Sean McA

Meltdown in Gorton puts wind in the sails of Labour’s imm... Feeling vindicated by the Greens’ byelection win, MPs hope to force the home secretary to rethink her plans

Exc: As many as 80 Labour MPs are braced to oppose the home secretary's immigration policies

Dozens of backbenchers and ministers are understood to be hostile to Shabana Mahmood's reforms. After the Gorton by-election they're pushing for a "recalibration"

observer.co.uk/news/politic...

The Indisputable Maths of Migration How Demography, Not Dinghies, Will Decide Britain’s Future

Jim Radcliffe pissed me off, so I wrote this about the inconvenient truth of migration.

tl:dr - no, just fucking read it. Some basic mathematics - you know, COUNTING THINGS - might make you reconsider, you stupid twats.

(I'm not trying to make friends)

open.substack.com/pub/russinch...

Ok. They’ve pissed me off.

I’m back to tell you 3 things about ID cards:

1. Migrants ALREADY HAVE biometric ID cards & govts have been trying to digitise them for years w repeated fuckups & failures causing complete chaos - they don’t work, you do not want that system for you.

*Seek

Hold them inside and provide security.
Show a little gun control.
Maybe look at other countries.
Seel actual freedom for the majority.

When scholars of authoritarianism and fascism leave U.S. universities because of the deteriorating political situation here, we should really worry.

Makes less sense than not reintroducing the lifetime allowance as it's "complex" (see also non-dom softening). It's wealthy people avoiding tax whilst smaller safe pots are hit because it doesn't fit the growth agenda. A government serious about growth would tax the wealthy and scrap austerity.

He includes slurs on Nigerians and Japanese on the article itself. There are none so blind as those that cannot see.

Top Gear’s Jeremy Clarkson ‘deliberately used offensive racial term’ Ofcom says BBC breached broadcasting rules when it allowed presenter to use word ‘slope’ about Asian man in Burma special. By Jason Deans

Casual racism good enough for you?
www.theguardian.com/media/2014/j...

Not all will stay and it's 35 yrs for a full pension.
Higher taxes, working much longer and reducing state pensions are alternatives but that was Zoe's point - it's not being debated. When the state pension was launched there were 20 workers per pensioner, now there are 3 and it's unsustainable.

You are right that the number of the existing population reaching state pension age will fall over time. However, the falling birth rate is not the only factor as people are also living longer so costs keep increasing for decades.

Because we need tax income to fund services that an ageing population needs (including the salaries you propose). Also the state pension is funded from NI/tax paid by current workers - any past NI/tax paid for pensioners then and were not ringfenced for future benefits (it's a pay-as-you-go scheme).

Labour launches ads in Reform-style branding to boast about deportations Exclusive: Some MPs and activists upset at tone of party’s Facebook campaign aimed at countering Farage

Please Labour,
Stop with this Reform-aping arseholery. We see it for what it is and we hate it. We’re v tired of the nastiness, the cowardice and the dishonesty of blaming immigration for govt failures.
Put this nasty messaging in the bin and do better.
Thanks
UK

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Well it isn't for income over £12,570. More pertinently, how are public sector employees' salaries funded in your 'tax free' scenario?

Zoe is almost a lone voice in setting out the true position on this. Historical low birth rates, that are worsening, mean that to provide support for an ageing population (especially the NHS) and pay state pensions we rely on immigration.

Twenty More Government Reforms the Media Hasn't Been Telling You About You probably won’t have read much about these announcements over the past few weeks

Almost everything you hear about the Government is filtered through the framing of the British press.

But what is already clear after six months of Keir Starmer’s administration is that they don’t treat all governments equally...

My latest in an occasional series:

Para 2 to the tune of Yellow Polka Dot Bikini?

Agreed but it is a little nuanced. Dan Neidle has an excellent thread on this (and a possible alternative proposal).
bsky.app/profile/dann...

The damning statistics that reveal the true cost of Brexit, five years on www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/poli...

Some people in recent days have alleged a ‘cover-up’ over the grooming & rape of hundreds of young girls in predominantly northern UK towns, leading to calls for a ‘national’ public inquiry into child sexual exploitation

FWIW here’s a non-exhaustive list of inquiries into #CSE in last 12 yrs…

Andy Beckett is right to criticise the current approach by Keir Starmer on immigration. To describe the increase in migrant numbers in the UK as a Tory “open borders experiment” is a crude populist gimmick of which Starmer should be ashamed. The immigration issue is too serious for playing political games like this. Across Europe and in the US, the far right is gaining strength on the basis of hostility to immigration, and the centre-left is simply mimicking this xenophobic lead without success. Labour is following this trend, which only legitimises the politics of racial hatred and encourages voters to support the most extreme and convincing voices. There is an alternative narrative that Starmer could lead, stressing the enormous benefits of immigration to our economy, our society, our universities, our cities and town centres, our culture – and of course, as Starmer knows, our football clubs. Will he have the courage to reframe the debate before it is too late? Gideon Ben-Tovim

Excellent letter in the Guardian.

"There is an alternative narrative Starmer could lead, stressing the enormous benefits of immigration."

Something about heat and kitchen?!

Yet few, other than you Zoe, have made any argument for the value of immigration - not at the referendum (which led to a switch to non-EU migrants) or as populist right wing views gained traction. If there is a universal left wing view then I agree but surely there's a policy position on needs also.

I see what you are getting at but the proportion of workers is falling compared to retirees and we have a low birth rate. How would you propose we maintain the NHS and state pension? I don't think the need is purely business driven.

Thank you very much 😊. Returned.

We shall see Anthony. Many on Musk's personal platform have yet to make the switch so I will still monitor there without posting.

Finally I've taken the plunge and switched almost entirely to BlueSky. Thanks to those who have immediately followed me back - I'm looking forward to all your new posts in the new world!