Topics about the Labour Party
:sunglasses: 50 % ❤ 2.1 % :thumbsup: 4.2 % 😯 2.1 % :grinning: 22.9 % 🧥 2.1 % 😟 2.1 % :shit: 14.6 %
Tubby Isaacs wrote:
Tue Jun 11, 2019 1:36 pm
Is he in the shit with the cult for attacking Corbyn at the PLP? How else did he think that was a good idea? Hodge led Islington Council and became an MP afterwards and then a minister and select committee chair. She's supposed to be still tormented by Jez getting the Islington North gig 36 years ago?
This is the problem with the Labour leadership fostering a conspiracy theory mindset. When you attempt to deflect any and all criticism of poor performance as stemming from sour grapes plots against the leadership, you can't just switch it off. Hence utterly absurd statements like that one, attempting to say someone's issue isn't a professional one relating to an event from a few weeks back that directly affects people of her faith and the credibility of the party as a whole, but is really a petty personal grudge from a lifetime ago based on bitterness and jealousy of the anointed one.
Tubby Isaacs liked this
Burnham, who after some sensible stuff on HS2 where he refused to play silly press games, is back in dubious London-baiting mode. ... use-london
He added: “Buses have to change here. If you want a very everyday example of the north/south divide let me give you one. It costs £4 here for a single bus journey, capped at £1.50 in London. How can that possibly be fair?

“So we are ready to take a decision but actually we need the same level of subsidy for our bus system and our transport system as London. It is time we are given the same investment that London has had for decades. There is no northern powerhouse without it.”
Am I missing something here- if so, apologies? The government grant to TfL for services has been phased out. How are buses in London subsidized? Sure, I think a maximum £1.50 fare for Manchester would be reasonable. Sure, it's much easier for London to set that rate (though there's a hefty deficit, so how long can it do that?) But it doesn't just happen- London taxpayers fork out for it and people use buses a lot.

It doesn't really do anyone any good to set too regions against each other like this. "Buses? Buses?! Burnham in Manchester doesn't know he's born. Try getting a bus from..." etc.
Make all public transport free at the point of use and watch the economy zip in to life while emissions also tumble and public health takes an uptick through encouraging everyone to walk a couple of hundred meters to the bus stop.
That's an eminently sensible idea, even if it was merely in cities. Think what such a thing would do for those out of work or underemployed. Twenty or thirty quid a week saved on bus fare would go a hell of a long way...
Kreuzberger liked this
MisterMuncher wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:28 pm
That's an eminently sensible idea, even if it was merely in cities....
Thank you. It's an idea that I have been toying with since that trip in April '18 to Athens and much walking around, thinking how the hell you fix basket cases like that.

I am not going to get in to the privatisation debate because, with this idea/plan/whatever, that it is a foregone conclusion that transport has to be a true utility and cannot be run for maximum profit. Ene so, there are various models that could be made to work, were the political willpower (ie votes) to back it.

I also think that this could work in rural settings. It would have to. The fillip to the exchequer through a corporation tax take, and less demand on the NHS would surely cover the cost of stable, reliable bus services in to the sticks and back again.

This is usually the place where I offer wings to my little flights of fancy. I dunno why I have never done it before, especially as cities as diverse as Dunkirk, Medellin and Tallinn are also moving in that direction.

My own awakening came from a realisation that privatised public transport fares are little more than a tax on city centre businesses which then go straight in to the pockets of people like Brian Souter and his foul sister.
Boiler wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:57 pm
Cue the "why should my taxes pay for loser transport?" brigade...
The answer is that this, at worst, should be tax-neutral, what with the reduced healthcare costs (direct and indirect through environmental considerations, and the tax benefits of a healthier economy.

As is often the case, convince them that it is not going to inconvenience them and they suddenly lose all interest.
It was utter horseshit.

Apparently all Labour voters oop North are working class salt of the earth and all voted leave. Dahn Sarf they're all middle class, educated and voted remain. Labour has to ignore all the middle class remain voters and stay close to its roots, fictional notherners. He didn't mention flat caps and whippets but he might as well have. Or that the people voting leave weren't all core Labour supporters.
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Jeremy Corbyn.

Way to prove her point Jezza.

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