Ian Lumley

Ofcom slams O2 over unexpected mobile phone contract price rise The media regulator said it was disappointed O2 raised prices more than was advertised when customers took out contracts.

Corporate Rip-off.

Ofcom rules brought in to stop phone/broadband companies from hiking prices mid-contract.

O2 to ignore the rules.

15.6m O2 customer bills to rise 40% more than expected.

Other companies bound to follow. They raise capital from customers.

Customers need enforceable rights

Thousands on benefits could have energy debt cancelled by Ofgem Regulator Ofgem plans to cut £500m from the stack of customer debt - but other billpayers will cover the cost.

The energy bill write off con.

Fuel poverty rising, debt £4.4bn. Ofgem says £500m could be written off.

It would be added to the bills of other customers. Energy companies made £514bn operating profit since 2020.

No cut in their profit. Debt would be rebuilt

Nationalise energy. End profiteering

Elon Musk is seeking a trillion-dollar pay packet. That's enough money to eradicate hunger worldwide, three times over.

Tightening Pip benefit eligibility could save £9bn a year, says Reform Lee Anderson says ‘gaming the system’ is too common and jokes about symptoms of anxiety and depression

Tightening Pip benefit eligibility could save £9bn a yr, says Reform.

Targeting vulnerable people.

People with less serious psychological conditions won't get PIP without face-to-face assessment.

Reform plans to sack 100k civil servants.

Silence on ending corporate welfare, tax perks of the rich

Why the banking industry is not a paragon of free markets, efficiency, or honesty Despite making record profits and paying record returns to shareholders it resents paying taxes.

In 2024, UK’s big four banks HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds, & National Westminster made £45.9bn profit.

Since 2021/22 profit margins up by 21%.

2022 -2024: Big four banks paid £124bn in dividends, £32bn in share buybacks.

They oppose possible tax increase, publish misleading tax numbers.

Tax them.

Michelle Mone got a private jet, a superyacht and a £10m luxury home in Florida on the NHS. Most of us can't even get a GP appointment.

Workers rights bill & living wage rise 'will lead to a jobs bloodbath In its Employment Rights Bill, Labour has also proposed introducing nine-month legal 'probation' periods to address concerns, but the think-tank said this was a 'messy compromise'.

"Workers rights bill and living wage rise will lead to a jobs bloodbath", says Daily Mail.

Apparently making workers insecure/poor is the way to economic growth

Silence on fat-cattery, food bank queues, 34% of universal credit claimants are in work

Light years away from Cadbury/Quaker capitalism.

Mike Graham has been sacked from TalkTV, an online only channel, after a racist post on Facebook that he claimed was hackers.

I thought you couldn't go any lower than getting sacked from GB News, but Graham found a way.

Goodbye and good riddance.

Millions in households in England and Wales are stuck in the red, says charity Citizens Advice says 4 million people spending more on essentials than they earn amid ever-increasing bills

4m people in England & Wales spend more on essentials than they earn.

580,000 have £50 left at the end of the month.

Result of low wages/benefits, austerity, unchecked profiteering.

1% have more wealth than 70% of the population combined.

Poverty is a political choice.

Welfare cuts have fuelled rise of far right and populism, top UN expert says Exclusive: Poverty rapporteur says governments must rethink welfare state as essential to fabric of society

Welfare cuts have fuelled rise of far right and populism, top UN expert says.

Adds that the rise of parties like Nigel Farage’s Reform party is “completely terrifying”.

Yet no end to real wage/benefit cuts; no curbs on profiteering; little redistribution.

Rachel Reeves’ budget must reduce inequalities and increase spending capacity of the masses This is how to secure sustained economic growth

Judge the next UK budget by how much it improves the purchasing power of the bottom 50%.

Can't revive economy without that.

16m live in poverty. 34% of universal credit claimants are in work. Millions rely on food banks.

Bottom 50% of population has 5% of wealth; the bottom fifth has only 0.5%.

Centrica is among the 491 employers fined for failing the minimum wage. Britain's privatised gas monopoly made £1.6bn in profits last year.

Barrister found to have used AI to prepare for hearing after citing ‘fictitious’ cases Judge rules Chowdhury Rahman used ChatGPT-like software and then tried to hide it, wasting immigration tribunal’s time

Barrister used AI to prepare for hearing, cited ‘fictitious’ cases.

The problem is bigger.
Students use AI for essays, dissertations
Property rights stolen
Doctors/Nurses relying on AI
Loss of jobs
Absence of human interaction
More hacking
Technology overriding critical thinking

Who is regulating?

'Farage could never be trusted to run Britain after getting Brexit so wrong' No Brexit champion, particularly Nigel Farage, is worthy of high office after proving so conclusively wrong on such a seismic issue, says Mirror Associate Editor Kevin Maguire

Nigel Farage could never be trusted to run Britain after getting Brexit so wrong'.

Brexit is the biggest self-harm. UK economy hasn't recovered.

Farage, the part-time MP, collects millions from 2nd/3rd jobs, full time MP pay+exps; often missing from the Commons.

Pushes hatred to grab power.

Michael Gove admits that post-Brexit trade deals were bad for farmers Michael Gove has admitted for the first time that the Australia and New Zealand trade deals negotiated by the former Tory government did not protect Britain’s farmers.

Former Tory Minister Michael Gove says the post-Brexit Tory trade deals with Australia and New Zealand were bad for UK farmers.

Why did he/Tories Tories sign them?

Brexit hasn't yielded any economic benefits. UK gave up the best trade deals and now scavenges for whatever it can get.

EU steel tariff hike threatens 'biggest crisis' for UK industry The EU is the destination for 78% of steel products made in the UK for overseas markets.

EU steel tariff hike threatens 'biggest ever crisis' for UK industry.

Crisis deepened by Brexit, Trump tariffs, trade wars, privatisation and lack of investment. Huge subsidies continue.

It is now either nationalisation or death of the industry.

The government must ensure fair distribution of income 'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'

Democide in our times

Austerity, wage & public service cuts kill, but are govt policy.

Millions can't get good food, housing, education, healthcare, pension.

Men in poorer UK areas live 9.7 yrs less than those in least deprived areas. Women 8 years.

Govts silent on the human cost of fiscal rules

Don't forget that 41 Tory MPs in the last government took Russian donations. That might account for media reticence to report on the Nathan Gill case.

Reform-led Kent county council is set to increase council tax next year. It's almost as if the 'wasteful local authority spending' Farage keeps banging on about isn't really a thing.

The government must ensure fair distribution of income 'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'

The state we're in

UK full-time employee median wage, £30,816.
4.5m jobs pay less than the real Living Wage.
1.17m workers on zero-hour contracts.
34% of Universal Credit claimants are in work.
16m Britons live in poverty.

Can't build economy on poverty.

Must increase worker share of GDP.

The government must ensure fair distribution of income 'The average real wage of workers has hardly moved from the 2008 level whilst bosses never had it so good.'

Average real wage of UK workers is stuck the 2008 level.

Some bosses are collecting 1,112 times more than the average employee wage. Millions forced to rely on food banks and charity.

Workers have no say in income distribution. Govts do nothing.

Can't build economy/society on huge inequalities.

When you see fascism on your block, you don't stay silent 📢

I have been in the UK a couple of months now. Perhaps I was naive but I’m shocked how universal hate-fueled politics has become. I want to live somewhere that values compassion, tolerance and treating others with dignity. How did these messages of hate gain so much traction?

If the government wants economic growth it must bring essential industries into public ownership Successive governments clobber households and small businesses by hiking interest rates to manage inflation, but don’t inconvenience corporations.

Big pharma war on the UK

Cancer drug lenalidomide had profit mark-up of 23,000%.

Hydrocortisone tablets prices up by 10,000%

Price of phenytoin sodium up by 2,300% - 2,600%.

They are holding govt to ransom, want the NHS to pay more, fueling higher taxes, inflation.

Must curb corporate power.

This ruling is a joke.

PPE Medpro will go bankrupt and the Government won't get a penny.

Michelle Mone should have to pay the £122m personally.

RT if you want to see her pay it all back.

Political questions about the peerage of Michelle Mone.

PM David Cameron didn't follow proper protocols for her peerage, made her govt adviser.

The same David Cameron appointed Philip Green (BHS fame) as the Govt's efficiency Tsar, bugled the Brexit referendum.

Mone benefitted from Tory VIP lane.

Streeting rules out VAT on private healthcare The health secretary says

Streeting rules out VAT on private healthcare.

Govt levies VAT on private school fees. Why not on healthcare? Billions can be raised.

Private sector freeloads on NHS trained staff, doesn't pay for training. Makes excessive profits from NHS contracts.

The NHS is routinely described as 'unsustainable'. But that adjective never gets applied to arms spending, bank bail-outs or tax dodging by the rich.

Stop blaming migrants and tackle UK’s real problems, 100 charities tell home secretary A letter warns Shabana Mahmood that ‘targeting refugees will do nothing to tackle’ problems with housing and the NHS

Stop blaming migrants and tackle real problems, 100 charities tell UK Govt.

Govt follows Reform agenda, failed to develop effective counter narrative.

Migrants are vital part of economy, public services. Economic problems caused by inequality, austerity, privatisation, political corruption.