State Opening Of Parliament

[Anna B]

2 hours ago, hackey lad said:

I know a great many “ ordinary mortals “ and none are on their knees   . The rest of your post sounds like a Union leader’s rant 

Not yet they're not, but this is only the beginning of the rout.

 

Poverty is due to climb exponentially up the social scale.   As good jobs diappear at an ever increasing rate replaced by automation and outsourcing, (and that includes white collar jobs you wouldn't expect like law, pilots and underwriters,) The jobs that replace them are likely to be low paid, short term and undesirable.

 

In the USA they've calculated that 46% of current jobs are at risk, and many more are likely to be automated in the future, and don't forget that people working from home should remember that if their job can be done from home, it can be done from India at a fraction of the cost. That's what Globalisation means. we've lost our ability to manufacture at competitive prices, and our salaries mean that outsourcing is inevitable. The rising cost of living means any reduction in real wages in orderto compete is going to be a race to the bottom. Inflation will do the rest.

 

People in full time work are already having to use foodbanks to survive. Who would have thought 10 years ago that that would be the case in modern Britain?

Edited May 11, 2022 by Anna B

[hackey lad]

1 hour ago, Anna B said:

Not yet they're not, but this is only the beginning of the rout.

 

Poverty is due to climb exponentially up the social scale.   As good jobs diappear at an ever increasing rate replaced by automation and outsourcing, (and that includes white collar jobs you wouldn't expect like law, pilots and underwriters,) The jobs that replace them are likely to be low paid, short term and undesirable.

 

In the USA they've calculated that 46% of current jobs are at risk, and many more are likely to be automated in the future, and don't forget that people working from home should remember that if their job can be done from home, it can be done from India at a fraction of the cost. That's what Globalisation means. we've lost our ability to manufacture at competitive prices, and our salaries mean that outsourcing is inevitable. The rising cost of living means any reduction in real wages in orderto compete is going to be a race to the bottom. Inflation will do the rest.

 

People in full time work are already having to use foodbanks to survive. Who would have thought 10 years ago that that would be the case in modern Britain?

“Only the beginning “  you said before it started with Thatcher and Reagan , many years ago

 

[ECCOnoob]

2 hours ago, Anna B said:

Not yet they're not, but this is only the beginning of the rout.

 

Poverty is due to climb exponentially up the social scale.   As good jobs diappear at an ever increasing rate replaced by automation and outsourcing, (and that includes white collar jobs you wouldn't expect like law, pilots and underwriters,) The jobs that replace them are likely to be low paid, short term and undesirable.

 

In the USA they've calculated that 46% of current jobs are at risk, and many more are likely to be automated in the future, and don't forget that people working from home should remember that if their job can be done from home, it can be done from India at a fraction of the cost. That's what Globalisation means. we've lost our ability to manufacture at competitive prices, and our salaries mean that outsourcing is inevitable. The rising cost of living means any reduction in real wages in orderto compete is going to be a race to the bottom. Inflation will do the rest.

 

People in full time work are already having to use foodbanks to survive. Who would have thought 10 years ago that that would be the case in modern Britain?

Yeah yeah yeah we're all doomed and might as well end it now.

 

You say having to use food banks I say choosing to use food banks. Just think for a second if they weren't there, just like they weren't there when my own parents were very poor and having to struggle to survive keeping the house going with four kids.....   would all these food bank 'dependants' suddenly die of starvation or would they miraculously manage to find enough money to afford basic groceries each week.   

 

Personally, for all the money spent on food banks, I would much rather see invested into proper education of money management including realistic and if necessary blunt lessons in what genuinely constitutes essential items and poverty. IMO should also include real-world examples and advice on avoiding constant peer pressure and one upmanship regarding consumer goods and affordability.  

 

As for jobs, we have been here before. Oh how they screamed the steam engine was going to to kill off the traditional trades and no one would survive.....  the typewriter was going to condemn all those clerks and scribes....    the computer was going to destroy workforces with the microchip replacing thousands of employees......  automation and robotics were going to take over the world and leave us with nothing.....

 

Somehow we are all still here.  We irritatingly just seem to keep evolving and adapting and changing as world progresses. It's almost like all hysteria and theatrics and outrage from the doommongers is totally inaccurate.

 

You talked about the mass advancements in technology but let's get some reality check here. For all the wonderful developments in automation and self-driving and self navigation and artificial intelligence what do we have on the ground which people will actually embrace and trust and is commercially viable. There is a huge yawning gap between the two. At a time when we are bringing legislation for self-driving cars, we are still running diesel boneshaker trains on our railways, we are still having bully boy trade unions kicking up a stink and going on strike because they object to a driver pressing a button to automatically close train doors. 40 years ago we could reach across the Atlantic is under 4 hours, however a couple of accidents and a huge hurdle in real commercial viability and we are back to a minimum of 8 hours. The bringing of the dial put thousands of telephone operators out of work, but somehow they all found different jobs with whole industry fpimg a revolution from switchrooms to massive call centres. Different task but another example of the evolution of work. You have complained several times on this very forum regarding how precious nurse and caring staff are too busy filling in spreadsheets computerised information but I am very sure you'd not seriously expect them to go back to the dark days of reams of manual paper methods or would you like the precious NHS budget to be spent on personal secretaries running around doing the data input for the nurses as they go around patients.

 

It's strange that you seem to have such objections to traditions and pageantry and historical preservation but at the same time  giving a load of doomsday scenario regarding the constant progression and evolution of the way people work and live.

Edited May 11, 2022 by ECCOnoob

[hackey lad]

2 minutes ago, ECCOnoob said:

Yeah yeah yeah we're all doomed and might as well end it now.

 

You say having to use food banks I say choosing to use food banks. Just think for a second if they weren't there, just like they weren't there when my own parents were very poor and having to struggle to survive keeping the house going with four kids.....   would all these food bank 'dependants' suddenly die of starvation or would they miraculously manage to find enough money to afford basic groceries each week.

 

As for jobs, we have been here before. Oh how they screamed the steam engine was going to to kill off the traditional trades and no one would survive.....  the typewriter was going to condemn all those clerks and scribes....    the computer was going to destroy workforces work with the microchip replacing thousands of employees......  automation were going to take over the world in leave us with nothing.....

 

Somehow we are all still here.  We irritatingly just seem to keep evolving and adapting and changing as world progresses. It's almost like all hysteria and theatrics and outrage from the doommongers is totally  inaccurate.

Your point about food banks is so true 

[Anna B]

9 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

“Only the beginning “  you said before it started with Thatcher and Reagan , many years ago

 

Thatcher and Regan brought in 'Free Market Economics back in the 80's. We saw the immediate upside for some. Remember the 'Yuppies' making millions on the newly deregulated money markets and stock exchange? Remember the 'tell Sid' adverts as our utilities were sold off making us all potential shareholders? Council houses being sold off to tenants? The boom in designer clothes and goods that we were all supposed to aspire to? 

 

All this at the expense of the 'old fashioned' manufacturing and heavy industries like mining and steel production which was outsourced making hundreds of thousands unemployed, but marketed as a battle between the unions and 'who runs the country?' as we put all our eggs in one basket - the money markets and tech.

 

Well now the pigions are coming home to roost as a direct long term consequence of these moves.

 

Deregulated money markets led to corruption and the banking crash of 2008 which affected everyone. 

We lost control of our Utilities which were lost to overseas investors, leading to Putin (and others) with his bloody gas pipe line able to blackmail us.

Council houses were sold off and not replaced, hence our housing crisis, buy-to-let, and astronomical rents.

Designer goods made us immune to massive price rises, which was termed as 'growth' but only benefitted the manufacturers and they weren't us.

The unemployed in the North never recovered as most of the new tech jobs were in the south east. The North became poorer and another country.

 Unions became a dirty word, so workers rights were trampled on and we were supposed to embrace a 'gig economy' which really meant insecurity and poor wages, so a rise in the cost of living is devastating.

Too much money in the system, but in too few hands has led to a major imbalance which will not be put right by any neoliberal government. That's includes both Conservative and Starmer's Labour, so no one willing to stop what is happening. 

 

So yes, it's going to get worse. A lot worse....

 

  

 

[hackey lad]

3 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Thatcher and Regan brought in 'Free Market Economics back in the 80's. We saw the immediate upside for some. Remember the 'Yuppies' making millions on the newly deregulated money markets and stock exchange? Remember the 'tell Sid' adverts as our utilities were sold off making us all potential shareholders? Council houses being sold off to tenants? The boom in designer clothes and goods that we were all supposed to aspire to? 

 

All this at the expense of the 'old fashioned' manufacturing and heavy industries like mining and steel production which was outsourced making hundreds of thousands unemployed, but marketed as a battle between the unions and 'who runs the country?' as we put all our eggs in one basket - the money markets and tech.

 

Well now the pigions are coming home to roost as a direct long term consequence of these moves.

 

Deregulated money markets led to corruption and the banking crash of 2008 which affected everyone. 

We lost control of our Utilities which were lost to overseas investors, leading to Putin (and others) with his bloody gas pipe line able to blackmail us.

Council houses were sold off and not replaced, hence our housing crisis, buy-to-let, and astronomical rents.

Designer goods made us immune to massive price rises, which was termed as 'growth' but only benefitted the manufacturers and they weren't us.

The unemployed in the North never recovered as most of the new tech jobs were in the south east. The North became poorer and another country.

 Unions became a dirty word, so workers rights were trampled on and we were supposed to embrace a 'gig economy' which really meant insecurity and poor wages, so a rise in the cost of living is devastating.

Too much money in the system, but in too few hands has led to a major imbalance which will not be put right by any neoliberal government. That's includes both Conservative and Starmer's Labour, so no one willing to stop what is happening. 

 

So yes, it's going to get worse. A lot worse....

 

  

 

I actually feel sorry for you , living in a doom laden world  and finding problems in life . We are lucky enough to live in a great country, with a great future. Stop it with the doom 

[ECCOnoob]

13 hours ago, Anna B said:

Thatcher and Regan brought in 'Free Market Economics back in the 80's. We saw the immediate upside for some. Remember the 'Yuppies' making millions on the newly deregulated money markets and stock exchange? Remember the 'tell Sid' adverts as our utilities were sold off making us all potential shareholders? Council houses being sold off to tenants? The boom in designer clothes and goods that we were all supposed to aspire to? 

 

All this at the expense of the 'old fashioned' manufacturing and heavy industries like mining and steel production which was outsourced making hundreds of thousands unemployed, but marketed as a battle between the unions and 'who runs the country?' as we put all our eggs in one basket - the money markets and tech.

 

Well now the pigions are coming home to roost as a direct long term consequence of these moves.

 

Deregulated money markets led to corruption and the banking crash of 2008 which affected everyone. 

We lost control of our Utilities which were lost to overseas investors, leading to Putin (and others) with his bloody gas pipe line able to blackmail us.

Council houses were sold off and not replaced, hence our housing crisis, buy-to-let, and astronomical rents.

Designer goods made us immune to massive price rises, which was termed as 'growth' but only benefitted the manufacturers and they weren't us.

The unemployed in the North never recovered as most of the new tech jobs were in the south east. The North became poorer and another country.

 Unions became a dirty word, so workers rights were trampled on and we were supposed to embrace a 'gig economy' which really meant insecurity and poor wages, so a rise in the cost of living is devastating.

Too much money in the system, but in too few hands has led to a major imbalance which will not be put right by any neoliberal government. That's includes both Conservative and Starmer's Labour, so no one willing to stop what is happening. 

 

So yes, it's going to get worse. A lot worse....

 

  

 

Bloody hell. Your posts make Eeyore look like a motivational speaker.

 

Get a grip. Stop blaming all of the world's changes and problems on the introduction of Margaret Thatcher into office. Have a proper look back at history and see how things are constantly changing and evolving. They've been doing it for centuries.  There have always been the rich and the poor. There have always been the landlords and the tenants. There have always been the bosses and the workers. There has always been the first world countries and the third world countries. There have always been competition, bartering, tendring and global conflict.  

 

It is not some post 1980s phenomenon. Free market economics my backside. It's life Anna.  We are all open make our own way in this world. Plenty get leg up but just as many throw it all away. Plenty are born with nothing but just as many rise above it, elevate themselves and make a success. It's all down to us to live how we want to live.

Edited May 12, 2022 by ECCOnoob

[crookesey]

Does every political post have to end up as a Thatcher basher?

[Annie Bynnol]

14 hours ago, crookesey said:

History also tells us that he suffered from dementia, hence Mad  King George, and he never opposed slavery, despite what happened during his reign.

 

Dementia does not explain his 'bouts' of mental illness that recurred periodically over decades. A bi-polar disorder is considered the very likely cause of his behaviour with physical symptoms mirroring the 'treatments' he was given at different times.

George III had accepted the role of being an involved 'constitutional monarch' *and although he would disagree with Parliament he did not oppose its decisions. He did enjoy the company of slave owners(as did Victoria) who lavished both with gifts, hospitality, holidays etc., but unlike many 'higher ups' did not own slave here or in America( unlike most of the American leaders).

 

As a constitutional monarch it would be hard to be a tyrant, which was a convenience for the American leaders in some of the failing States eg. Georgia.

 

 

[Anna B]

3 hours ago, Annie Bynnol said:

Dementia does not explain his 'bouts' of mental illness that recurred periodically over decades. A bi-polar disorder is considered the very likely cause of his behaviour with physical symptoms mirroring the 'treatments' he was given at different times.

George III had accepted the role of being an involved 'constitutional monarch' *and although he would disagree with Parliament he did not oppose its decisions. He did enjoy the company of slave owners(as did Victoria) who lavished both with gifts, hospitality, holidays etc., but unlike many 'higher ups' did not own slave here or in America( unlike most of the American leaders).

 

As a constitutional monarch it would be hard to be a tyrant, which was a convenience for the American leaders in some of the failing States eg. Georgia.

 

 

George lll is now thought to have been suffering with Porphyria, hence the blue urine. Urine and bladder infections can have strange effects on the brain apparently.

He was extremely worried about his son, (who became Prince Regent and then George lV,) and his ability to rule.

George lV was indeed known for his extravagance. He loved pageantry, and was responsible for many of the ceremonial rituals and traditions of monarchy that we still maintain to this day.

Edited May 12, 2022 by Anna B