[Politics] Tory meltdown finally arrived [was: incoming]...

[Audax]

i certainly hope this is the case. Tories losing mid Sussex would be .

It's helpful that Mims is switching to the new East Grinstead seat. That'll take the "incumbent" name recognition boost out of the equation for Mid Sussex.

I'm in Uckfield, so at some point I'll need to educate myself on who might be best placed to defeat Mims. Was a minefield in previous elections trying to figure out whether to go Lib Dem or Labour when Uckfield was part of Wealden - from one election to another it would swing (not that it mattered, Nus Ghani was getting 50%+ shares anyway).

Suspect it's going to be Lib Dem.

 

[The Clamp]

Oh good. More unresearched culture war BS

Sex education in English schools set to be banned before children are nine

Education secretary Gillian Keegan to announce guidelines for phased discussion of topics depending on pupils’ age

www.theguardian.com

Taking educational decisions out of the hands of trained, professional teachers and educational staff and putting it in the hands of stupid parents and Tory politicians.

All to snatch votes.

And all at the cost of children’s education. Because we all know that not talking about a subject makes us all much wiser and more sensible about it.

 

[BBassic]

Taking educational decisions out of the hands of trained, professional teachers and educational staff and putting it in the hands of stupid parents and Tory politicians.

All to snatch votes.

And all at the cost of children’s education. Because we all know that not talking about a subject makes us all much wiser and more sensible about it.

Oh no, I'm sure it'll be fine.

They'll get their education from porn and that definitely won't cause them to grow up with some unhealthy attitudes towards sex. Definitely not.

 

[keaton]

Taking educational decisions out of the hands of trained, professional teachers and educational staff and putting it in the hands of stupid parents and Tory politicians.

All to snatch votes.

And all at the cost of children’s education. Because we all know that not talking about a subject makes us all much wiser and more sensible about it.

It's not even " just" their education. As what they can no longer be taught (contraception,STDs, consent) could lead to life changing things for the children and more pressure on the NHS, police etc

 

[HH Brighton]

It's helpful that Mims is switching to the new East Grinstead seat. That'll take the "incumbent" name recognition boost out of the equation for Mid Sussex.

I'm in Uckfield, so at some point I'll need to educate myself on who might be best placed to defeat Mims. Was a minefield in previous elections trying to figure out whether to go Lib Dem or Labour when Uckfield was part of Wealden - from one election to another it would swing (not that it mattered, Nus Ghani was getting 50%+ shares anyway).

Suspect it's going to be Lib Dem.

Interesting that Mims chose the new East Grinstead and Uckfield seat. She has a history taking the easy option but surely Mid Sussex was a safer bet?

 

[Gabbiano]

Interesting that Mims chose the new East Grinstead and Uckfield seat. She has a history taking the easy option but surely Mid Sussex was a safer bet?

I believe East Grinstead and the surrounding villages lean more Tory than HH and BH, so it makes sense in that regard. Also the parts of Horsham constituency which that seat has picked up are also Tory voting.

 

[Peteinblack]

Yes, I can't disagree with that.

What I would say to anyone interested in doing research is: crack on. Most of the 'noise' in academia is by-passable. And there are all sorts of opportunities to consult, edit a journal, etc, to bolster income.

Yes, the landscape is disappointing, but the one constant I have seen over 40 years is the poor quality of most people involved, meaning that they probably get what they deserve. This includes PhD students who slip into a comfy routine then pop out the other end without a clue what to do next.

I am in a committee meeting right now. You have never heard such a load of old bollocks. I said my bit then switch the mic and camera off...

And good luck!

Yes, there is so much bureaucratic nonsense in Higher Education - the 'educrats' have taken-over, and govern by 'strategies because they've never taught or written a scholarly book in their lives. Yet I would advise you to persevere with academia, because the current regime is unsustainable.

I've increasingly been tempted to take early retirement, but then think "why should I give up a career I've worked so hard for (and for which I am highly-respected by my students and academic colleagues, both at home and those who work in the same discipline overseas) because of the arrogant, incompetent, swaggering, 'suits' who try to micro-manage and endlessly audit us. If you go for a piss, they want to know what strategy or framework you used, and how your toilet visit provided 'value-added' to the university.

I too increasingly find ways of disengaging from this white noise of managerial nonsense; sending my (insincere) apologies to many of the endless committee meetings and Away-Days, not volunteering for extra activities, 'initiatives' or membership of yet another 'working group' or 'curriculum review', and only replying to university or management emails if I get a follow-up or reminder (most of the time I don't).

I focus on what I enjoy, and am deemed to be good at; teaching, and research (currently working on my 19th book) - which is what being an academic should be about, and why I entered the profession. Problem is that in the 1990s, the 'qualitocracy' began colonising academic registry, and spewing endless jargon-filled documents, form-filling, box-ticking, and report-writing.

It is sometimes claimed that "Those who can, do, and those who can't, teach', to which I always add "and those who can't teach become university managers."

In my Department/Faculty, 60% of student fee income is siphoned-off by management to: a) pay for yet more parasitic managers, and b) cross-subsidise Departments which struggle to recruit students (STEM, basically) but are politically or reputationally too important to close. So we are constantly told that there is no more money for extra staff to teach the increased student numbers, but somehow we can always afford a new Director of Arse-Wiping, Assistant Dean of Paper-Clips, and a pro-Vice Chancellor of Photocopying - all of whom then impose yet more idiotic paperwork on overstretched, burnt-out, academic staff.

Universities have the worst of both worlds; operating as educational supermarkets in a neoliberal, competitive, free-market in which students are viewed as customers paying for a product (degree) supplied by service-providers (academics), but at the same time, managed like the former Soviet Union with its stupid 5-year plans and top-down targets, impenetrable layers of faceless bureaucracy, constant micro-management and monitoring of subordinates, endless command-and-control from the centre, but complete lack of accountability by senior managers who instinctively blame front-line staff for everything which goes wrong.

Yet we know what happened to the old Soviet Union in 1989-90, so my advice to any aspiring young academic would still be to hang-on in there, and don't let these managerial bastards deter you. They cannot be allowed to win, and they won't be around for ever.

 

[Since1982]

Interesting that Mims chose the new East Grinstead and Uckfield seat. She has a history taking the easy option but surely Mid Sussex was a safer bet?

EG and Uckfield a much safer bet now for the Tories. I did the local election count a year ago and she and her team spent most of the time watching the Tory vote pile up in those wards while they lost control of everything else. Shortly afterwards she announced she was choosing the new seat. I've been in a brief exchange with Dave Rowntree, the Lab candidate for Mid Sussex, who is pointing to polling, boundary changes, previous GE results in the constituency etc as putting him ahead of the Tories - extraordinary if he pulls it off!

 

[Peteinblack]

EG and Uckfield a much safer bet now for the Tories. I did the local election count a year ago and she and her team spent most of the time watching the Tory vote pile up in those wards while they lost control of everything else. Shortly afterwards she announced she was choosing the new seat. I've been in a brief exchange with Dave Rowntree, the Lab candidate for Mid Sussex, who is pointing to polling, boundary changes, previous GE results in the constituency etc as putting him ahead of the Tories - extraordinary if he pulls it off!

AKA the drummer with Brit-poppers Blur!

 

[Pevenseagull]

EG and Uckfield a much safer bet now for the Tories. I did the local election count a year ago and she and her team spent most of the time watching the Tory vote pile up in those wards while they lost control of everything else. Shortly afterwards she announced she was choosing the new seat. I've been in a brief exchange with Dave Rowntree, the Lab candidate for Mid Sussex, who is pointing to polling, boundary changes, previous GE results in the constituency etc as putting him ahead of the Tories - extraordinary if he pulls it off!

If he does, bonus points to the Tory commentator who squeezes 'This Is A Low' into their response.

 

[TomandJerry]

The British digger maker JCB, owned by the billionaire Bamford family, continued to build and supply equipment for the Russian market months after saying it had stopped exports because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal.

Russian customs records show that JCB, whose owners are major donors to the Conservative party, continued to make new products available for Russian dealers well after 2 March 2022, when the company publicly stated that it had “voluntarily paused exports” to Russia.

 

[A1X]

A link between Russian money and the Conservative Party?

Well I'll be.

 

[Peteinblack]

Oh good. More unresearched culture war BS

Sex education in English schools set to be banned before children are nine

Education secretary Gillian Keegan to announce guidelines for phased discussion of topics depending on pupils’ age

www.theguardian.com

From a Conservative Party/Government which:

a) claims that it is strongly opposed to banning things just because some people are offended (Cancel Culture)
b) keeps demanding less State interference in social affairs.

There really is no limit or end to the Tories' arrogance and hypocrisy.

 

[BrianB]

EG and Uckfield a much safer bet now for the Tories. I did the local election count a year ago and she and her team spent most of the time watching the Tory vote pile up in those wards while they lost control of everything else. Shortly afterwards she announced she was choosing the new seat. I've been in a brief exchange with Dave Rowntree, the Lab candidate for Mid Sussex, who is pointing to polling, boundary changes, previous GE results in the constituency etc as putting him ahead of the Tories - extraordinary if he pulls it off!

That splits the vote , chose one or t'other , then hopefully a better chance at the following GE for a vote from the heart not head ..

 

[Thunder Bolt]

The British digger maker JCB, owned by the billionaire Bamford family, continued to build and supply equipment for the Russian market months after saying it had stopped exports because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal.

Russian customs records show that JCB, whose owners are major donors to the Conservative party, continued to make new products available for Russian dealers well after 2 March 2022, when the company publicly stated that it had “voluntarily paused exports” to Russia.

Lord Bamford, who paid for Boris & Carrie’s wedding, put Johnson up, rent free in his mother’s flat, backed Brexit etc etc

Who is Anthony Bamford, the billionaire ‘super-donor’?

Brexit-backing JCB boss has helped determine course of British politics for more than a decade

www.theguardian.com

 

[Peteinblack]

Lord Bamford, who paid for Boris & Carrie’s wedding, put Johnson up, rent free in his mother’s flat, backed Brexit etc etc

Who is Anthony Bamford, the billionaire ‘super-donor’?

Brexit-backing JCB boss has helped determine course of British politics for more than a decade

www.theguardian.com

Yet these Tories harangue the rest of us about ending "the something-for-nothing society", and insist that we should all "pay our own way" in life rather than rely on hand-outs from others.

As always with the Tories, it's "Don't do as we do, do as we say."

 

[Pevenseagull]

The British digger maker JCB, owned by the billionaire Bamford family, continued to build and supply equipment for the Russian market months after saying it had stopped exports because of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the Guardian can reveal.

Russian customs records show that JCB, whose owners are major donors to the Conservative party, continued to make new products available for Russian dealers well after 2 March 2022, when the company publicly stated that it had “voluntarily paused exports” to Russia.

JCBs are really good for digging a ditch

 

[Gwylan]

Universities have the worst of both worlds; operating as educational supermarkets in a neoliberal, competitive, free-market in which students are viewed as customers paying for a product (degree) supplied by service-providers (academics) ...

... but are being prevented from increasing their revenue by a government block on high-paying overseas students. If you compare yourself to a supermarket, it would like the government saying to Aldi that you can't take customers from Dyke Rd Avenue, the area around Preston Park and the best parts of Hove but can only take customers from Moulsecoomb, Whitehawk and Hangleton - we'd all think they'd gone barmy.

 

[golddene]

Would you be happy living on £9K a year? A very small private pension of £3500 takes you above the tax threshold so paying income tax.
That is below the minimum wage.

There are a few wealthy pensioners but they aren’t the norm and I can guarantee they aren’t women.

Quite agree TB, due to my birth date (1954) I qualify for the ‘new state pension’ this is topped up by the SERPs addition which now gives me an annual state pension of £13,300 which takes my income above the tax threshold of 12600, so tax is payable on my state pension on any amount above £12600, my wife who has had no income due to ill health for the last six years has recently reached state pension age (66) though we were expecting her to be eligible for state pension at age 60 but this age eligibility was introduced quietly, almost secretly, and she became what has been termed a WASPI woman and lost out on 6 years of state pension and as stated became too ill to work so has been living on my state pension along with my workplace pension which was deemed household income which disqualified her from obtaining any means tested benefits, the only thing I could get was 10% of her tax allowances to offset against my taxable income. The £1260 tax free allowance gained which comes down to 20% of this which is £252 annual gain. Now since the increase in state pensionall my personal allowances and with the 10% gained from my wife takes my state pension into the tax bracket, my company pension is now wholly taxed at source meaning what I thought I’d be getting £12930 per annum I actually receive £10344 with my tax liability being £2586 per annum and to confuse the issue further, my wife donating the 10% of her allowances now means she too will be liable for tax as her ‘new state pension’ is above her now decreased allowances due to her handing it to me to offset my liability !!! Maybe one day (2028) when they decide to increase tax thresholds with inflation again this may get sorted but I’m not holding my breath …..

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Quite agree TB, due to my birth date (1954) I qualify for the ‘new state pension’ this is topped up by the SERPs addition which now gives me an annual state pension of £13,300 which takes my income above the tax threshold of 12600, so tax is payable on my state pension on any amount above £12600, my wife who has had no income due to ill health for the last six years has recently reached state pension age (66) though we were expecting her to be eligible for state pension at age 60 but this age eligibility was introduced quietly, almost secretly, and she became what has been termed a WASPI woman and lost out on 6 years of state pension and as stated became too ill to work so has been living on my state pension along with my workplace pension which was deemed household income which disqualified her from obtaining any means tested benefits, the only thing I could get was 10% of her tax allowances to offset against my taxable income. The £1260 tax free allowance gained which comes down to 20% of this which is £252 annual gain. Now since the increase in state pensionall my personal allowances and with the 10% gained from my wife takes my state pension into the tax bracket, my company pension is now wholly taxed at source meaning what I thought I’d be getting £12930 per annum I actually receive £10344 with my tax liability being £2586 per annum and to confuse the issue further, my wife donating the 10% of her allowances now means she too will be liable for tax as her ‘new state pension’ is above her now decreased allowances due to her handing it to me to offset my liability !!! Maybe one day (2028) when they decide to increase tax thresholds with inflation again this may get sorted but I’m not holding my breath …..

Thank you for posting your experience. Many pensioners are like you, and quite a few are renting for various reasons. The very rich get away with not paying taxes, with money they can’t even spend on a lifetime but ordinary pensioners are being taxed. It’s a bad state of affairs.
There’s even talk of raising the pension age to 70.