pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Apr 22, 2023 17:03:30 GMT
It's certainly upset the Party HQs, I know we were told that l ocal parties were expected to fight all seats on local councils and any agreements with other parties had to be approved no lower than Regional Party level. That interests me as we have an unusually high number of Lib Dems standing in Braintree District (though still well short of a full slate). That party are very weak here and usually don't run many candidates, but perhaps orders went out to put up as many as they could.
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Apr 22, 2023 17:11:29 GMT
been reading a biography of Princess Diana. Amusingly, I came across this from 1989,
"Unfortunately, the Princess' visit came at a time when the local NHS resources in the area, Bethnal Green, were being cut back drastically. The local people were outraged because while waiting lists for 'ordinary' ailments were growing ever longer, the princess was using her official time to comfort AIDS victims."
First off obviously, a conservative government cutting NHS resurces is nothing new. In fact you could regard it as a core policy.
Secondly, at that time we had a real growing health crisis, AIDS. There was no cure or treatment for HIV and infectd people were accumulating before slowly dying. If spread had been allowed to continue, we would have reached the same siutation as certain countries ultimately did, with truly massive death. And yet spread was not prevented by draconian interventions, but a public health campaign about safe sex, and essentially legalisation of supply of drug taking equipment to addicts, no questions asked. The analogy with how sweden handled covid is very marked. They managed using straightforward advice and no draconian interventions.
Britain was lucky in that here AIDS became a disease mostly of gay men, because its a sexually transmitted disease and gay tend to transmit to gay, straight to straight, and we got it in the minority group. It could just as easily have been a straight plague as it has been in other nations. And lucky the government of the time decided to put aside moralising about sex to give practical advise, and indeed the steps it took permitting drug use, to thereby prevent spread instead of the normal ineffectual moral outrage creating an adversarial situation.
That outcome was a success. Lockdown was a failure which did not save lives but instead created a massive world recession. Are 40 year olds happy now that the result of their being locked up for six months is they will have to retire two years later? The vaccine program was somewhere between a disastrous failure (if you believe Alec) and a partial success (argument abounds).
The prncess in large part campaigned against over reaction against HIV, which was far harder to catch than most believed, causing terrible over reactions. Covid is much much easier to catch, in this case what has been hyped is the dangers if you do catch it. The epidemic needed someone like Diana standing up to make clear to people how they had been misled, but unlike then, this time government threw its weight behind exaggerating the risks.
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on Apr 22, 2023 17:12:52 GMT
They've missed a trick here should have included buy a whippet and a flat cap 😀 Perhaps they should follow the advice in this Victoria Wood song. "Pretend to be Northern." www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHscyhDp6Nk That's even more southern than the Mull of Galloway!
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Apr 22, 2023 17:28:13 GMT
Colin, I have come to the view that a few open political appointments by Governments so ministers can have someone they trust politically as progress chasers, policy drivers and priority setters at the heart of their activity would be beneficial to the body politic of the country. The current system of Spads with no formal authority but who civil servants may feel obliged to take instructions from is unsatisfactory as it gives no proper accountability channels. It would be no way need as extensive as in the US and I would exclude law officers but don't think the current balance is right. I agree jimjam that the current "balance " is not working. As I said , I think the theory that an immaculately impartial Civil Service will pursue , with vigour, the policy objectives of any and every government is flawed . I have a feeling it is from a bygone , more deferential era. And the apparent inability of the elected Minister to demand job performance criteria , without going through a third party disciplinary process makes me think it isnt fit for purpose today. Imagine a Private Sector company in a market demanding rapid responses from high level decision makers , in which the CEO could not make direct performance demands of his/her staff. The Ministerial Code and the Civil Service Code seem to function as though they related to two different entities. I like the idea of your half way house to a politically appointed civil service, ( I dont entirely like the US system) . But how would the seniority be structured between those accountable under a Civil Service Code -and those under the Ministerial Code ? Its a difficult one. Clearly it doesn't help staff morale when ministers throw phones, verbally abuse their staff , or, as in Raab's case act in an "intimidating manner". But neither does it help government efficiency , one must presume if/when civil servants provide inadequate / incomplete briefings, or fail to pursue policy objectives with vigour. I think you are spot on with the word "trust". When that breaks down for both minister and staff , I imagine the Department can no longer operate purposefully. "Half way house" just sounds like an extra layer, an unnecessary middle person, if they simply act as a 'buffer'. Perhaps jimjam is thinking specifically of someone like Sue Gray (in role of 'Chief of Staff' for Starmer-LAB) but then why also have a 'Cabinet Secretary' (if/when Starmer becomes PM). To have a similar duplication in each department would be simply that - duplication. Extra layers can course lots of problems beyond just waste of money. You can get 'Chinese whispers' so the message is changed as it passes through all the layers and the 'buffer' layer might be someone that one side (elected minister or 'normal' civil servant) doesn't get on with. IMO there are already way too many layers in most organisations and pretty sure that would apply to most of Whitehall (and certainly the NHS). Don't even get me started on 'consultations' and how much time and money is wasted on the inability of people in HMG and civil service to make decisions (eg on SMR nuclear sites and who is going to build them). I think most of us would agree that the US approach of replacing a huge amount of people every time the administration changes hands is a bad idea but I'd be curious of how other countries manage the issues of how their 'civil servants' interact with their 'elected' officials. Taking the example of healthcare once again then US has overdone it so far the other way that healthcare is a political football over there. Within Europe (and most of rWorld) then I don't get the feeling that healthcare is as 'precious' as it is UK. We've covered healthcare models in Europe many times but given there now seems to be considerable agreement that the NHS is broken then surely it is time to 'fix it' (and not by throwing money at it - something I would agree with Streeting on - although he doesn't seem to know what he would do from one week to the next).
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on Apr 22, 2023 17:30:19 GMT
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Danny
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Post by Danny on Apr 22, 2023 17:33:23 GMT
just seen a leaflet for elections to rother district council from the 'Rother association of independant councillors'.
Its an A3 sheet arranged in four A4 pages. Front page their two candidates pictures and who to vote for, photo id mentioned. Second page devoted to explaining the three tiers of local government and exactly what they are responsible for. Dont recall anyone explaining before exactly what you are voting for and its powers. Third page candidates biographies. Interestingly one is a former conservative councillor from elsewehere now living locally. Forth page long list of their claimed achievements and objectives.
I dont know if they have a full slate of councillors, but they seem to be a growing force locally. Both standing for re-election.
Wonder if they could mount a candidate to challenge the local conservative MP?
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Apr 22, 2023 17:44:58 GMT
I hope the good people in Braintree give CON a good kicking in their upcoming District Council elections. A message needs to be sent to CON HMG. We're paying for space in Rwanda so GET ON WITH IT and start using Rwanda - which will then hopefully be a deterrent to the 'queue jumpers' and 'economic migrants' paying criminal gangs to illegally (once the law is changed) enter UK. Braintree Council loses challenge over Home Office plans to turn Wethersfield RAF airfield into asylum centrewww.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/braintree-council-loses-challenge-over-8374829RUK are standing in three wards but as per UKIP then they'd make a good protest vote for those who want CON HMG to 'Get on with it'. For folks in other wards then 'abstain' is the only option (unless the Inds/RAs are anything other than arch NIMBY) www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/23439099.braintree-council-local-elections-candidates-standing/
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Apr 22, 2023 18:27:37 GMT
I hope the good people in Braintree give CON a good kicking in their upcoming District Council elections. A message needs to be sent to CON HMG. We're paying for space in Rwanda so GET ON WITH IT and start using Rwanda - which will then hopefully be a deterrent to the 'queue jumpers' and 'economic migrants' paying criminal gangs to illegally (once the law is changed) enter UK. Braintree Council loses challenge over Home Office plans to turn Wethersfield RAF airfield into asylum centrewww.essexlive.news/news/essex-news/braintree-council-loses-challenge-over-8374829RUK are standing in three wards but as per UKIP then they'd make a good protest vote for those who want CON HMG to 'Get on with it'. For folks in other wards then 'abstain' is the only option (unless the Inds/RAs are anything other than arch NIMBY) www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/23439099.braintree-council-local-elections-candidates-standing/While it's kind of Trevor to support my election campaign ( ) I'm not anticipating a Tory meltdown in these parts. Personally, I expect the Conservatives to retain control of the council. They only need 25 councillors to do that and they start with 34 on the 2019 numbers, so it would need substantial losses to go to NOC. Time will tell.
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Post by alec on Apr 22, 2023 19:12:53 GMT
Danny - "The vaccine program was somewhere between a disastrous failure (if you believe Alec)..." Stop lying Danny. You've been very clearly warned about this before, several times.
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Apr 22, 2023 19:26:18 GMT
More blue on blue attacks How on earth is she still the Home Secretary
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on Apr 22, 2023 19:53:50 GMT
Apart from the obvious inhumanity in the way that prescription charges can work in England (nowhere else in the UK has them), does anyone know how much of the revenue raised is swallowed up by administration costs?
When they were abolished in Wales, then NI, then Scotland it was argued that the administration costs meant that little net funding for patient care was released - but I haven't seen whether that is true or not. Not that it matters much to me, as providing free prescriptions to all is "a good thing".
"Woman who miscarried fined by NHS for claiming free prescription while pregnant"
www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/22/woman-who-miscarried-fined-by-nhs-for-claiming-free-prescription-while-pregnant?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
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Post by mercian on Apr 22, 2023 20:32:31 GMT
It's funny how there are loads of instances where politicians speak in a derogatory manner about civil servants and the Civil Service but relatively fewer the other way round. That is partly because of the rule of impartiality set on civil servants and partly because any public criticism of politicians is likely to affect their future careers. It's interesting and a good counterpoint to Raab's verbal incontinence yesterday that a number of retired civil servants have been on the airways today to speak on behalf of the CS in a way that serving civil servants are unable to do. There is of course no such constraint on the behaviour of serving politicians since they are not expected to be impartial or in lots of ways even behave in a professional way. I think you've revealed one of the real problems. No sure whether you meant this, but your statement implies that criticism of a civil servant by a politician doesn't affect the civil servant's career. i.e. It's a job for life however useless they are.
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on Apr 22, 2023 20:48:56 GMT
It's funny how there are loads of instances where politicians speak in a derogatory manner about civil servants and the Civil Service but relatively fewer the other way round. That is partly because of the rule of impartiality set on civil servants and partly because any public criticism of politicians is likely to affect their future careers. It's interesting and a good counterpoint to Raab's verbal incontinence yesterday that a number of retired civil servants have been on the airways today to speak on behalf of the CS in a way that serving civil servants are unable to do. There is of course no such constraint on the behaviour of serving politicians since they are not expected to be impartial or in lots of ways even behave in a professional way. I think you've revealed one of the real problems. No sure whether you meant this, but your statement implies that criticism of a civil servant by a politician doesn't affect the civil servant's career. i.e. It's a job for life however useless they are. No. It implies no such thing. As in any other job, if a legitimate concern is raised by anyone about a civil servant's performance, it should be investigated by their seniors, and appropriate action taken. The complainant, whoever they are, cannot be judge, jury and executioner. Due process requires to be conducted - else there is simply the exercise of arbitrary power.
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Post by mercian on Apr 22, 2023 21:13:24 GMT
Britain was lucky in that here AIDS became a disease mostly of gay men, because its a sexually transmitted disease and gay tend to transmit to gay, straight to straight, and we got it in the minority group. It could just as easily have been a straight plague as it has been in other nations. A You're not going to like this, but it is a disease primarily of gay men in this country because sexual transmission is much easier in the rear orifice than the front. It's to do with the thickness of the lining. The reason that it became a common heterosexual disease in Africa was because rear-entry is used as a form of contraception. Don't ask me how I know this.
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on Apr 22, 2023 21:16:50 GMT
Britain was lucky in that here AIDS became a disease mostly of gay men, because its a sexually transmitted disease and gay tend to transmit to gay, straight to straight, and we got it in the minority group. It could just as easily have been a straight plague as it has been in other nations. A You're not going to like this, but it is a disease primarily of gay men in this country because sexual transmission is much easier in the rear orifice than the front. It's to do with the thickness of the lining. The reason that it became a common heterosexual disease in Africa was because rear-entry is used as a form of contraception. Don't ask me how I know this. Did Prince William tell you about being the recipient of that practice?
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Post by leftieliberal on Apr 22, 2023 21:17:17 GMT
Another way of looking at these polls is to compare to the average from the first 3 months of 2023, when the Lab lead was around 20 points. the Tory recovery is a net 4 points - or a 2% swing-back. YG: LAB 43% (-1), CON 28% (+2). LAB lead 15% - compares to average of 22% in 14 Jan-Mar YG polls : so -7% Omnisis: LAB 47% (-1), CON 27% (+2). LAB lead 20% - compares to average 22% in 13 Jan-Mar Omnisis polls: so -2% Techne: LAB 44% (-1), CON 31% (+1). LAB lead 13% - compares to average 18% in 13 Jan-Mar Techne polls : so - 5% Savanta: LAB 45% (uc), CON 31% (+2). LAB lead 14% - compares to average 16% in 10 Jan-Mar Savanta polls : so -2% I know this is comparing apples and oranges (a 3 month average compared to single latest polls, even if those polls all point to the same direction of travel) but that is quite a drop in 3 weeks outside a General Election campaign. In a period where there might have been news for people like us, there's not actually much news that you'd expect the general public to react to as compared to the Truss budget, Covid restrictions brought in/removed, A&E/Paramedic chaos (it's still happening to some degree but not in the news) so even the lower 2 points in three weeks is unusual let alone the average on these of 4%. Mostly polls move slowly as individual voters will change their minds one at a time over time. My theory would be that there is a floor for the Tories in any General election of about 30% (and a similar one for Labour) and nothing in the news for concerned Tory voters to get upset about so maybe a period of relative calm takes them back to this floor. Maybe those always Tory voters were delighted at the 10% state pension rise? But it doesn't entirely explain it as the Lab drop is higher than the Tory rise wherever the churn has gone. Labour at 50% was always unrealistic, other than an outside chance the the voters had completely given up on the Tories, so they are only in more realistic territory now but if the trend continues and we get to, say, 42-32 by the end of the Summer then it gets interesting with a year to go. But maybe this is just swings and roundabouts and a bad winter NHS crisis again will reverse all the Tory gains and they are still chasing a big deficit with considerably less than a year to go. On the other side of the coin if inflation does drop then the comfortably off worried Tory (even though they would be comfortably off whatever the inflation figure) may feel less worried about the state of the nation and maybe the upcoming GE will focus rabid right wing Tories on the need to keep their mouths shut and not cause trouble for Sunak. To illustrate the point that James E made, here are the average VI for January to March and the VI for April (so far). Whilst it looks like the Labour lead is down to about 16% from 20%, what seems to be happening is that most pollsters are clustering rather more closely. So those pollsters with lower Labour leads have changed little but most of the pollsters with the higher Labour leads have moved over to join them. Omnisis is now an outlier, keeping its high Labour lead. People Polling have not polled at all in April and as they had the highest Labour lead, web sites like en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_electionwhich create a running average of all polls would represent this as a decline in Labour lead, even if the other pollsters had not changed.
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Post by mercian on Apr 22, 2023 21:28:03 GMT
You're not going to like this, but it is a disease primarily of gay men in this country because sexual transmission is much easier in the rear orifice than the front. It's to do with the thickness of the lining. The reason that it became a common heterosexual disease in Africa was because rear-entry is used as a form of contraception. Don't ask me how I know this. Did Prince William tell you about being the recipient of that practice?😕?
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Post by alec on Apr 22, 2023 21:29:14 GMT
colin/ jimjam - Re politically appointed civil servants; I can understand the desire to stamp authority on major policy delivery mechanisms, and superficially this may have some appeal, but there are grave dangers, in my view. Not arguing by any means that the UK system is currently strong, but one overarching feature of the Westminster system that is frequently forgotten is that, pretty uniquely as far as I can tell, the majority governing party has total power. There are absolutely no constitutional barriers to what a sovereign UK government can do. The monarch can be ignored, which judges are independent, laws can be changed in days if a policy is judged unlawful, parliamentary procedure can be totally controlled, scrutiny and oversight can be completely removed. Politicizing the civil service in any way under such a system risks a disastrous loss of credibility in the machinery of government. In countries where government posts are political appointees, such as the US, there are layer upon layer of constitutional safeguards, from written constitutions immune to simple majority vote, supreme courts, states and regional governments with rights that cannot be seized by the central government, and written protections for individuals that likewise cannot easily be rescinded. Even here, there is a risk of government overreach. Given the dreadful governance we've just seen for the last 13 years, I'd argue to maintain the strict neutrality of the civil service at all costs, accepting that this brings it's own problems. One last thought; perhaps the problems in this country are less around the inability of the civil servants to deliver, rather than the appallingly low calibre of the politicians we've had telling them what to do?
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on Apr 22, 2023 21:43:50 GMT
colin / jimjam - Re politically appointed civil servants; I can understand the desire to stamp authority on major policy delivery mechanisms, and superficially this may have some appeal, but there are grave dangers, in my view. Not arguing by any means that the UK system is currently strong, but one overarching feature of the Westminster system that is frequently forgotten is that, pretty uniquely as far as I can tell, the majority governing party has total power. There are absolutely no constitutional barriers to what a sovereign UK government can do. The monarch can be ignored, which judges are independent, laws can be changed in days if a policy is judged unlawful, parliamentary procedure can be totally controlled, scrutiny and oversight can be completely removed. Politicizing the civil service in any way under such a system risks a disastrous loss of credibility in the machinery of government. UKGov isn't "sovereign" and is subject to some controls through court procedures when they make arbitrary rules, unless the craven UK "King in Parliament" has given them carte blanche to do that. The UK Parliament does claim to have untrammelled sovereignty to do anything it wants, whenever it so chooses - and under FPTP, HoC often has the governing party with an absolute majority which will allow their leaders to do whatever they want.
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pjw1961
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Post by pjw1961 on Apr 22, 2023 21:44:02 GMT
Re progressive alliances, it is possible a bit more of this is going on than we have heard about yet. I was having a look at Rother DC because Danny had mentioned it and noticed a definite pattern that, with a handful of exceptions, the Lib Dems, Labour and Greens are not standing against each other; instead it tends to be Conservatives, Independents and just one of the 'traffic light' parties (Red/Amber/Green).
Maybe, regardless of what head offices think, local activists in strongly Tory areas are getting tired of always losing.
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Post by eor on Apr 22, 2023 22:00:43 GMT
When out earlier I saw a huge reminder about the need for photo ID when voting drift slowly past, as it was covering the side of a bin lorry doing its rounds. As I've noted before, I'm sure there is great variety between the effort made (and the methods employed) by different councils, but it did make me wonder about another possible impact of this change.
Given how frequently (and through such varied means) the council here in Coventry is making people aware of this change, could it also have the effect that more people will be aware the local elections are happening here at all? If so, that will make it even harder to discern the impact on voters of the ID requirement.
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Post by mercian on Apr 22, 2023 23:02:55 GMT
When out earlier I saw a huge reminder about the need for photo ID when voting drift slowly past, as it was covering the side of a bin lorry doing its rounds. As I've noted before, I'm sure there is great variety between the effort made (and the methods employed) by different councils, but it did make me wonder about another possible impact of this change. Given how frequently (and through such varied means) the council here in Coventry is making people aware of this change, could it also have the effect that more people will be aware the local elections are happening here at all? If so, that will make it even harder to discern the impact on voters of the ID requirement. Good point. Turnout might actually go up, thus (I presume) benefitting Labour and putting to bed the idea that it's all about voter suppression.
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oldnat
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Post by oldnat on Apr 22, 2023 23:13:21 GMT
When out earlier I saw a huge reminder about the need for photo ID when voting drift slowly past, as it was covering the side of a bin lorry doing its rounds. As I've noted before, I'm sure there is great variety between the effort made (and the methods employed) by different councils, but it did make me wonder about another possible impact of this change. Given how frequently (and through such varied means) the council here in Coventry is making people aware of this change, could it also have the effect that more people will be aware the local elections are happening here at all? If so, that will make it even harder to discern the impact on voters of the ID requirement. Good point. Turnout might actually go up, thus (I presume) benefitting Labour and putting to bed the idea that it's all about voter suppression. It would be interesting if an unintended consequence of requiring certain forms of photo ID in order to vote in England was to increase turnout of non-Tory voters, but that would not "put to bed" that the intended consequence was voter suppression. It might simply confirm that this particular Tory administration is simply incompetent in achieving what it wants to do, as well as everything else.
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Post by eor on Apr 22, 2023 23:20:26 GMT
When out earlier I saw a huge reminder about the need for photo ID when voting drift slowly past, as it was covering the side of a bin lorry doing its rounds. As I've noted before, I'm sure there is great variety between the effort made (and the methods employed) by different councils, but it did make me wonder about another possible impact of this change. Given how frequently (and through such varied means) the council here in Coventry is making people aware of this change, could it also have the effect that more people will be aware the local elections are happening here at all? If so, that will make it even harder to discern the impact on voters of the ID requirement. Good point. Turnout might actually go up, thus (I presume) benefitting Labour and putting to bed the idea that it's all about voter suppression. I was thinking it'd be potentially messier than just scoping the turnout change in a given area - you'd need to have some idea how much the ID requirement had been publicised, but also to whom - could well be the case in a given ward that eg turnout stays fairly steady but people in one demographic have been put off voting (or been unable to do so) by the ID requirements and that just gets masked by turnout rising in another demographic who've seen five or six indirect reminders that there's a vote happening. And that's before you get into the demographic impacts on turnout that might be expected due to national polling, strength of feeling about leaders and so on. In other words, even if the effect of this change is not minor, I'm not sure how we'll be able to objectively identify it.
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neilj
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Post by neilj on Apr 23, 2023 4:39:07 GMT
Grifter's got to grift, although not sure why the tory party takes no action against him for deserting his duties so often. Could never feel sorry for Hancock, but it seems a noticeable difference in the way he was treated to Johnson
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barbara
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Post by barbara on Apr 23, 2023 6:41:18 GMT
It's funny how there are loads of instances where politicians speak in a derogatory manner about civil servants and the Civil Service but relatively fewer the other way round. That is partly because of the rule of impartiality set on civil servants and partly because any public criticism of politicians is likely to affect their future careers. It's interesting and a good counterpoint to Raab's verbal incontinence yesterday that a number of retired civil servants have been on the airways today to speak on behalf of the CS in a way that serving civil servants are unable to do. There is of course no such constraint on the behaviour of serving politicians since they are not expected to be impartial or in lots of ways even behave in a professional way. I think you've revealed one of the real problems. No sure whether you meant this, but your statement implies that criticism of a civil servant by a politician doesn't affect the civil servant's career. i.e. It's a job for life however useless they are. I'm totally baffled that that's what you took from what I wrote. There are numerous examples of civil servants being sacked after criticism by politicians, the latest being Tom Scholar from the Treasury by Liz Truss (and he turned out to be right') EDIT - Having reread my post I can see how you might have misunderstood this sentence. That is partly because of the rule of impartiality set on civil servants and partly because any public criticism of politicians is likely to affect their future careers.I meant that criticism by civil servants of politicians is likely to affect the civil servant's career. I've never heard of a case where a civil servant has criticised a politician and it has affected the politician's career.
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Mr Poppy
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Post by Mr Poppy on Apr 23, 2023 6:55:14 GMT
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steve
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Post by steve on Apr 23, 2023 7:27:40 GMT
In a couple of weeks we will see the first widespread use of the government's insistence on selected photo i.d.in a national election. The regime says this is to combat electoral fraud. However given that there have been just 9 convictions and 6 cautions for electoral fraud in the last 6 years our of over 50 million votes cast it's reasonable to conclude that this is total bollocks.
So what are the real reasons, surely it isn't to bring us into line with European union countries, most of which have free universal identification cards which we of course don't have and anyway it's hardly likely that the brexitanian cultists would want to emulate the European union.
Faced with the unnecessary legislation the house of lords tried to make it as universal as possible permitting as wide a range of identification as valid as possible.
On return to the commons the Tories excluded most of these provisions relating to young people such as student identification cards while accepting all that related to those over 65.
Given that elder people are more likely to vote Tory and more likely to vote by post anyway, where photo identification isn't required while young people are more likely to vote for parties other than the Tories and in person there's really only one reasonable conclusion to reach about the real purpose.
It's a continuation of the anti democratic policies of this anti democratic regime.
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Post by birdseye on Apr 23, 2023 7:38:44 GMT
Apart from the obvious inhumanity in the way that prescription charges can work in England (nowhere else in the UK has them), does anyone know how much of the revenue raised is swallowed up by administration costs?
When they were abolished in Wales, then NI, then Scotland it was argued that the administration costs meant that little net funding for patient care was released - but I haven't seen whether that is true or not. Not that it matters much to me, as providing free prescriptions to all is "a good thing".
"Woman who miscarried fined by NHS for claiming free prescription while pregnant"
www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/22/woman-who-miscarried-fined-by-nhs-for-claiming-free-prescription-while-pregnant?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other Is it really a "good thing"? There is no doubt that things that are free are not valued or are wasted. Here in Wales, people go for everything on prescription, even toothpaste believe it or not. Not only does this cost but having a doctors appointment to get something like free paracetomol wastes doctors time. I dont know whether it is still the same but the old French system under which you paid a proportion of the cost of the medicine and then claimed it back. At least this did tell the ill person what the cost of the medicines were.
When my mother dies we had a 12" cubic cardboard box completely full of usused medicines, most all untouched, and which had to be thrown away because the chemists wouldnt take them back.
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steve
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Post by steve on Apr 23, 2023 8:40:34 GMT
Good luck, just for today to David Linden SNP and Paul Scully Tory who are both running in today's London Marathon to raise funds for very worthwhile charities.
Also Sarah Champion Labour MP for Rotherham has been reunited with her cat after 10 weeks missing ( The cat not Champion),
In missing mp news Spaffer is enjoying yet another freebie luxury holiday while parliament is in session. You would have thought after pocketing millions drivelling on to rich drunk American republicans he might consider paying himself. But that's not disgraced wannabe world kings way.
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