The National Audit Office has published a report on the introduction of Universal Credit. This policy - championed by Iain Duncan Smith - has been beset by problems from the start. It is due to be rolled out to cover all claimants the year; so far, just 10% of claimants are on the system five years after the roll-out started.

 

The NAO report - to summarise - says that it has been a failure and has not delivered the cost savings promised. The principle was perfectly reasonable. It was meant to bring together various different benefits into one simple system However, there is a reason no minister had tried it before. It isn't at all simple. Allowing it to be introduced by someone as dim as Iain Duncan Smith was a near guarantee of failure.

 

Then we move on to this afternoon. A Lib Dem MP attempted to introduce a Bill making up-skirting a criminal offence. The co-sponsors of the Bill included Tory and Labour MPs. It had the backing of the government. However, a Tory (Phillip Davies) talked for hours on a different Bill to try and ensure this Bill wasn't discussed due to lack of time. When it was reached, another Tory (Christopher Chope) shouted "Object". Due to the rather weird rules, that was enough to block the Bill. Chope has form on this, but that didn't stop May awarding him a knighthood in the New Year Honours.

Ah Good ol' self-serving Chope, the MP determined to make Christchurch residents pay even more on their local taxes than they currently do by screaming about anti-democratic local government reorganisation in Dorset agreed by his own party and his fellow Tory leaders of Tory Councils in Dorset.

 

I mean I would LOVE all councils to agree to charge residents more as it means we might end up with almost enough skilled staff to do the government-required jobs that we are piss-poorly-paid to do (we can't recruit as you get way more in the private sector), but y'know the theory is you can't declare a Republic of Christchurch without an actual plan on how you are going to pay for care for all the old folk there. MY tax bills are going to rise until they match Christchurch who are having theirs frozen, so it should be Poole and Bournemouth residents who are whinging not Sir Chris Chipshop and his devotees.

 

Cult of personality is SUCH a key thing in the 2010's.

 

I said "cult".

Chope is getting an absolute roasting on social media. It should be said that a number of his Tory colleagues have also expressed their anger.

May has tweeted that she is "disappointed" with what happened to the up-skirting bill. This seems to be her default position when she can't bring herself to criticise someone. She is merely "disappointed" with Trump's tariffs on British steel and now she is merely "disappointed" that one of her own backbenchers is an utter Jeremy Hunt.

The National Audit Office has published a report on the introduction of Universal Credit. This policy - championed by Iain Duncan Smith - has been beset by problems from the start. It is due to be rolled out to cover all claimants the year; so far, just 10% of claimants are on the system five years after the roll-out started.

 

The NAO report - to summarise - says that it has been a failure and has not delivered the cost savings promised. The principle was perfectly reasonable. It was meant to bring together various different benefits into one simple system However, there is a reason no minister had tried it before. It isn't at all simple. Allowing it to be introduced by someone as dim as Iain Duncan Smith was a near guarantee of failure.

 

Then we move on to this afternoon. A Lib Dem MP attempted to introduce a Bill making up-skirting a criminal offence. The co-sponsors of the Bill included Tory and Labour MPs. It had the backing of the government. However, a Tory (Phillip Davies) talked for hours on a different Bill to try and ensure this Bill wasn't discussed due to lack of time. When it was reached, another Tory (Christopher Chope) shouted "Object". Due to the rather weird rules, that was enough to block the Bill. Chope has form on this, but that didn't stop May awarding him a knighthood in the New Year Honours.

Universal Credit is a spectacular abomination. It costs 4 times more to run than what it was supposed to save! Eejits.

 

 

 

Davies and Chope are utter trash. How dinosaurs like that are allowed near parliament I’ll never know. Westminster needs reform badly. Davies has a long track record of talking out bills. Bills that are all exceptionally worthy causes and absolutely things we should be enshrining in law. He’s a threat to democracy and common decency

 

So, a Brexit "dividend" for the NHS. In other words, as every reliable commentator has explained, as there is no net gain from Brexit to cover the promised NHS subsidy, and the Tories have provided no costings, and with no intention of doing so until the Autumn statement, it basically means:

 

"Sorry we lied about the NHS and Brexit savings. They don't exist and we realise it's pissed off a LOT of voters, so we're going to make it look as though we have kept our promise by making you pay more tax to cover the NHS annual rises that used to be the norm (almost as much, but not quite) before we hacked into the NHS and made it struggle and people die at increasing rates as a result. "

 

So thanks Theresa, in addition to the £900 a year we are worse off thanks to the referendum result already, on average, as described by your most-senior Bank Of England Canadian who knows a thing or two about avoiding Banking Crises, and the estimated £1000 worse off we are likely to be a year, following the least-damaging Brexit farce, you're going to f***ing tax us on top for something all the Brexiters said would happen as a result of savings on our contributions to the EU.

 

Looking forward to Prime Minister Silent Corbyn soon after the next election with his magic beans saving the country following the same Tory EU policies and adding to the record 1.7 billion debt we have at an astronomical rate. Even more so than the Tories have done.

 

On a plus note, may has realised that her own devised anti-immigrant policies rationing professionals into the NHS has resulted in a catastrophic shortage of doctors and she has had to withdraw annual limits. She is so utterly useless at everything she touches. Queen Midas I call her, only instead of gold, everything she touches turns to diarrhoea.

 

 

As she has the Midas touch in reverse, shouldn't she be Queen Sadim?

 

On the subject of immigration, the word "chutzpah" now has a new definition. The government has announced that there will be an annual Windrush day to mark the arrival of the first post-war immigrants on the Windrush. You know, those people Mayhem tried to deport.

 

Note also how Mayhem announced in a television interview yesterday that the extra money amounted to £600m per week. The actual figure is under £400m. Why isn't she getting the Dianne Abbott treatment?

We are beyond parody. I'd call her an incompetent omnishambles but that's an insult to omnishambles and incompetence

Oh look, they're at it again.

 

As from today there are new rules regarding what counts as a package holiday. This is an important change. if you book a package holiday you get better protection if something goes wrong. The gist of it is that if something goes wrong in any part of your trip (flights, accommodation etc.) it is the holiday company's problem to sort out.

 

Some websites had sold various bits of a holiday as if it was a package but with something in the small print stating that it was actually a collection of individual contracts. In other words, if something goes wrong it is the customer's problem.

 

As from today the principle is that "If it looks like a package then it is a package".

 

If you think this sounds like a piece of EU customer protection legislation then you would be right. Of course that hasn't stopped the Tory press office putting out a statement claiming the credit and stating that "we" (i.e. the Tories) have introduced these changes. No doubt their friends in the press will oblige by also failing to mention the part the EU has played in these changes (or burying it somewhere near the end of the story).

Glad you posted that simon cos i was about to get all sweary about the lying hypocrites....!

Glad you posted that simon cos i was about to get all sweary about the lying hypocrites....!

I shall congratulate myself on showing restraint :lol:

And still we wait for the front pages to be dominated by the issues of Islamophobia in the Tory party...

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44818546

 

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/16354479.to...-muslim-babies/

And still we wait for the front pages to be dominated by the issues of Islamophobia in the Tory party...

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-44818546

 

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/16354479.to...-muslim-babies/

 

The only part of this that isn't Islamophobia, is the notion that moderate Muslims should be more proactive in exposing the extremists.

The only part of this that isn't Islamophobia, is the notion that moderate Muslims should be more proactive in exposing the extremists.

 

Difficult to do this when you are law-abiding tolerant citizens and don't associate with those who aren't. A bit like expecting Protestants to be more proactive against protestant anti-catholic terrorists, or vice-versa. You can say "violence is not the answer" till you're blue in the face but it won't capture sneaky people banding together with others of a similar view plotting from the underground. That's the job of the police and other authorities - they were quite capable of infiltrating and shagging CND women for all their anti-state dangerous activities for years on end so it should be a piece of piss to do their job - as they very likely are doing right now.

 

PS that's one reason why Cat Stevens came back into the music biz, against his long-standing belief that he should not get involved in non-religious music, in order to show that Islam is peaceful and tolerant.

That is an unbelievable thing to say. That's almost like saying men should be more proactive in rooting out rapists.

I think Brexiters should be more proactive in rooting out racism and fascism in their ranks.

I think Brexiters should be more proactive in rooting out racism and fascism in their ranks.

 

Except that Brexiters are not an organisation - all we have in common is a desire to leave the EU.

 

It would have made more sense if you'd said UKIP - except that they *did* expel extremists who'd infiltrated the party when identified...

 

https://news.sky.com/story/ukip-suspends-le...-texts-11207371

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31565770

Except that Brexiters are not an organisation - all we have in common is a desire to leave the EU.

 

It would have made more sense if you'd said UKIP - except that they *did* expel extremists who'd infiltrated the party when identified...

 

https://news.sky.com/story/ukip-suspends-le...-texts-11207371

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31565770

 

And moderate Muslims only have their religion in common with extremists. But if we are going to tar everyone with the same brush...

And moderate Muslims only have their religion in common with extremists. But if we are going to tar everyone with the same brush...

 

That is something I will not do - I have no problem with law-abiding members of any group, minority or majority. But IMO it is in the self-interests of any group to weed out the bad apples amongst them.

Edited July 15, 20186 yr by vidcapper