What is the point of labour ?

[KirkieRR]

Pink-haired elderly Welsh Labour woman on Jeremy Vine (I know, I know...) has said 'The winter fuel payment should have been means tested years ago...'.

The Labour-love for means-testing shows how far they've strayed from their roots. When something is means-tested, the cost of admin skyrocets and people who would be entitled miss out. This is all known, yet they still peddle their 'is it right to pay this to Mick Jagger and Cliff Richard?' smokescreen.

[welshbairn]

8 minutes ago, KirkieRR said:

Pink-haired elderly Welsh Labour woman on Jeremy Vine (I know, I know...) has said 'The winter fuel payment should have been means tested years ago...'.

The Labour-love for means-testing shows how far they've strayed from their roots. When something is means-tested, the cost of admin skyrocets and people who would be entitled miss out. This is all known, yet they still peddle their 'is it right to pay this to Mick Jagger and Cliff Richard?' smokescreen.

I'm not sure if that's the case anymore, a few lines of coding attached to tax codes should do it these days. I thought the mistake they made was setting the cut off point way too low.

[Mark Connolly]

Interesting take…

[Michael W]

1 hour ago, KirkieRR said:

Pink-haired elderly Welsh Labour woman on Jeremy Vine (I know, I know...) has said 'The winter fuel payment should have been means tested years ago...'.

The Labour-love for means-testing shows how far they've strayed from their roots. When something is means-tested, the cost of admin skyrocets and people who would be entitled miss out. This is all known, yet they still peddle their 'is it right to pay this to Mick Jagger and Cliff Richard?' smokescreen.

Weird how the same arguments are never made for other means tested benefits like child benefit or tax free childcare, which have a financial cut off and seem to be managed relatively easily for the government. Less so for those affected, who will need to be submitting Self Assessments. 

There may well be an argument Reeves has set the threshold too low in this respect, but there is little justification for handouts to pensioners that don't need it. 

Another five years of the triple lock as well for them...

Edited 17 hours ago by Michael W

[Wee-Bey]

1 hour ago, Mark Connolly said:

Interesting take…

Is his whole reasoning for this just, 'Greater Glasgow has 1.8 million people, therefore it should have a Mayor" ?

[Mark Connolly]

4 minutes ago, Wee-Bey said:

Is his whole reasoning for this just, 'Greater Glasgow has 1.8 million people, therefore it should have a Mayor" ?

I think his whole reasoning is “I could be out on my arse at the next election, this might be a chance for me to have a job”

[MacDuffman]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn5zdwrpn49o.amp

 

[GHF-23]

What are we defining as Greater Glasgow here - judging by the population he gives that he's lifted it from the Wikipedia page for the Glasgow City Region, although with it's borders reaching Dumfries and Galloway and the Borders I'm not sure that's a good definition of a metropolitan area. I guess it's better than using the Strathclyde region he talks about throughout the article - reaching as far as Mull and nearly Stranraer. I think there's a case to reorganize local government, it's my aesthetic preference but not something I've researched enough to decide whether I have a strong opinion about it or not. I have a feeling that Paul might just be making noise though. 

[Mr Waldo]

2 hours ago, KirkieRR said:

Pink-haired elderly Welsh Labour woman on Jeremy Vine (I know, I know...) has said 'The winter fuel payment should have been means tested years ago...'.

The Labour-love for means-testing shows how far they've strayed from their roots. When something is means-tested, the cost of admin skyrocets and people who would be entitled miss out. This is all known, yet they still peddle their 'is it right to pay this to Mick Jagger and Cliff Richard?' smokescreen.

Pensioners income is relatively stable compared to wage earners with changing hours, overtime or even changing jobs, not coming into it. A 'too much, opt out' rather than a 'need to claim' would work easy in the vast majority of situations.

[BFTD]

23 hours ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

When @steely returns with another account?

Wrong @Steelly.

It was the extra 'l' that helped mark him out as a wrong 'un.

[Wee-Bey]

16 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

I think his whole reasoning is “I could be out on my arse at the next election, this might be a chance for me to have a job”

Maybe, although I would think there would be bigger hitter than Sweeney in line for the Slab candidacy should the role have a decent amount of power. (Big hitters and Slab all relative of course).

Two things if this does happen, 1. The campaign will be an utter shitshow with Alba, Reform and most likely Galloway running. 2. Much in the same vein of what has happened down south with everything viewed through a lens of 'Sadiq Kahn's London' I look forward to lots of 'this is the reality of living in Paul Sweeney's/insert whoever's Glasgow'.

 

[Have some faith in Magic]

Sweeney is just a publicity seeking blowhard. 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

1 hour ago, Have some faith in Magic said:

Sweeney is just a publicity seeking blowhard. 

He has friends in the media like Kevin McKenna who are apt to portray Mr Sweeney as some sort of sage on Glasgow matters, recently with an emphasis on the decay of the city's historic buildings. 

That's a valid argument to be fair, but it has two flaws.  Firstly, where was Paul Sweeney or any other Labour politician when the late Gavin Stamp was trying unsuccessfully to encourage successions of Glasgow Labour councils in the preservation of the city's magnificent Alexander Greek Thomson built legacy ?

And secondly, McKenna, Sweeney and others are indulging in naked political opportunism here.  This talk is being employed as a vehicle for publicly battering the SNP, no more, no less.

[I Clavdivs]

You really have to admire Swinney's self control here in not nutting  this odious Chancer .

 

Edited 13 hours ago by I Clavdivs

[Wee-Bey]

I'm afraid that there would be a greater than zero chance Swinney would miss the head butt completely.

[carpetmonster]

7 hours ago, Wee-Bey said:

Is his whole reasoning for this just, 'Greater Glasgow has 1.8 million people, therefore it should have a Mayor" ?

Perhaps a bit of opportunistic nettle grabbing and thinking if Glasgow elected a Labour Mayor then it’d act as a dilution of/interference to Scottish Government powers while the SNP have Holyrood. And if that goes Labour it’s not like anyone was paying any attention to Sarwar anyways. 

[DrewDon]

Sweeney obviously wants that job. He is trying to take Burnham's argument about Manchester getting a raw deal from London and apply it to Glasgow and Edinburgh up here, but the dynamics are just very different and the argument looks obviously disingenuous. 

[Freedom Farter]

 

 

[DrewDon]

How many of their names do you reckon Starmer knows? I'll go for 4.

[Soapy FFC]

3 minutes ago, DrewDon said:

How many of their names do you reckon Starmer knows? I'll go for 4.

Quote

Who can reply? Accounts @JohannaBaxter mentioned can reply

Good to see an elected MP is open to constructive comments from her constituents.