivering a substandard service and/or going bust in the process) or smart (have managed to get poorly understood but massively profitable contractual clauses incorporated because ultimately public sector procurement people aren't really that bright and there is little competition). In both cases, the element of trust necessary for a successful business relationship is entirely missing and the outcome totally predictable.
Kentish
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lesj
Reserve team substitute
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Post by lesj on Jul 7, 2024 8:05:18 GMT
Brown Envelopes ?
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imp566
Cult hero
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Post by imp566 on Jul 7, 2024 8:54:12 GMT
Corruption (both explicit and implicit) is a massive issue for sure but incompetence is probably just as big a factor. Have any of you ever been involved in trying to win a regular government contract? Overwhelming reams of paperwork and procurement teams focused only on finding the lowest cost provider. Which means many good quality providers don't bother to compete (the company that I worked for, the market leaders in their field, didn't), and the chosen supplier is either stupid (accepting terms which are inherently unprofitable and delivering a substandard service and/or going bust in the process) or smart (have managed to get poorly understood but massively profitable contractual clauses incorporated because ultimately public sector procurement people aren't really that bright and there is little competition). In both cases, the element of trust necessary for a successful business relationship is entirely missing and the outcome totally predictable. Kentish Unless you know someone who can 'smooth the waters', normally for a sweetener. |
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lesj
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Post by lesj on Jul 7, 2024 9:30:46 GMT
Well, this reminds me when a few years ago a gentleman I was speaking to said that his boss told him that we haven't got a lot of work " I will have to go and make a phone call". The gentleman said his boss came back 1/2 hr later and said " Don't worry we have now got enough work for the next 6 months"
Make of that what you will.
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neilmc4
Youth team substitute
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Post by neilmc4 on Jul 7, 2024 18:29:18 GMT
Got a lot of time for the Timpson appointment. Always been a bit of a unsung hero for the company approach to rehabilitation. Agreed. On the face of it a very unlikely recruit for a Labour Prime Minister - Timpson`s younger brother was a Tory MP and he himself was employed as a co-chair of the Small Business Council by Theresa May - but there`s no denying his expertise when it comes to the prison system. If you weren`t already aware he was the head of the Prison Reform Trust until his appointment by Starmer and Timpson`s company policy is to recruit at least 10% of their workforce from ex-offenders. Whenever I`ve heard him interviewed he comes across as very knowledgeable and level-headed with a strong sense of moral justice ; without getting carried away maybe , just maybe , a few more appointments like this might be a sign that the new Government aren`t going to go down the well-worn `jobs for our mates` route and could instead instigate the totally radical idea of appointing the best candidates for the jobs available , whatever their previous political affiliations. We`ll see , won`t we? |
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MartinL
Reserve team star
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Post by MartinL on Jul 7, 2024 20:20:23 GMT
Man who brought penises into the conversation unprompted claims to not have bought penises into the conversation unprompted. Jesus man, you can't gaslight when there's written evidence. Have your say and let's shake hands on it and agree to disagree... Andrew "Gaslight"... Jesus... You lot love a buzzword, don't you! You brought up penises, probably something you're unable to do in reality, I brought up the trans bullshit. You realise the vast majority of the country, are thankfully, in agreement with me? It's the very vocal and obnoxious minority that spout this utter nonsense that harms 51% of the population. I think it’s quite obvious to everyone on here that it was in fact you that first mentioned penises. Now the irony of this, is that you mentioned personal responsibility yet are unable to take it yourself. “You lot” are just rather unintelligent bigots. While we are here can you please provide evidence of your claim that the vast majority of the country are in agreement with especially when on this message board you appear to be in a minority of one. Funny that |
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Post by Funky Monk on Jul 7, 2024 21:20:29 GMT
On the "no FL club in a Tory seat" post, as has been pointed out elsewhere, it's from last season and Bromley are in a Tory seat. By a margin as thin as some Veras, but Tory nonetheless. Instead we now have a Prime Minister who thinks some women have penises... . Page 10, first mention of trans issues and penises. Does seem to have conflated transgender and transvestite along the way, but nonetheless, the lamp has dimmed I assure you. |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 8, 2024 0:54:38 GMT
"Gaslight"... Jesus... You lot love a buzzword, don't you! You brought up penises, probably something you're unable to do in reality, I brought up the trans bullshit. You realise the vast majority of the country, are thankfully, in agreement with me? It's the very vocal and obnoxious minority that spout this utter nonsense that harms 51% of the population. I think it’s quite obvious to everyone on here that it was in fact you that first mentioned penises. Now the irony of this, is that you mentioned personal responsibility yet are unable to take it yourself. “You lot” are just rather unintelligent bigots. While we are here can you please provide evidence of your claim that the vast majority of the country are in agreement with especially when on this message board you appear to be in a minority of one. Funny that Okay, fine, it was me who quoted Starmer. Can't think of a single person in day to day life who is in agreement. Many on the left, undeniably, live in an echo chamber. If you only surround yourself with people who think exactly as you do is it any wonder you're shocked when you hear a dissenting opinion? Call me a bigot all you like - water off a ducks back. I could quite as easily call you an anti-semitic misogynist being on the left. Might it be that many people are scared to voice their opinions on the matter, knowing how vicious the trans lobby can be? Livelihoods can be lost for thinking the "wrong way"... My worry is that laws will be brought in that stifle certain views. Scotland are already at it. |
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barry
Youth team regular
Posts: 929
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Post by barry on Jul 8, 2024 4:12:01 GMT
Welcome to the loony left. They will be letting out prisoners serving a fraction of their penance soon, can’t see that ending well.
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Post by somersetewe on Jul 8, 2024 4:57:13 GMT
Yet the previous government had already implemented early release of prisoners.
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Post by Tom Shaw's Fist of Rage on Jul 8, 2024 7:50:35 GMT
I think it’s quite obvious to everyone on here that it was in fact you that first mentioned penises. Now the irony of this, is that you mentioned personal responsibility yet are unable to take it yourself. “You lot” are just rather unintelligent bigots. While we are here can you please provide evidence of your claim that the vast majority of the country are in agreement with especially when on this message board you appear to be in a minority of one. Funny that Can't think of a single person in day to day life who is in agreement. Many on the left, undeniably, live in an echo chamber. If you only surround yourself with people who think exactly as you do is it any wonder you're shocked when you hear a dissenting opinion. I hope you can see the irony with these two statements. |
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barry
Youth team regular
Posts: 929
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Post by barry on Jul 8, 2024 8:04:00 GMT
Yet the previous government had already implemented early release of prisoners. . Now into even earlier release though. It will get to the point, if we aren’t there already, that prison ceases to be much of a deterrent. |
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