O/T Farmers

[Brin]

Brin how many billions were spent on furlough to keep people paid during the pandemic? Have a Google son then think again.

Yes they laid out some kind of placating coins while they locked us all down and their friends made millions from the pandemic......then the fat beasts of the Tory Government dined on canape's and quoffed beer, dribbled on whiskey and fine wines in Downing Street while our late majesty laid her beloved Husband to rest on the same day, and you call yourself an ex Army man. Have you forgotten that episode? B***ards the lot of them.

As for the Son bit, I bet there isn't 10 years between us, have some respect older lad.

[caytonmiller]

The economic decline started well before Covid, with the introduction of Osborne's program of austerity. But it's arguable which has had the more dramatic effect - austerity or Brexit.

Google AI tells us that Brexit has had the following effect on the economy -

The UK's economy has been negatively impacted by Brexit in a number of ways, including:

The UK's GDP is estimated to be 1.2–4.5% lower than it would have been if the UK had remained in the EU. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that the UK's productivity will be 4% lower in the long run due to Brexit.

The UK has 1.8 million fewer jobs than it would have had if Brexit hadn't happened.

The UK's trade with the EU and the rest of the world has fallen relative to the size of the UK economy. In 2023, the UK's goods exports to the EU were 11% below their 2019 level.

The war has had negligible impact compared to Covid PPE. The UK Parliament website tells us -

The Department for Health & Social Care (DHSC) lost 75% of the £12 billion it spent on personal protective equipment (PPE) in the first year of the pandemic to inflated prices and kit that did not meet requirements – including fully £4 billion of PPE that will not be used in the NHS and needs to be disposed of. There is no clear disposal strategy for this excess but the Department says it plans to burn significant volumes of it to generate power – though there are concerns about the cost-effectiveness and environmental impact of this “strategy”.

As austerity and Brexit are down to the Tories then you have to conclude* that they have a significant responsibility for the current malaise of the economy.

*unless of course you are intellectually inclined to one of the many conspiracy theories. The link is not related to the economy, but is a wonderful example of the magic of conspiracy world.

https://x.com/MikeSington/status/1844432733352886299

Yeah the decline started before Brexit, COVID the Ukrainian war but how much did they add to the problem.
I keep reading that COVID cost approx 400 billion and it's still costing. That's a shed load of cash to be taken from an ever decreasing pot.
As you point out Brexit has taken another chunk out of the pot.
The Ukrainian war has taken money out of the pockets of the pot contributers as well as a chunk out of the pot.

I'm not for one minute defending the torys, I just wonder how different it could have been without these extra obstacles

[caytonmiller]

It wouldn't be fair to assess the performance of the Tories without having regard to the impact of covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but most governments have to deal with the unexpected. Would Labour have lost in 2010 without the 2008 financial crash?

I'd be very slow to allow the Tories to use covid as an excuse though. If anything it exposed just how bare the cupboard was - we entered the pandemic with an understaffed NHS and with fewer ICU beds than comparative nations and found ourselves scrabbling around for overpriced PPE and undertaking a bizarre project in the form of Nightingale Hospitals- beds with no doctors or nurses to attend to prospective occupants. People died because of that.

I am a keen watcher of the criminal justice system. I see a huge queue of cases waiting be heard, but there are courtrooms standing unused because there aren't enough judges and with trials being adjourned because there aren't enough barristers willing to undertake work at legal aid rates. Those problems were well on the way well before covid and Ukraine, just as the lack of prison spaces was.

I suppose you could argue the labour government and how they intervened were part of the problem that caused the 2008 crash.
Ukraine, COVID and Brexit were forced on the torys..
Btw kerr I'm not using COVID as an excuse for the Tory failings.
3 big major effects that has happened one after another under the Tory rule must have had a huge impact especially on the pot of cash available to spend.

I'm not into the criminal justice system and I have no idea on figures of past and present cases.
Is the reason the cases are building up down to lack of funding? Increased cases? Change of laws?
If it's lack of funding how much is spend on the criminal justice now compared to say, 10 year ago..
If it's increased cases is this due to lack of policing?
If it's change of laws would Brexit contribute to this problem?

[flourbasher]

…and this is also a significant contributory factor made by one of the audience on QT and doing the rounds on the net atm….

“ I do not understand how out of 65 million people, or however many people there are in this country, we end up with economically illiterate people in the government all the time."

[sawmiller]

Brexit forced onto the Tories? Really? Please explain that one

[flourbasher]

For anyone that’s interested in his rant and it’s worth it just to see the politicians squirming


https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/1852...527654/video/1



Not fit for office he says. Indeed young man, indeed

[howdydoo]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/10/30/b...omy-volkswagen

[caytonmiller]

Brexit forced onto the Tories? Really? Please explain that one

I presume only a % of the torys wanted us to come out of Europe and since the majority voted to come out I guess they had no control over that.
Don't get me wrong they made a real fkup of a decent deal for us but you can't blame the torys for the way the vote went.

[South Coast Miller]

Have the German, Polish and some Dutch Farmers made the news yet? They're blocking everything in Germany with the help of the truckers. There won't be any food deliveries out of Germany. How will that effect Lidl and Aldi customers?

This must be of some importance to the world! Why aren't they showing it?

Because there's an election coming up in America and that's the only foreign news that matters. (Sorry, if this has already been said or other views on foreign news expressed - have only read this far on this long thread)

[Eternal Optimist]

Farmer hangs himself from the rafters because of the new IHT rules. Tragic.

https://x.com/DaveAtherton20/status/1852275202509455533