[David9694]

No more lollipop ladies, close paddling pools and turning off streetlights: How budget cutting BCP Council proposes to save millions

This will be coming to your area in one shape or another.  A few items below, with more in the pipeline as they still have a £12m gap. 

No America trade deal. Still, I was reading, a possibility of an India deal next year, which will fix everything. 

Community Safety Accreditation Scheme (Save £270,000) – They aim to remove community safety officers from Poole Town Centre, Christchurch Town Centre and Boscombe.

Monitoring CCTV (Save £49,000) – Reduce live monitoring of the cameras by 15-30 per cent and to seek support from partner agencies to fund the service. This could mean cameras will no longer be watched by staff at off-peak times.
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Switching off street lighting (Save £68,000) – Turn off streetlights after midnight to 6am on quieter residential roads within the Poole area.

School Crossing Patrol (Save £12,000) – Remove school crossing patrols from locations that have existing crossing facilities and remove school crossing patrols from locations that, following a survey, do not meet the threshold for a patrol.

https://www.dorset.live/news/dorset-news/bcp-council-savings-budget-cuts-8924988

Topic

[chrisonabike]

I think the best arguments of
I think the best arguments of “leave” were in fact little or nothing to do with money; to what extent do decisions about a place get taken by those from a place? In theory more local people have more of a stake in doing things that benefit that place in general and don’t change it for the worse.

Of course by the time you get to a size where it takes a mob with brands and pitchforks more than a day to get to the rulers’ location the effects of “they have a stake in the place” diminish quite a lot.

(I think “how much are we paying to be ruled” is similar – comes under accountability.)

The flip side of course is are you big enough to stand up to the other states and empires (or international corporations…) who will also have their opinions on what you should do?

Money in the pocket is very variable over time anyway – I wouldn’t criticise those who made a strong case that the principles above were more important, unless they’d likely lead to the place becoming so poor that they were moot. (That would only be remotely likely for the wildest vision of Brexit.)

I personally favour smaller states as part of a larger union – but presumably those who didn’t felt that we were already in more of a “United States” arrangement or were heading that way because of “ever closer union”? Or just felt the UK is culturally or structurally too different from Europe (even just the nearest neighbours) for our interests to align sufficiently?

[Spangly Shiny]

Thus, yet another example of

Thus, yet another example of that old Diraelli chestnut of, “Lies, damned lies and statistics.” You can put forward almost any viewpoint you like, as long as you get your datapoints lined up correctly.
I look at the whole thing from a different perspective. How much do I have in my pocket now, compared to 10 years ago? Well, my takehome pay (THP) has reduced by a little more than 50% over that period. Yes, that’s less than half I was being paid pre Brexit. That is not comparing THP then and what it could have been now but actual THP, so with inflation accounted for, I’m down to around 40% of 10 years ago. No exhortations from any Brexiteer, no matter how passionate, committed, nor backed by whichever non-relevant graphical images they choose to present, will convince me of the benefits of the B word. In poker terms, it’s a busted flush.
I hear the questions already, but you try getting a new job after you have passed retirement age. So why not just retire? Can’t afford to, HMRC must have it’s pound of flesh. Word of advice, don’t EVER get into arrears with HMRC, it takes DECADES to get clear.

[Rendel Harris]

Spangly Shiny wrote:

I fear that any chance to rejoin was rendered moot by the petulant performance of the EU once the bullet was bit.

The EU bent over backwards to try and keep the UK in the union, providing us with a range of privileges and exemptions greater than those available to any other nation. Despite that we chose not to remain in the union. When we made that choice, the EU said OK, we’re sorry you’ve decided that but as you have you can’t have any of the benefits of being in the union. That’s not petulance, it’s pragmatism.

By sheer coincidence the below happened to pop up in my Facebook memories from 2017 today, a fairly accurate summation of the situation I think.

[Spangly Shiny]

I fear that any chance to

I fear that any chance to rejoin was rendered moot by the petulant performance of the EU once the bullet was bit. The whole thing was made so bitter and unpalatable that some less than avid leavers’ hearts were hardened up by the EU shenanigans, especially regarding Northern Ireland, which is not a done deal even yet.
Please don’t misunderstand, I’ve been pro since the first referendum in ’75 which, incidentally, was my first opportunity to vote.

[Hirsute]

The NI aspect is a standard
The NI aspect is a standard thing that already applies to existing deals done with other countries.
Also requires the employee to be on secondment and here for the short term.
It’s pretty irrelevant in terms of £s and if that is the best criticism the opposition have …

[chrisonabike]

David9694 wrote:

David9694 wrote:

My sense is that Starmer is now condemning himself to being a single term PM – any remaining hope of a rejoin position is gone now.

I think they might have been shot early doors (perhaps even at election) by the “don’t worry the slightly conservative horses” with their strict tax rules but also initial spending commitments then leaving little room for manoever without “growth”.  And then we’ve had a triple-whammy of Trump and “far beyond Truss” market economic disruption, Trump signalling if Europe is worried about Russia it may have to foot more war bills AND invest in its own defence, and the regional fights in the Middle East all contributing to higher costs and general economic stagnation.

In addition it seems to be even less a time for public “cool heads” and “wait and see if things change”.

OTOH next time round could be quite interesting – I’d guess Labour will get a relative kicking but (unless we go full Reform) the Conservatives might still be floating haplessly in the political water (who’d have thought Kemi Badenoch would not look sufficiently “right”?)

[chrisonabike]

David9694 wrote:

David9694 wrote:

The News of the fabled India deal seems to have been pretty low key – what did I miss?

I believe tariffs on white elephants are still in place, though those on (asian economic) tigers are reduced.

The national insurance thing is probably most significant I’d have thought.  I’m not sufficiently versed to understand the implications – a certain measure of “swings and roundabouts” perhaps – but I guess the plus sides are it’s maybe more attractive to hire folks from there over here?  We don’t get the NI cash from employing them but on the other hand they’re probably a net benefit to the country? (Albeit the political tone is increasingly “down with that sort of thing”).

[David9694]

The News of the fabled India

The News of the fabled India deal seems to have been pretty low key – what did I miss? 

News of the America Deal is rolling in as I type, sounds like some skypricing going on there: before Trump – tariff everyone was comfortable with; Trump doubles or triples it and then under the “deal”, it’s back where it started (until he changes his mind again.)

My sense is that Starmer is now condemning himself to being a single term PM – any remaining hope of a rejoin position is gone now. 

 

[chrisonabike]

Reminds me of Cold War Steve

Reminds me of Cold War Steve’s video for Sleaford Mods…

[Hirsute]

Happy Fifth Birthday

Happy Fifth Birthday

“We celebrated Brexit’s Birthday in the village yesterday. Cliff from the pub took out his sovereignty & we gasped as we watched it grow. My good wife Bunty flashed her sunlit uplands. And we feasted on clams & pints of wine! Later on we burnt effigies of Alan Sugar & Piers Morgan. 🇬🇧🥳”

Sir Michael Take CBE

[Anonymous]

Spot on:
Spot on:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/jan/12/broken-rail-britain-privatisation-trains

[jaymack]

Stark warnings indeed from
Stark warnings indeed from Private Eye. The simple message seems to be get fit before 2040 or die on a waiting list. I’ll probably manage to do both of those things.

[open_roads]

The “de-funding” of public

The “de-funding” of public services is so acute that the NHS headcount has increased more than 200,000 FTEs in the last 4 years. 

And as reported in the Times last week:

“The number of patients being admitted for routine or emergency care by the NHS is no higher than in 2019 despite 16% more doctors, 15% more nurses and £20B in additional real terms funding”

[Some] Public services aren’t working* because of pish poor leadership and the complete lack of focus on productivity and removing waste.

Imagine adding the equivalent headcount of the entire British armed forces and actually doing less than before.
 

* some are doing a great job by using digital to transfer how they work and where the work gets done. HMPO is a stand out example of this.

[Rich_cb]

Still progressing apparently.
Still progressing apparently. No confident assurances just yet though.

[Ratfink]

I’ll stick with the 2001 date

I’ll stick with the 2001 date as all countries had covid and it’ll even out over time,Not because it looks worse at the moment time will tell.

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[Author]

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