Labour's Britain: A Landscape of Bluster and Inaction

[Social Media]

 

In the heart of Oxfordshire, a £51 million car park, sprawling across 19 acres with 850 spaces, stands as a symbol of mismanagement and unfulfilled promises. From above, it resembles a meticulously designed racing circuit, with ring roads, bus shelters, and perfectly painted parking lines. Yet, despite its grandeur, this car park is destined to remain empty for years to come. The reason? It cannot be connected to the main road just a few meters away due to halted improvements on the A40 dual carriageway, thwarted by planning and cost issues. This colossal waste, an island of empty potential, is a fitting metaphor for the current state of Britain under the Labour government led by Keir Starmer.

 

The situation in Eynsham encapsulates a broader pattern: a government that excels in bluster, blame, and endless tinkering without achieving meaningful progress. The Labour government has quickly mastered the art of shallow interference, paying lip service to socialist ideals without the conviction to implement them effectively. A prime example is their recent decision to withdraw the winter fuel payment for older people, citing a supposed £22 billion financial black hole left by their predecessors.

 

This move, predictably unpopular, has prompted the government to suggest that around 800,000 pensioners eligible for pension credit should navigate a complex online application process to claim what is rightfully theirs. The idea that elderly citizens should jump through such hoops, entering verification codes and deciphering CAPTCHA challenges, is absurd. Many would rather forgo the payment than endure the ordeal, highlighting the government’s failure to adopt a more pragmatic approach, such as issuing automatic payments based on existing data.

 

This penchant for tinkering is evident in other areas as well. The government’s proposals to ban smoking in public spaces, for instance, represent an unnecessary intrusion into personal freedoms. The same can be said for their musings on regulating concert ticket prices, as illustrated by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy's outrage over "vastly inflated prices" excluding ordinary fans from live music events. These are not the pressing issues of the day, yet they consume the government’s attention while more significant challenges, such as the overhaul of the food manufacturing industry, are ignored.

 

Even in matters of foreign policy, the Labour government’s approach is one of token gestures rather than substantive action. Their decision to tinker with arms exports to Israel, issuing 30 export licenses in response to alleged humanitarian violations, is nothing more than a weak nod to the pro-Gaza wing of the party. Meanwhile, Angela Rayner returns from her Ibiza holiday, spouting slogans like "remediation acceleration" on the Today programme, while remaining silent on more serious issues such as the fatalities at the Notting Hill Carnival.

 

Labour won the right to govern after the chaos of the Tory years, but their current trajectory risks squandering this opportunity. Instead of bold actions, they offer half-measures and empty gestures. Like the car park in Eynsham, their policies may look impressive on the surface, but without the infrastructure to make them work, they remain unused and ineffective. If Labour continues to tinker without tackling the big issues, they will find themselves splintered and sidelined, their chance to lead slipping away, leaving Britain as empty and directionless as that Oxfordshire car park.

 

Credit: Daily Telegraph 2024-09-10

 

 

 

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[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Social Media said:

Labour won the right to govern after the chaos of the Tory years, but their current trajectory risks squandering this opportunity.

The similarities to the Blair debacle when he wasted 2 huge majorities on the Iraq fiasco are evident to me.

 

Something like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory comes to mind.

[newbee2022]

2 hours ago, Social Media said:

 

In the heart of Oxfordshire, a £51 million car park, sprawling across 19 acres with 850 spaces, stands as a symbol of mismanagement and unfulfilled promises. From above, it resembles a meticulously designed racing circuit, with ring roads, bus shelters, and perfectly painted parking lines. Yet, despite its grandeur, this car park is destined to remain empty for years to come. The reason? It cannot be connected to the main road just a few meters away due to halted improvements on the A40 dual carriageway, thwarted by planning and cost issues. This colossal waste, an island of empty potential, is a fitting metaphor for the current state of Britain under the Labour government led by Keir Starmer.

 

The situation in Eynsham encapsulates a broader pattern: a government that excels in bluster, blame, and endless tinkering without achieving meaningful progress. The Labour government has quickly mastered the art of shallow interference, paying lip service to socialist ideals without the conviction to implement them effectively. A prime example is their recent decision to withdraw the winter fuel payment for older people, citing a supposed £22 billion financial black hole left by their predecessors.

 

This move, predictably unpopular, has prompted the government to suggest that around 800,000 pensioners eligible for pension credit should navigate a complex online application process to claim what is rightfully theirs. The idea that elderly citizens should jump through such hoops, entering verification codes and deciphering CAPTCHA challenges, is absurd. Many would rather forgo the payment than endure the ordeal, highlighting the government’s failure to adopt a more pragmatic approach, such as issuing automatic payments based on existing data.

 

This penchant for tinkering is evident in other areas as well. The government’s proposals to ban smoking in public spaces, for instance, represent an unnecessary intrusion into personal freedoms. The same can be said for their musings on regulating concert ticket prices, as illustrated by Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy's outrage over "vastly inflated prices" excluding ordinary fans from live music events. These are not the pressing issues of the day, yet they consume the government’s attention while more significant challenges, such as the overhaul of the food manufacturing industry, are ignored.

 

 

Even in matters of foreign policy, the Labour government’s approach is one of token gestures rather than substantive action. Their decision to tinker with arms exports to Israel, issuing 30 export licenses in response to alleged humanitarian violations, is nothing more than a weak nod to the pro-Gaza wing of the party. Meanwhile, Angela Rayner returns from her Ibiza holiday, spouting slogans like "remediation acceleration" on the Today programme, while remaining silent on more serious issues such as the fatalities at the Notting Hill Carnival.

 

Labour won the right to govern after the chaos of the Tory years, but their current trajectory risks squandering this opportunity. Instead of bold actions, they offer half-measures and empty gestures. Like the car park in Eynsham, their policies may look impressive on the surface, but without the infrastructure to make them work, they remain unused and ineffective. If Labour continues to tinker without tackling the big issues, they will find themselves splintered and sidelined, their chance to lead slipping away, leaving Britain as empty and directionless as that Oxfordshire car park.

 

Credit: Daily Telegraph 2024-09-10

 

 

 

Get the ASEAN NOW daily NEWSLETTER - Click HERE to subscrib

I think this writer is on his own strange way of war blaming Starmer for everything, next for the rain in London?

It's a simple hate speech. Ridiculous but probably more will follow unfortunately.

[thaibeachlovers]

23 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

I think this writer is on his own strange way of war blaming Starmer for everything, next for the rain in London?

It's a simple hate speech. Ridiculous but probably more will follow unfortunately.

IMO your bar for hate speech is incredibly low.

Edited September 9 by thaibeachlovers

[soalbundy]

No different from any other government. Politicians aren't experts at much at all, they have their advisors who are experts but they have to concede to the political ideologies of the day if they want to stay in their job. It may be that AI as a guiding tool has a future but getting good advice is one thing, taking it is another, 'Yes Minister' showed the truth. We are all human and hence prone to making mistakes but add arrogance, power and a sense of self entitlement into the mix and the mistakes can cost billions and cause misery for millions.

[Red Forever]

Jeez, more right wing drivel from the Torygraph.

I wonder which political party was in power when acquisition of land, planning and actual building of this car park in Eynsham took place.

Here's a clue: Labour have been in power for just 2 months.

[JonnyF]

Inaction would be better than what Labour have done so far.

 

Removing the pensioners fuel allowance where by their own estimates some extra 4000 pensioners will freeze to death this winter is a cruel and ill thought out policy, and one which they opposed when they thought the Tories would do it.

 

This could be their "poll tax" moment. Two tier Keir is too stubborn and arrogant to roll back on it I suspect. 

 

Not to mention his calls to lock up anyone who disagrees with his ridiculous stance on immigration. Blaming the 'far right' for everything (funny how they suddenly 'appeared' when Starmer's polcies were ridiculed). 

 

He has money for foreign aid but not for the people who pay into the system and actually elected him. 

 

They are looking unfit for purpose at this point. How people voted for them is beyond me. It took a decade for the Tories to become as unpopular as he has in a few weeks.

 

Starmer will destroy Britain and you get the impression that is by design. 

[Chomper Higgot]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

This colossal waste, an island of empty potential, is a fitting metaphor for the current state of Britain under the Labour government led by Keir Starmer.

LMAO 

 

Even brain dead Telegraph readers might, and I stress might, be able to figure out that car park has been in existence a long time before July 5.

 

 

[Chomper Higgot]

39 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

Removing the pensioners fuel allowance where by their own estimates some extra 4000 pensioners will freeze to death this winter

Do you have a link to this ‘own estimate some extra 4000 pensioners will freeze to death this winter’?

 

 

[JonnyF]

7 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Do you have a link to this ‘own estimate some extra 4000 pensioners will freeze to death this winter’?

 

 

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13827471/Labours-plan-strip-million-pensioners-winter-fuel-payments-KILL.html

 

[Nick Carter icp]

3 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13827471/Labours-plan-strip-million-pensioners-winter-fuel-payments-KILL.html

 

 

   That would help ease the housing shortage. 

4000 extra rooms available . 

[JonnyF]

2 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

 

   That would help ease the housing shortage. 

4000 extra rooms available . 

 

With illegal immigrants top of the list, no doubt. 

[Bkk Brian]

16 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

LMAO 

 

Even brain dead Telegraph readers might, and I stress might, be able to figure out that car park has been in existence a long time before July 5.

 

 

"brain dead Telegraph readers"

 

How about brain dead OP readers?

 

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

this car park is destined to remain empty for years to come. The reason? It cannot be connected to the main road just a few meters away due to halted improvements on the A40 dual carriageway,

 

 

[James105]

20 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Do you have a link to this ‘own estimate some extra 4000 pensioners will freeze to death this winter’?

 

 

 

This one is the original Guardian article about it:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/05/tory-winter-fuel-allowance-cuts-puts-4000-lives-at-risk-claims-labour

 

They had the comments open so you can see what your comrades said about the Tories when they were contemplating implementing the exact same policy which is quite amusing.  

 

Keir Starmer knows it will kill 4000 people before their time and is going ahead with it.   What kind of person does that?  

[Chomper Higgot]

10 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

"brain dead Telegraph readers"

 

How about brain dead OP readers?

 

 

 

Halted when Brian?

[Chomper Higgot]

Just now, James105 said:

 

This one is the original Guardian article about it:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jun/05/tory-winter-fuel-allowance-cuts-puts-4000-lives-at-risk-claims-labour

 

They had the comments open so you can see what your comrades said about the Tories when they were contemplating implementing the exact same policy which is quite amusing.  

 

Keir Starmer knows it will kill 4000 people before their time and is going ahead with it.   What kind of person does that?  

 It was it the exact same policy?

 

https://inews.co.uk/news/labour-pensioners-die-winter-fuel-payment-cut-fact-check-3267416?srsltid=AfmBOoq2liI5gViCJnbWWLGyuaPcA4gEoHoX0XJXQD-4zz72V6FfQS4b

[Chomper Higgot]

20 minutes ago, JonnyF said:

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13827471/Labours-plan-strip-million-pensioners-winter-fuel-payments-KILL.html

 

Labour’s research on Theresa May’s plan.

 

Not the same thing.

 

https://inews.co.uk/news/labour-pensioners-die-winter-fuel-payment-cut-fact-check-3267416?srsltid=AfmBOoq2liI5gViCJnbWWLGyuaPcA4gEoHoX0XJXQD-4zz72V6FfQS4b

[herfiehandbag]

5 hours ago, Social Media said:

"remediation acceleration"

I presume that "remediation acceleration" was something to do with the De Lorean car in "Back to the Future"?

 

John Humphreys would have had a field day with that one!

[Bkk Brian]

10 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Halted when Brian?

You made an inflammatory claim. Its up to you to back it up 

 

"brain dead Telegraph readers"

[James105]

3 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

 It was it the exact same policy?

 

https://inews.co.uk/news/labour-pensioners-die-winter-fuel-payment-cut-fact-check-3267416?srsltid=AfmBOoq2liI5gViCJnbWWLGyuaPcA4gEoHoX0XJXQD-4zz72V6FfQS4b

 

Do you ever read the links that you think support your mental gymnastics:

 

"At the time, then-prime minister Theresa May said the payments would be removed from all but the poorest pensioners."

 

It is the same policy but it wasn't implemented, probably due to the knowledge from Labours study telling them that 4000 people would die if they implemented it.   The Tories were not callous enough to implement it.  

 

So what do you think of Starmer knowingly implementing a policy that their own research said would kill 4000 old people before their time?   For a comparison, Harold Shipman only managed to kill 284 over a period of 30 years.   

[Chomper Higgot]

5 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

You made an inflammatory claim. Its up to you to back it up 

 

"brain dead Telegraph readers"

It’s my opinion, Brian.

 

I figure anyone who can’t figure out that car park was not built since Jul 5 is a bit dead in the head.

[Chomper Higgot]

5 minutes ago, James105 said:

 

Do you ever read the links that you think support your mental gymnastics:

 

"At the time, then-prime minister Theresa May said the payments would be removed from all but the poorest pensioners."

 

It is the same policy but it wasn't implemented, probably due to the knowledge from Labours study telling them that 4000 people would die if they implemented it.   The Tories were not callous enough to implement it.  

 

So what do you think of Starmer knowingly implementing a policy that their own research said would kill 4000 old people before their time?   For a comparison, Harold Shipman only managed to kill 284 over a period of 30 years.   

Yes I do:

 

”

At the time, the Conservatives rejected the claims and said Labour were “irresponsible scaremongering”.

”

[Bkk Brian]

5 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

It’s my opinion, Brian.

 

I figure anyone who can’t figure out that car park was not built since Jul 5 is a bit dead in the head.

Poor excuse for inflammatory remarks even when I pointed out the context. Noted.

 

"this car park is destined to remain empty for years to come. The reason? It cannot be connected to the main road just a few meters away due to halted improvements on the A40 dual carriageway,"

 

[Chomper Higgot]

Just now, Bkk Brian said:

Poor excuse for inflammatory remarks even when I pointed out the context. Noted.

 

"this car park is destined to remain empty for years to come. The reason? It cannot be connected to the main road just a few meters away due to halted improvements on the A40 dual carriageway,"

 

Again, halted when and perhaps as importantly why?

[Bkk Brian]

1 minute ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Again, halted when and perhaps as importantly why?

That's not up to me to research, or do you assume people are brain dead before you research first?

[James105]

26 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

Yes I do:

 

”

 

At the time, the Conservatives rejected the claims and said Labour were “irresponsible scaremongering”.

”

 

It was a Labour generated review, you can't blame the Tories who didn't implement a policy on this one.  Let's try again.  What do you think of Starmer knowingly implementing a policy that their own research said would kill 4000 old people before their time?   For a comparison, Harold Shipman only managed to kill 284 over a period of 30 years. 

[Chomper Higgot]

17 minutes ago, Bkk Brian said:

That's not up to me to research, or do you assume people are brain dead before you research first?

No, but it is an example of the gaping holes in what The Telegraph serves up to its readers in the guise of reporting.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 minute ago, James105 said:

 

It was a Labour generated review, you can't blame the Tories who didn't implement a policy on this one.  Let's try again.  What do you think of Starmer knowingly implementing a policy that their own research said would kill 4000 old people before their time?   For a comparison, Harold Shipman only managed to kill 284 over a period of 30 years. 

I don’t. 
 

Different assessment of different policy under different circumstances.

 

As explained in the link I provided.

 

”

At the time, the Conservatives rejected the claims and said Labour were “irresponsible scaremongering”.

”

 

Do think the Tories and their client press might now be engaging in ‘irresponsible s are mongering’?

 

 

[Bkk Brian]

2 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

No, but it is an example of the gaping holes in what The Telegraph serves up to its readers in the guise of reporting.

What gaping holes, they have stated quite clearly its because of the halted improvements to the on the A40 dual carriageway. Nothing to do with your inflammatory claims.

 

"Even brain dead Telegraph readers might, and I stress might, be able to figure out that car park has been in existence a long time before July 5."

[Patong2021]

1 hour ago, Bkk Brian said:

"brain dead Telegraph readers"

 

How about brain dead OP readers?

 

May I draw your attention to the following;

Project to improve the A40 in Oxfordshire has been delayed - 30th November 2022

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/23160536.project-improve-a40-oxfordshire-delayed/#:~:text=In April%2C the council's cabinet,its costs due to inflation.

 

The  former Conservative Council had approved the expansion, but local elections changed the composition of the council to a coalition of Lib Dems, Labour and Greens who inherited the project. They realized that they did not have the 

£106.7 million needed to pay for the project. Can they really be blamed for prudent management of finances?