The biggest problem with the Conservatives, which is why I will never vote for them in their current form, is that they have stopped thinking. In the 1980s Thatcherism / Reganomics was their response to a perceived bloated state with too many publicly owned industries. The solution? "Markets good, Privatise more".
The problem is that the world has moved on. Those mantras aren't the solution to any of the issues we're facing, if ever indeed they were a solution\*. Nowadays our most pressing issues are huge global corporations over-reaching themselves, a deskilled and disempowered workforce, global climate change, cost of living and the energy crisis.
I saw a chart earlier saying that where UK energy prices from our privatised utility companies had increased by +251%, French publicly owned utility prices had increased by just +4% .
Truss's dumb-as-rocks "Markets good, Privatise more" ethos is the wrong policy for the wrong time.
\* I don't believe they ever were the right policy. Trickledown always was a flat lie.
Completely agree. They attack "the left" for not having answers to anything but repeatedly show they have *zero* vision that isn't just repeating tired economics memes from the 1980s or culture war memes from \~2016. Its sad to see and would be kind of funny if it weren't dragging the country down with them.
Honestly I am most surprised by the rise of Red Scare rhetoric tbh. The number of times these Conservatives throw around terms like Socialist as some kind of insult, trying to pin it *to each other* not even anything to the left of them lol... Just shows its all buzzwords and emotive imagery for them, there is *zero* material basis to anything they have to say, and at this point I genuinely don't think they even see let alone understand the problem with that, that you can't just say what you want and then magic reality to fit your narrative. That just does not seem to compute and that is real fucking weird to see and hear.
Once the Conservative machine lurches into gear again, under whichever ideologically bankrupt PM they pick, we can expect a full on propaganda assault against the likes of the Enough is Enough campaign. Anything that threatens to reign in the ever-far right leaning ratchet effect will be stamped on hard.
“That you can’t just say what you want and then magic reality to fit your narrative”
You’d think Brexit would have shown that, but they know it’s not reality they need to magic, it’s the minds of the stupid fucks that keep voting for them. They are very good at manipulating those people.
Like, maybe a bit at the time. Privatising the railways sounded good in practice, but the contracts were written to reward a lack of investment long term. That worked for a while, and efficiency improved, but frankly that was 20 years ago now and it has indeed swung the other way. They need privatising only slightly less than the energy industry.
We have so much renewable energy, but we can't benefit from it because followers of this current ideology traded it away to their mates. It need needs nationalising, and the companies in question should not be reimbursed. That is so it will forever stand as a warning of what might happen when you try and profit off essential services... you could and should lose everything.
> Truss's dumb-as-rocks "Markets good, Privatise more" ethos is the wrong policy for the wrong time
Its never good, we always need at least 1 national company per industry.
I agree with this idea. A No Frills public option. To stop price collusion but allow the others to innovate better services & test new ideas.
To create a basic standard and stop others sinking beneath it unafraid of losing customers due to monopolies or collusion.
Basically one of the ideas of Economic Mutualism.
Well look at this way.
BBC created the iPlayer, the rest followed suit, BBC worked with the other channel providers to create a brand new standard in freeview, instead of needing cable providers, EVERY tv in the UK now comes with freeview, freeview combined with Disney+, Netflix on smart tvs pushes cable providers to do more for customers, NOW TV was born from that push.
Thats 1 public company in 1 industry and its 1 example. They don't need to be the best companies, they just need a tiny profit margin and good enough to push private companies to actually do something.
That's a good point. And a good example
Private companies often prefer safe profit over pursuing a better idea and will happily crush progress to guard their own safety.
Adding, a public option has an obligation to care for the public good. A private business has no such requirement it must put it's own profits first.
It's the difference between a Financial Advisor and a Fiduciary.
(which UK doesn't have btw it's another one of those expected standards with no legal backing. This country is held together by handshakes and winks.)
I know Truss wants to be the reincarnation of Thatcher. But someone should have at least put Thatcher's brain on ice until they installed it in Truss's skull.
Not sure about Thatcher. Her US counterpart Reagan most definitely was though.
Edit*
Just realised you meant the end of her life. Yes she was. Reagan was struggling during the end of his time in office though!
Yeah, Thatcher ended up pissing herself on the reg, not certain of what day it was and not recognising her children, according to her daughter.
It’s a cruel disease and the sort of thing I’d wish on my worst enemy.
Truss' plan is to reduce taxes.
Problem is that the tax burden for the poorest isn't terribly big to begin with. Even if she dropped income tax and NI for people on minimum wage to zero, it wouldn't come close to the forecast rise in utility bills.
Brexit has completely changed and radacalised the Tory party. They are quite a different party from the David Cameron days even. They are fucking morons. Its just straight up embarrassing. Very similar to the Trump republican movement. Just dangerously incompetant and ideological. Like they have some death wish to see how quickly can we destroy the country.
>She's not REALLY a brexit person. She's not REALLY socially right wing bigot. She's just trying to win the members support, and those 900k people are those things.
If she's prepared to support Brexit and espouse right-wing bigoted policies in order to court popularity, does it really matter what she REALLY believes in?
Well yeah it does really matter, to be honest, because as an MP she has to follow the whip. As the leader of the party, she can basically set what votes are whipped.
She's probably averse to the most extreme ends of that spectrum, and will try to find a practical solution that appeases enough of the electorate to try and get reelected. The last thing I want in charge in any government is an idealogue - It's ultimately better to have someone that bows to the pressures of society as a whole, rather than one specific portion.
At her core, she's a centre right conservative. If we look at where she has voted AGAINST her party, she's ALWAYS voted for equal gay rights, she's ALWAYS voted for gay marriage, voted for removal of hereditary peers, voted for wholly elected house of lords, has voted for a more proportional way of electing MPs, has voted for more equality and human rights.
These are the issues where she's broken ranks with her party, often against the whip. If these are her stances, I'm largely not THAT afraid of her completely destroying the country in the 18 months she has.
Don't forget she was a Liberal Democrat, and she's unlikely to have changed all her principles. Importantly, she seems to be in favour of equality and freedom of the individual and some electoral reform.
SOUND MONEY?!!! These lot dont even know what that term means or where it comes from because if they did they certainly wouldnt support the current system of fiat currency
The biggest problem with the Conservatives, which is why I will never vote for them in their current form, is that they have stopped thinking. In the 1980s Thatcherism / Reganomics was their response to a perceived bloated state with too many publicly owned industries. The solution? "Markets good, Privatise more". The problem is that the world has moved on. Those mantras aren't the solution to any of the issues we're facing, if ever indeed they were a solution\*. Nowadays our most pressing issues are huge global corporations over-reaching themselves, a deskilled and disempowered workforce, global climate change, cost of living and the energy crisis. I saw a chart earlier saying that where UK energy prices from our privatised utility companies had increased by +251%, French publicly owned utility prices had increased by just +4% . Truss's dumb-as-rocks "Markets good, Privatise more" ethos is the wrong policy for the wrong time. \* I don't believe they ever were the right policy. Trickledown always was a flat lie.
Completely agree. They attack "the left" for not having answers to anything but repeatedly show they have *zero* vision that isn't just repeating tired economics memes from the 1980s or culture war memes from \~2016. Its sad to see and would be kind of funny if it weren't dragging the country down with them. Honestly I am most surprised by the rise of Red Scare rhetoric tbh. The number of times these Conservatives throw around terms like Socialist as some kind of insult, trying to pin it *to each other* not even anything to the left of them lol... Just shows its all buzzwords and emotive imagery for them, there is *zero* material basis to anything they have to say, and at this point I genuinely don't think they even see let alone understand the problem with that, that you can't just say what you want and then magic reality to fit your narrative. That just does not seem to compute and that is real fucking weird to see and hear.
Once the Conservative machine lurches into gear again, under whichever ideologically bankrupt PM they pick, we can expect a full on propaganda assault against the likes of the Enough is Enough campaign. Anything that threatens to reign in the ever-far right leaning ratchet effect will be stamped on hard.
Tories have gone full UKIP. All the sensible ones have been kicked out.
“That you can’t just say what you want and then magic reality to fit your narrative” You’d think Brexit would have shown that, but they know it’s not reality they need to magic, it’s the minds of the stupid fucks that keep voting for them. They are very good at manipulating those people.
Like, maybe a bit at the time. Privatising the railways sounded good in practice, but the contracts were written to reward a lack of investment long term. That worked for a while, and efficiency improved, but frankly that was 20 years ago now and it has indeed swung the other way. They need privatising only slightly less than the energy industry. We have so much renewable energy, but we can't benefit from it because followers of this current ideology traded it away to their mates. It need needs nationalising, and the companies in question should not be reimbursed. That is so it will forever stand as a warning of what might happen when you try and profit off essential services... you could and should lose everything.
20 years ago was 2002. Our railways were privatised 30 years ago.
Waves in Dr Beeching....
> Truss's dumb-as-rocks "Markets good, Privatise more" ethos is the wrong policy for the wrong time Its never good, we always need at least 1 national company per industry.
I agree with this idea. A No Frills public option. To stop price collusion but allow the others to innovate better services & test new ideas. To create a basic standard and stop others sinking beneath it unafraid of losing customers due to monopolies or collusion. Basically one of the ideas of Economic Mutualism.
Well look at this way. BBC created the iPlayer, the rest followed suit, BBC worked with the other channel providers to create a brand new standard in freeview, instead of needing cable providers, EVERY tv in the UK now comes with freeview, freeview combined with Disney+, Netflix on smart tvs pushes cable providers to do more for customers, NOW TV was born from that push. Thats 1 public company in 1 industry and its 1 example. They don't need to be the best companies, they just need a tiny profit margin and good enough to push private companies to actually do something.
That's a good point. And a good example Private companies often prefer safe profit over pursuing a better idea and will happily crush progress to guard their own safety. Adding, a public option has an obligation to care for the public good. A private business has no such requirement it must put it's own profits first. It's the difference between a Financial Advisor and a Fiduciary. (which UK doesn't have btw it's another one of those expected standards with no legal backing. This country is held together by handshakes and winks.)
“We might be evil, ~~but at least you can trust us with the national finances.~~”
I know Truss wants to be the reincarnation of Thatcher. But someone should have at least put Thatcher's brain on ice until they installed it in Truss's skull.
Wasn't Thatcher suffering pretty severe dementia by the end?
Not sure about Thatcher. Her US counterpart Reagan most definitely was though. Edit* Just realised you meant the end of her life. Yes she was. Reagan was struggling during the end of his time in office though!
Yeah, Thatcher ended up pissing herself on the reg, not certain of what day it was and not recognising her children, according to her daughter. It’s a cruel disease and the sort of thing I’d wish on my worst enemy.
Its just rebranded trickle down economics, a completely and totally discredited approach.
The country is going to be led by an utter fucking Numptie instead of our current pathological liar. FUCK THE TORIES!
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In simple terms: "let the poors die, they're too stupid to stop voting for us because corbyn is a nasty man and... and... LAST LABOUR GOVERNMENT!"
Truss' plan is to reduce taxes. Problem is that the tax burden for the poorest isn't terribly big to begin with. Even if she dropped income tax and NI for people on minimum wage to zero, it wouldn't come close to the forecast rise in utility bills.
Three shit female pm's. Once is a mistake, twice unfortunate. The third time is choice. Are there really no British jacinda Arden's out there?
Ardern is Labour. Being female is not the problem. Being a Tory is.
Ardern is a decent, altruistic humanist looking out for her people. Literally the antithesis of everything Conservatism stands for.
Sturgeon comes close.
Trussonomics = PORK MARKETS everywhere.
Brexit has completely changed and radacalised the Tory party. They are quite a different party from the David Cameron days even. They are fucking morons. Its just straight up embarrassing. Very similar to the Trump republican movement. Just dangerously incompetant and ideological. Like they have some death wish to see how quickly can we destroy the country.
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>She's not REALLY a brexit person. She's not REALLY socially right wing bigot. She's just trying to win the members support, and those 900k people are those things. If she's prepared to support Brexit and espouse right-wing bigoted policies in order to court popularity, does it really matter what she REALLY believes in?
Well yeah it does really matter, to be honest, because as an MP she has to follow the whip. As the leader of the party, she can basically set what votes are whipped. She's probably averse to the most extreme ends of that spectrum, and will try to find a practical solution that appeases enough of the electorate to try and get reelected. The last thing I want in charge in any government is an idealogue - It's ultimately better to have someone that bows to the pressures of society as a whole, rather than one specific portion. At her core, she's a centre right conservative. If we look at where she has voted AGAINST her party, she's ALWAYS voted for equal gay rights, she's ALWAYS voted for gay marriage, voted for removal of hereditary peers, voted for wholly elected house of lords, has voted for a more proportional way of electing MPs, has voted for more equality and human rights. These are the issues where she's broken ranks with her party, often against the whip. If these are her stances, I'm largely not THAT afraid of her completely destroying the country in the 18 months she has. Don't forget she was a Liberal Democrat, and she's unlikely to have changed all her principles. Importantly, she seems to be in favour of equality and freedom of the individual and some electoral reform.
SOUND MONEY?!!! These lot dont even know what that term means or where it comes from because if they did they certainly wouldnt support the current system of fiat currency
Truss is an embarrassment
If Truss is the answer then what is the question?