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Post by barbara on Oct 2, 2023 15:53:21 GMT
Johntel: "There are lots of equally nice places on the coast around the UK - it's got nothing to do with Brexit."Certainly the deterioration in UK towns and cities is mostly due to austerity and the accompanying mantras of "private good, public bad" and "small state, low taxation". But the lack of money, manpower and civic capability is exacerbated by brexit, which increasingly sets the parameters of what is possible in terms of improving our living conditions and environment. I'd be interested to hear which seaside towns in the UK you think are able to undertake the sort of municipal programmes and spending I described in my post. And it isn't just tourism-fuelled towns. On our way down we stopped overnight in Huesca, in Aragón, which isn't expanding or wealthy and has no significant foreign tourism. Yet the magnificent park where we strolled was buzzing with gardeners and cleaners and filled with well-maintained facilities. There's a feeling of care for the common good, improvement and - as Steve says - civic pride that we seem to have lost since the Victorian heyday of local government. Used to be like that here when I was growing up in the 60s. Well maintained, parks, libraries and civic facilities, free further education in council manged local colleges, good bus services etc. etc. Back when there was a liberal, civic minded consensus across all parties, prepared to tax progressively to fund dignified lives for all. |
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Post by graham on Oct 2, 2023 16:19:16 GMT
Redfield & Wilton
Westminster VI (1 October):
Labour 43% (–)
Conservative 29% (+1)
Liberal Democrat 12% (-1)
Reform UK 7% (-1)
Green 4% (-1)
Scottish National Party 3% (+1)
Other 1% (–)
Changes +/- 24 September
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Mr Poppy
Member
Teaching assistant and now your elected PM
Posts: 3,774
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Post by Mr Poppy on Oct 2, 2023 17:01:58 GMT
*** New polling thread alert *** I see that not one, but, thre new polling threads have been started. A new polling thread was overdue, so no problem there.
I have merged two of the threads as people were posting on them. I have deleted the thread colin started as it was started with a post basically saying 'here is a new thread' with no replies. The threads are merged into the one that Mr Poppy started as the thread title is consistant with the other main polling threads. The thread is here : ukpollingreport2.proboards.com/thread/70/sep-2023-lab-con-ldmI guess I missed the 'silliness' that others have commented on. Just FWIW then from 4-11Aug (ie the week proceeding the start of this thread) then LAB's lead ranged from 14-24pts Obviously you didn't pick the Omnisis poll showing the 24pts just because it showed LAB with a 24pts lead, which also happened to be the largest lead since Omnisis on 7Jul - it was simply a good time for a new thread, as per the 16Jul and 24Apr threads... and the new 30Sep thread en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_electionHopefully people can finally leave their petty personal issues in the past and the new thread doesn't quickly sink into 'cesspit' status. I've given up giving a number of people a 'clean slate' and if they happen to read this post then I hope they can simply ignore me and finally move on, putting their spare time to a better use than breaking rule #2 of the forum you kindly set up for us all to discuss polling and 'topics of the day' (including on the Issue Specific threads if they are 'ongoing' niche topics) |
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Post by leftieliberal on Oct 2, 2023 17:20:55 GMT
i newspaper (but no-one else) reporting that Hunt has announced a 20% cut in the size of the Civil Service. inews.co.uk/news/politics/jeremy-hunt-announces-cut-civil-servic-fifth-savings-pa-tax-cuts-2657643The size of the civil service will be cut by one fifth compared to current plans, Jeremy Hunt announced as he began a string of public spending cuts which will open the door to reducing taxes.
The Chancellor said he would ban Whitehall departments from increasing their workforce and order them to produce plans to shrink it to pre-pandemic levels within five years.
If delivered, the move would save billions of pounds and allow the Treasury to cut taxes without having to borrow more money. But civil service unions claimed the plans were “fantasy politics”. |
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domjg
Member
Posts: 5,136
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Post by domjg on Oct 2, 2023 17:25:05 GMT
Johntel: "There are lots of equally nice places on the coast around the UK - it's got nothing to do with Brexit."Certainly the deterioration in UK towns and cities is mostly due to austerity and the accompanying mantras of "private good, public bad" and "small state, low taxation". But the lack of money, manpower and civic capability is exacerbated by brexit, which increasingly sets the parameters of what is possible in terms of improving our living conditions and environment. I'd be interested to hear which seaside towns in the UK you think are able to undertake the sort of municipal programmes and spending I described in my post. And it isn't just tourism-fuelled towns. On our way down we stopped overnight in Huesca, in Aragón, which isn't expanding or wealthy and has no significant foreign tourism. Yet the magnificent park where we strolled was buzzing with gardeners and cleaners and filled with well-maintained facilities. There's a feeling of care for the common good, improvement and - as Steve says - civic pride that we seem to have lost since the Victorian heyday of local government. Used to be like that here when I was growing up in the 60s. Well maintained, parks, libraries and civic facilities, free further education in council manged local colleges, good bus services etc. etc. Back when there was a liberal, civic minded consensus across all parties, prepared to tax progressively to fund dignified lives for all. I can still remember as a child in the eighties visiting places like France and Germany for the first time and on return here feeling a genuine sense of shame that our country appeared so litter strewn and down at heel in comparison. |
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Post by mercian on Oct 2, 2023 17:29:48 GMT
Can we have a guidance from Mark on which post should be primary happy to use Neil's How do you '@' Mark? It doesn't seem to work for me with or without an upper case M. As admin he ought to be easier to tag! Someone has probably already told you this but it's @ admin (without the space) |
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Post by mercian on Oct 2, 2023 17:39:30 GMT
Used to be like that here when I was growing up in the 60s. Well maintained, parks, libraries and civic facilities, free further education in council manged local colleges, good bus services etc. etc. Back when there was a liberal, civic minded consensus across all parties, prepared to tax progressively to fund dignified lives for all. I can still remember as a child in the eighties visiting places like France and Germany for the first time and on return here feeling a genuine sense of shame that our country appeared so litter strewn and down at heel in comparison. Obviously because of Brexit. |
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Post by peterbell on Oct 2, 2023 21:02:47 GMT
Currently on vacation in the Costa Del Sol and would totally concur with Somerjohn. Visited Estepona yesterday and was very impressed with the seafront, pedestrianised, excellent attractive promenade with frequent seating and metallic sunshades. This is just one example but we have observed many more. Excellent flower arrangements all over the place in Puerto Banus where we are staying. In Newcastle, the flower beds and displays are mainly empty due to shortage of cash Living as I do in a seaside town, I wondered what is the situation regarding parking in Spain? Bexhill town is barely surviving and had the acolade a few years ago of being declared the charity shop capital of the south (or of somewewhere, I forget exactly). But then the council decided to impose street parking charges, probably because they saw it as an overlooked opportunity to make money. While there is the obvious issue of correlation or causation, since then the banks have left the town. Or maybe lockdown was the last straw. Danny, parking should not be a problem in Hastings. I would have though everone would stay clear in case they caught covid. Seriously though, parking varies, last night we went to Mijas where there is a large underground car park with 10 floor with a good number of spaces and it cost 1 euro and we were there 3-4 hours. However in Estepona we searched for parking and eventually had to park a little way out of town - on street parking no charge. |
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Dave
Member
... I'm dreaming dreams, I'm scheming schemes, I'm building castles high ..
Posts: 818
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Post by Dave on Oct 2, 2023 22:19:43 GMT
As trev posted on the thread he started - Mark's guidance was to use the most recent, which is Neil's.
Suggest we all start acting a bit more sensibly and follow what Mark intended. Hang on, there's now 3 threads going? Can't people just let Mark start the main general discussion thread and start their own issue only threads,so much easier, you know like the old days...last week. This, as is so often the case on here, is all down to Trevor being an absolute dick-head. He’s basically taking the piss, especially out of Mark. Of course, it’s up to Mark if he tolerates that but Trevor will just push, and push and push. |
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Danny
Member
Posts: 10,457
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Post by Danny on Oct 3, 2023 5:20:13 GMT
With current and soon to be ex Tory mps interviewing for jobs at Gbeebies it might be worth looking at some of the utter bollocks stated about its " huge" viewer base. Gbeebies managed a monthly viewing figure of 2.6 million in August it's highest , BBC news at six has 3.6 million viewers a day news at ten 3.4 million a day Itv evening news 2.5 million a day Channel 4 news averages around 9 million a month. The regulator being interviewed recently said that he less mainstream a channel, then the more licence it will be given for extreme views. So a plus there for the channel. |
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Danny
Member
Posts: 10,457
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Post by Danny on Oct 3, 2023 5:22:51 GMT
Sounds like (just stop Colin crying)Hunt is going to cut benefits if people won't work. L I was puzzled about this, because its the exact same slogan which started up under Thatcher. Regulations have been tightened ever since. Its very odd they are still just giving away money to the workshy. |
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Danny
Member
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Post by Danny on Oct 3, 2023 5:43:59 GMT
It doesn't surprise me. The only pity is that the whole line wasn't cancelled in 2010 and the money put into rail transport in the North and Scotland. Checking The Trainline, it seems that the fastest trains from Edinburgh to Glasgow take over 50 minutes which is appalling for only 42 miles between its two major cities. Euston to Milton Keynes on the WCML is only 30 minutes for a slightly greater distance. Even worse here in the Highlands. The just under 60 miles from Dunkeld to edinburgh takes 1 hour and 39 minutes by the direct (ho ho) train, longer if you have to change at Perth. Fortunately when I go to the football on Saturdays I can beat the train by taking the bus, which is quicker but just runs twice a day You puzzle me. The fastest train journey time from Hastings to London is 1hr 28 mins, so 88 mins for a distance of maybe 70 miles. Although google brings several answers to what the distance is, other suggestions 60 miles or less, and the average time is, 1hr 45 minutes. There are of course three different routes you could take via Eastbourne, Tun Wells or Ashford. Although this ought to be prime commuter areas, it looks quite similar to those numbers. |
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Danny
Member
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Post by Danny on Oct 4, 2023 6:43:59 GMT
You will know they believe they are REALLY in trouble when they start dishing Brexit. |
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Post by thylacine on Oct 4, 2023 7:02:29 GMT
Sounds like (just stop Colin crying)Hunt is going to cut benefits if people won't work. L I was puzzled about this, because its the exact same slogan which started up under Thatcher. Regulations have been tightened ever since. Its very odd they are still just giving away money to the workshy. The issue here is that benefits for the poorest to enable some standard of living for them and their children is not just altruistic. If the people at the bottom of the hill can't live for lack of dosh sooner or later they march up the hill and take yours. The fabric of the society that according to tory loons does not exist is rent asunder. |
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Post by pete on Oct 4, 2023 8:15:13 GMT
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Post by leftieliberal on Oct 14, 2023 10:47:52 GMT
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