Bolitics The New Condem Government

[Risso]

I tend to be pro-Nuclear power & with improving technology (and safety standards) and the unlikelihood of tsunamis/earthquakes in this part of the world, there really is no excuse to keep pissing about with dirty energy.

 

Only problem is getting rid of the waste but I have an answer to that and its name is Basingstoke.

 

I thought Basingstoke was the RESULT of decades of nuclear waste disposal......

[bickster]

And so the Great British Countryside Tear Up begins.

 

I hope those short term reductions in energy prices are worth it.

According to whichever industry analyst they interviewed on Wake Up to Money this morning, it will not have the same effect as it did in the USA i.e. dramatically reducing prices, we'll hardly notice any minor price drop. I wasn't listening intently enough to catch the reason though.

[Awol]

And so the Great British Countryside Tear Up begins.

I hope those short term reductions in energy prices are worth it.

According to whichever industry analyst they interviewed on Wake Up to Money this morning, it will not have the same effect as it did in the USA i.e. dramatically reducing prices, we'll hardly notice any minor price drop. I wasn't listening intently enough to catch the reason though.

The US has decoupled gas prices from oil prices, in the rest of the world gas still shadows oil. Hence the US energy costs for industry currently standing at 1/4 of prices in Europe, enabling US industry to repatriate jobs that were outsourced to the Far East a long time ago and rebuild their manufacturing base.

[snowychap]

According to whichever industry analyst they interviewed on Wake Up to Money this morning, it will not have the same effect as it did in the USA i.e. dramatically reducing prices, we'll hardly notice any minor price drop. I wasn't listening intently enough to catch the reason though.

Completely different market places, I'd have thought, would have been his main point.

Edit:

E.g. Integrated european transmission system; transport network capacity issues in the US; gas storage capacity issues in the UK; less of an issue, perhaps, for LNG exports (though would the supply be large enough to allow for the possibility of exporting outside gas network?) because prices paid in Asia and other parts of Europe are likely to be more attractive than they were to US producers in the second half of the last decade.

Edited July 28, 2014 by snowychap

[Xann]

In the States some frackers have gone bust before fulfilling their responsibilities and clearing up.

 

We know who's picking up the bill if it goes tits-up.

[MakemineVanilla]

I was surprised to see Rees-Mogg being questioned about the government's carte blanche for fracking.

 

I wondered why he had been sent and it turns out his wife writes for the Petroleum Argus, which is subtitled 'energy, investment, and politics'.

 

The Rees-Mogg fortune comes from coal-owning.

 

So it sounds like the energy industry are writing the government's policies and working out the strategy.

 

It is a pity Channel 4 News didn't bother to inform its viewers but that is no surprise.

[CVByrne]

I find these political measures taken by the current government against other EU nationals working in the UK very odd. 

 

Essentially I'm an EU migrant worker. So if in an awful scenario that I lose my job I will only be able to claim jobseekers allowance for 3 months because I'm from Ireland. Despite the fact that in 2 years I've contributed more in tax to the Exchequer than over a third of the population have contributed in the last ten years!! 

 

Not to mention I am almost a low drain on the public sector. I have never been to hospital, visited a GP, I've no children in education etc.. 

 

 

Making decision for no reason bar political gain for your party really annoy me. 

[Risso]

I find these political measures taken by the current government against other EU nationals working in the UK very odd. 

 

Essentially I'm an EU migrant worker. So if in an awful scenario that I lose my job I will only be able to claim jobseekers allowance for 3 months because I'm from Ireland. Despite the fact that in 2 years I've contributed more in tax to the Exchequer than over a third of the population have contributed in the last ten years!! 

 

Not to mention I am almost a low drain on the public sector. I have never been to hospital, visited a GP, I've no children in education etc.. 

 

 

Making decision for no reason bar political gain for your party really annoy me. 

 

I don't think you're representative of the people the measure is aimed at!

[bickster]

I find these political measures taken by the current government against other EU nationals working in the UK very odd. 

 

Essentially I'm an EU migrant worker. So if in an awful scenario that I lose my job I will only be able to claim jobseekers allowance for 3 months because I'm from Ireland. Despite the fact that in 2 years I've contributed more in tax to the Exchequer than over a third of the population have contributed in the last ten years!! 

 

Not to mention I am almost a low drain on the public sector. I have never been to hospital, visited a GP, I've no children in education etc.. 

 

 

Making decision for no reason bar political gain for your party really annoy me.

 

I don't think you're representative of the people the measure is aimed at!

You saying CVB isn't a Tory voter thinking of voting UKIP?

[CVByrne]

 

I find these political measures taken by the current government against other EU nationals working in the UK very odd. 

 

Essentially I'm an EU migrant worker. So if in an awful scenario that I lose my job I will only be able to claim jobseekers allowance for 3 months because I'm from Ireland. Despite the fact that in 2 years I've contributed more in tax to the Exchequer than over a third of the population have contributed in the last ten years!! 

 

Not to mention I am almost a low drain on the public sector. I have never been to hospital, visited a GP, I've no children in education etc.. 

 

 

Making decision for no reason bar political gain for your party really annoy me. 

 

I don't think you're representative of the people the measure is aimed at!

 

 

 

Emigration to the UK is a net contributor to the country though. You get the good with the bad. Measures like this are for political gain nothing more.

 

Ireland has massively higher welfare rates than the UK by the way. Yet it is here where this anti immigrant agenda is strongest. I must say I've never liked it, Ireland was very poor and backward for many years after all. It's always been the one thing that has irked me about the News here and constant blaming of ills on immigrants. 

 

You need to blame someone I suppose, best blaming an ethnic group or nationality. Always been effective method. 

[donnie]

But ireland doesnt have nowhere near the immigration issues the UK is facing so not really a fair comparison.

[meregreen]

Yes it is . The Tories claim that our benefits act as a magnet for european scroungers. Yet it would appear that countries that have higher payments attract fewer people. Doesn't, quite fit in with the Ukip pleasing bullshit that Cameron spouts. I find it very relevant.

Edited July 29, 2014 by meregreen

[chrisp65]

Policy dreamt up to attract voters that want their media fuelled prejudices catered for by a party that's happy to 'serve' them as long as that means staying in power. As we all know, staying in power or getting into power is the absolute number one priority of the large political parties.

According to the BBC the government today said they had no idea how many people this would affect, which suggests that either they've not costed the policy and it could cost more to implement than it saves, or they are lying, or it was simply a cheap disposable stunt. Most likely, it was all three.

Again, according to Radio 4, they believe the policy will affect significantly less than 10,000 people. 

 

Trouble is, the average Daily Mail type would rather know 9,000 dirty foreigners were deprived of 3 months of benefits regardless of their previous record or circumstances than do the thinking about why our politicians and civil servants can't even write legislation that makes Amazon and Google and all the others on that list pay their way.

 

Lazy greasy self serving government. Can't wait for the next one.

[snowychap]

I find these political measures taken by the current government against other EU nationals working in the UK very odd. 

 

Essentially I'm an EU migrant worker. So if in an awful scenario that I lose my job I will only be able to claim jobseekers allowance for 3 months because I'm from Ireland. Despite the fact that in 2 years I've contributed more in tax to the Exchequer than over a third of the population have contributed in the last ten years!! 

 

Not to mention I am almost a low drain on the public sector. I have never been to hospital, visited a GP, I've no children in education etc.. 

 

 

Making decision for no reason bar political gain for your party really annoy me.

 

I don't think you're representative of the people the measure is aimed at!

The sad thing is that you and Conor appear to have nailed the point between you.

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

I blame the upper class for everything.

[snowychap]

I blame the upper class for everything.

That would suggest that you were part of the problem, no?

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

I'm all for a tough stance on Russia but 'sweeping sanctions' seems an odd one given that they could just use a hoover instead.

[bickster]

But ireland doesnt have nowhere near the immigration issues the UK is facing so not really a fair comparison.

I presume from your response that you don't know what you've actually stated as you've said that Ireland has similar immigration issues to the UK but appear to be arguing the opposite opinion.

But try walking down O'Connell Street in Dublin and then claim that Ireland doesn't have similar immigration issues to the UK. More eatern euopean beggars per square foot than I've witnessed anywhere else. There appears to be this completely misguided (by the media) view that the UK bears the brunt of the intra european migration, it simply isn't true. Go anywhere in Europe and you'll find similar issues. The trouble is its a very visible downside to the policy, the upside i.e. all the people that come here to work, pay tax and be part of our society are much less visible but are also a far far bigger proportion of the net migrants in the UK. The vast majority of migrants come here to work and contribute.

[Risso]

 

But ireland doesnt have nowhere near the immigration issues the UK is facing so not really a fair comparison.

I presume from your response that you don't know what you've actually stated as you've said that Ireland has similar immigration issues to the UK but appear to be arguing the opposite opinion.

But try walking down O'Connell Street in Dublin and then claim that Ireland doesn't have similar immigration issues to the UK. More eatern euopean beggars per square foot than I've witnessed anywhere else. There appears to be this completely misguided (by the media) view that the UK bears the brunt of the intra european migration, it simply isn't true. Go anywhere in Europe and you'll find similar issues. The trouble is its a very visible downside to the policy, the upside i.e. all the people that come here to work, pay tax and be part of our society are much less visible but are also a far far bigger proportion of the net migrants in the UK. The vast majority of migrants come here to work and contribute.

 

 

I sort of agree, which is why I find the policy a bit strange.  Surely the issue hasn't been that Eastern Europeans are coming over to the UK to scrounge, it's that 1.1million of them have come over, when it was predicted to be a 10th of that.  And while it's good that they're working and paying taxes, almost by definition it means that there are some UK people who aren't.

[chrisp65]

It almost definitely does mean that there are UK born people of working age that have missed out on jobs because of this.

 

What we cannot possibly know, is if we return all the 'foreign' workers to their overseas homes and all the Brits working abroad are returned to us, whether this would have a positive or negative affect on the number of jobs there are in Britain and our overall 'wealth and wellbeing'. It's not even as simple a sum as job total, minus foreigners out, plus Brits returned. We can't know whether those jobs would still exist if the local Polski Sklep closes down. If it does, will it be replaced by some Brits opening a newsagents and keeping the van driver and sandwich maker employed? Or will it just return to being an empty unit with our unemployed people sat there waiting for somebody somewhere to help them get a start.

 

It's a fascinating time.