Are Norwegian foodbanks more germane to your argument? https://kavlifondet.no/en/2018/05/press-release-norway-food-bank/
No real problem with any of this but focusing anger solely at politicians - even shitty ones like Thatch - is missing the point. You get the politicians you deserve. If you are essentially greedy grasping, self-centred, poverty-stricken at heart, always looking at the financial bottom-line ... you will vote for politicians who pander to greed and financial acquisitiveness. My observations show me that English folk seem to believe that they are only ever twenty heart-beats away from abject poverty and their sole concern appears to be to acquire ever more wealth in order to stave off future starvation. This applies - not to everyone - but at every level: from people who genuinely need to use food banks all the way up to the 1%ers, who despite having all the money they will ever need, pursue wealth (and political power) to the exclusion of *every* other consideration. It's like no amount of money will ever make them feel secure. The problem is, many people seem to think that the answer to this social malaise is Government - regulation, taxation, redistribution. Replacing one form of acquisitiveness with another. Replacing personal greed and personal fortunes with authoritarian coercion and state-sponsored theft. That doesn't work, unless the whole country is on board with it. Then, guess what - you don't need that coercion, people will vote for, and support, policies that re-distribute wealth. People will point out to me now the "socialist utopias" that are Scandinavia. They have working socialism why can't the UK? Countries like Norway and Sweden are happy to put up with socialist (or nearly socialist) governments. Why? It is their national psyches. There seems to be little evidence that Scandinavians are, in general, greedy to their souls. Hybrid-Socialist government works, if people are on-board with the principles behind it and the politicians actually want to serve the people. In the UK, we have politicians that have poverty-stricken psyches, who are every bit as greedy, acquisitive and soul-destitute as the people they represent. Socialism, if unchecked and placed in the hands of such people, will ruin the UK more thoroughly than any invading power. In Norway's case, the people are content for the government to hold onto £1Tn of oil money, in trust for the population. Can you imagine the people of the UK being content for Westminster to hold onto that kind of money? The clamour against it and the demands for it to be spent as quickly and as inefficiently as possible would make the noise over Brexit seem like deafening silence by comparison. TL;DR: We have rubbish politicians because we have too high a percentage of rubbish people. Rubbish people are content to have rubbish politicians *ruling* them. Worthwhile people are not content with rubbish government. You may now start to yell at me.
Not really! As of 2017, 20% of UK people live in poverty including 8 million working-age adults, 4 million children and 1.9 million pensioners. Research by the JRF found nearly 400,000 more UK children and 300,000 more UK pensioners were in poverty in 2016-17 compared with 2012-13. This would undoubtedly be much less of a problem if the UK had a £1Tn Soveriegn wealth fund instead of Tory party sponsors having the proceedes of the North Sea oil in their bank accounts held in tax havens. Thanks to Maggie that is not the case.
Agreed: plus you get the lowest performance possible that you don’t physically reject as opposed to just whinging about it. GOOD MORNING LOZ! HOW ARE YOU ON THIS FINE MORNING?
This makes an interesting read about relative poverty: https://fullfact.org/economy/poverty-uk-guide-facts-and-figures/ It is effected hugely by the wealth of the median family. The number of households in relative poverty is increased if their wealth increases at a slower rate than the median, even though they are actually better off. Who was it that complained at conference that half of workers were still earning less than the median wage?
Poverty in the UK is in actual money terms: Lone parent (2 children) per month £1,287 per year £15,444 Couple (2 children) per month £1,738 per year £20,852 More than 20% of the people living in poverty; in the fifth largest economy in the world.
The trouble with those figures is they are a bat for any opposition party as it takes not a single shred of evidence beyond "it must all be the governments fault"
Good government is all about not making people feel so happy and secure that they feel they need less government, nor so unhappy and discontented that they want to get rid of government all together. Basically, good government is about maintaining (and *increasing*) the amount of government that there is. Feeling a little yelled-at. You?
The war chest was pretty full until brown and Blair threw it all away, which also coincided with the raid on pensions. Forcing pension returns down and increasing poverty in pensioners.
A sovereign wealth fund of any size wouldn’t have lasted long with Blair and Brown in charge of the spending!
The massive class divide bigger than ever, the age old divide and conquer reigns supreme. The poor education of the "rubbish" people, the many different cultures that exists within the UK with no level playing field to observe. Any ruling government will deteriorate into chaos, time to reduce in excess influences starting with the Lords and eventually the monarchy, outdated and not required.
No, poverty is a Range of problems ranging from having no money at all, to not being able to afford the “right” trainers and a new phone to keep up with the Joneses. That’s why relative poverty is a useful measure as described in the document I linked to.
A lot of the "rubbish" people had private educations. Rubbish people exist at both ends of the "class-divide" spectrum. This isn't a class issue.
LOL. *Most* university places these days are shining examples of poor education. It's tragic and ultimately, fatal for civilisation. Teaching kids what to think instead of how to think can only hurl society back into the Stone Age.
Noway has taken about 2bill barrels less out of the north sea than the UK. and costs are much higher to provide services in countries like Norway, Scotland due to the geography and rural population. and that was a pretty poor critique of how Scandinavians do politics. you get the Gov's you deserve? in the UK, (other banana republics are available) i think you need to cut the population some slack, it takes some amount of collusion between the media and Govs to convince a nation that 43Billion Barrels of oil is worthless and nothing more than a burden to our economy. to maintain the lie, they have had to fool the entire UK, not just us up hear. believe it or not, according to Sir Ian Wood and the media, the oil was due to run out in September of this year. https://www.google.com/search?clien...31j0j0i22i30j33i22i29i30j33i13i21.LBWOUN7xO6k the day after the reff they announced the biggest find in the north sea that the industry had seen in decades. predicted to last 30years or more and we are pumping out more than ever. now they are selling licenses off the west coast, where reserves are estimated to last 100years. i am sure it's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how our movers/shakers and politicians conduct their business. at a recent climate debate i watched at holyrood recently, every tory politician that spoke had to declare an interest in the energy sector, labour are responsible for the McCrone report, and have regularly taken to the airwaves over the years to tell us we are too wee too poor and too dumb to manage such a resource, and besides, its worthless anyhow, they had to maintain the lie to you lot too. aye, power to the people . you aint gonna convince me its the only lie the UK Gov has managed to sell the population. like i said, just the tip of the iceberg. . you make the Scandinavian countries Govs, sound like some communist state, where people just rely on their glorious leader and their glorious 5 year plans. which of course is bollox. the Scandinavians participate and shape their countries Govs like no other. the level of democracy they have is (or should be) the envy of the world. if i mind right, they have 1 elected Councillor to every 300 people, where we have, 1 for every 3000? i think it is, they see it as their responsibility, where as we seem to think its everybody else's. we are bred to believe it almost. its a class thing. its probably a good time to remind ourselves that the Scandinavian countries generally poll high in the happy and content leagues, and their political systems deffo play there part in achieving that. their systems take power away from the elites, quite the opposite from what we see in the uk . there is a party of government in the UK that has spent it's entire existence, attempting to promote a Scandinavian style of participation in local and national Government level. to expose the wealth of the nation, and dismantle the systems in place that most on here seem to agree are the root of all "evil" in the UK. but guess what, they are the, dreamers, grievance mongers, cult leaders, Natzi's. that's something that many still do believe. which of course, brings us back to the Media and why you should cut the population some slack. and why UK Govs dont like referendums in the internet age. they dont like it when people do the research and vote outwith traditional party lines. its why they are trying to make brexit, and by extension, Indi up here, the most miserable experience ever. . here is a wee bit of how the Scandinavians do it. from a three part series called "Nation". this is the Norway edition. the Iceland and Faroe islands is worth more of a watch tbh. . this is how i have come to believe the UK does it.
two points if I may fin The snp also said the day after indi 1, fuck the people of Scotland, that is not the result we wanted, we want indi 2 now. As you your happyness of oil lasting 30 years, what has the snp got planned when that 30 year oil runs out? Hardly a long term basis to sell scottish independence on?
