And Starmer’s Baron Hard up…

the main question is with the cost of living taken into consideration where do we rank with the other european countries with pensions. my biggest gripe is paying for things i do not want that are forced onto me. the standard charge you have to pay even if you are not even in the country and any green taxes we have had no votes on and nobody to vote for either who would scrap them.

That’s taken with the cost of living taken into consideration.
A man with a £100 pension where the cost of living is £20 is a king and the man with a £1000 pension and outgoings of £1100 is in poverty

just the same as others have tried their utmost to reverse the democratic vote to leave the eu who have no influence directly in our parliament.

did not realise that. i thought it was just the amount of cash paid out to pensioners.

OK then….give us the proof……..shit or get off the pot.

You're dead right someone is prodding it and it is no other than Starmer himself.
Take what has happened since he became PM and deal with it one by one.
Who prodded the removal of the WFA????? Answer Rachel Reeve.
Who dished out massive inflation busting pay rises? Answer His Gov.
Who increased Ni contribution on companies? His Gov.
Who pissed off the farmers? His Gov.
Who cut the defence budget? His Gov.
Who increased the fare cap on buses by 50%. His Gov.
Who gave away british territorry? His Gov.
Who is proposing more cuts in welfare? His Gov.
Who has increased the number of illegal invaders? His Gov.
ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC.
Oh and I almost forgot.
Who has just shot Santa????????????
What have we gained................ah yes a penny off the price of a pint.

We don't need interfering prodders we have an expert in the farmer harmer. Come to think of it prodding the nation into discontent is his only success.
Now where have I left me blanket.

Stopped the heating allowance for the elderly Worse he achieved this lot in less than 100 days in office. Much much worse to come I fear. Within a year or so I would not be surprised to see the "hard nose " followers turn against him.

Stopped the heating allowance for millionaires as well. We've been over all that though.

Stopped the millionaire farmers avoiding inheritance tax, The UK also plans to abolish its non-dom regime from 6 April 2025, with major implications for how non-doms and their trusts are taxed.

Why shouldn’t there be cuts in welfare, 60% of people working are on benefits, they abuse the system,keep their earnings below the threshold and still qualify for benefits, Leggie you really need to read up on the welfare system who gets what.

Well you wanted to know where the prodding for discontent was coming from so things like removing the WFA is what is prodding the people to respond and they will continue to do so as mad policy after mad policy is revealed. The WFA removal will stay forever and Starmers Harmers will be forever reminded of it.
Yes we've been all over it but we've also been over a lot of mistakes like the one Truss made but that doesn't make it go away does it.
You're gonna have to get used to it I'm afraid.
Truss was moved quickly from the shambles she was creating. The headless chickens pretending they are competent enough to run the country today are still running around clucking nonsense. We need rid of them and quick. You'll get there eventually.

Well I had five mins while taking a shit so hope the following helps, covering a time period from the Scottish Independence Vote, Brexit vote, various elections to now. I'm only allowed three URLs, so will post more below.

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/how-is-fake-news- ... e-about-it

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2 ... KDemocracy

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-e ... -processes

Have tried to find a range of sources, to avoid inevitable accusations of Guardian/BBC bias - I felt filthy clicking on a link from the Express! I honestly don't think anyone can say with a straight face that cyber security, social media bots, interventions from overseas billionaires etc. are made up. On a positive note the US is in an even worse place - feel free to google as I've done my bit.

And to be totally clear, I'm not saying this is a Starmer issue. It's obviously much wider, going back a decade, affecting different governments - have just remembered about Cambridge Analytica as well. Are you not even slightly perturbed by any of this?

As always, I'll remain open-minded if you provide credible evidence that this is all made up.

https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/uk-and-all ... terference

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-expo ... erference/

Interesting listen about the riots and the role of foreign agitators/domestic extremists using social media to incite violence - https://youtu.be/Ldsfclkttmk?si=qRxMPo7D_YJjtcc6

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/96061 ... a-facebook

One about Musk being thin-skinned and taking it out on the UK -

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international ... 797_4.html

https://www.politico.eu/article/elon-mu ... ling-riot/

Always appreciate your considered view, Derwent, although you slightly let yourself down with your last sentence!
I was trying to raise a point about how society is increasingly agitated and opinions swayed without calm debate - it's echoed around the world. I'm not for a second defending Starmer to the hilt, only saying that sometimes there is another side to the story and I don't think it's unhealthy to reflect a different take here. As I said earlier, Labour have been a shambles from a communication point of view but it doesn't mean every decision is necessarily terrible.
The comparison to Truss is interesting - it was her own MPs who ultimately did for her. I don't think Labour are anywhere near that yet, so people will just have to get used to it and vote them out in four years or so. All the best.

Musk takes sides with the British public over two tier policing..Labour MP's want to see him in court over the matter..

Got nothing to do with him other than he's trying to recoup his terrible investment in twitter.

Regardless of what foreign influences which may or not be agitating some people, ffs Starmer and Reeves must own the issues they're creating, and stop blaming the big boys who've now ran away.
Wonder if it was as difficult to hand out huge pay rises to Dr's and train drivers as it was to rob pensioners? And can people stop making out that loss of WFA is compensated for by the triple lock, it isn't, between £200 and £300 has been taken away at very short notice and knowing the consequences of deaths and poverty. If this happened anywhere else in the world Starmar and Rayner would be raging, as they were when the Tories mooted the idea of dropping WFA a couple of short years ago.

Well it was Leftie platform once..What a shame they can't spout their nonsense anymore..

I don't think I let my self down with my last sentence Mikey, I prefer to think I hit a nerve. At the moment starmer is an embarrassment both to his party and the country. When his MPs stop reeling from their instant unpopularity the inquests will begin. Whether the members are near to that yet or not is debatable but they too will get there in the end.
There is all the difference in the world between basking in the shadows of non_entity, without having to account for your every word or action, and finding yourself naked in the glare of responsibility and accountability. Their intial shock at this sudden turn of events will turn to anger and that anger will end up at Starmer's door.

It'll end up shortly with Starmer out of the door, the Labour Party will oust him soon enough as they claim a reset is needed.
I've said for ages I can't see Starmer lasting a year, and if anything he's worse than expected he's obviously way out of his depth and more often than not is like a rabbit trapped in the headlights. At times when interviewed his responses are very Max Headroom like imo. Is he real or a bot?

So why make promises that are going to come back and haunt you? Money off your bills, no tax rises, look after poor granny whose WFA is under threat from the "nasty tories"

Piss money up a wall abroad but make the population suffer.

Then we have him in negotiations with Bill Gates etc in Blackrock. Those people are just interested in world domination and are some of the biggest "green" hypocrites going.

I was pulling your leg to introduce a bit of levity my friend - I obviously failed.

Pathetic if that’s all you can come up with….sounds sadly like you’d rather let 99.999999% of pensioners freeze so you can get aroused because you got a chance to have a pop at the millionaires….Jeeeez

Right, what role do you hold in the Party….?

so starmer goes and then what next. just someone exactly the same apart from their name. about time all PM have a lower profile and voters vote for a party and not one person. if that is the case now that it was a case of everyone voting for a party leader then if that winning leader resigns or is ousted then a general election should follow it. starmer has only really done what the rest of MP,s have allowed him to do and he would go down in history even now as a parliamentary great if he outlawed the whipping system.

Does the government set the energy price caps now as well, I think not! They're set by the regulator and wholesale energy prices are relative to oil and gas global markets. Absolutely no credit due to any government on that one, maybe why they're not claiming it as an achievement eh?
A penny off a pint is the sum total of what's in it for us, to compensate for all the harm they're inflicting on us.

When Starmer goes it will not get any better, it'll probably get worse as Momentum begins to stir. But instead of blaming the Tories for everything the new PM will start to blame Starmer. It's all a game.
Meanwhile Starmer will go on to make millio s for himself and stash it in his untouchable Pension accounts.

Absolutely none.
You asked me a question about evidence and I took the time to provide a response. I thought you might say thanks for taking my question seriously?

99.999999% of pensioners are going to freeze.

- You know when I suggested people are getting hysterical? Good example.

Look sunshine I can smell patronising bullshit from two counties away.
Levity my arse. Daft bugger. Your heroes are taking the country apart and all you can offer is levity.
I don't know who you think you are kidding but it certainly isn't me.
Yep you failed alright, in keeping with your master.

It's gettting a bit silly these days but yet again I agree with you here 100%

I was pulling your leg to introduce a bit of levity my friend - I obviously failed.[/quote]

Look sunshine I can smell patronising bullshit from two counties away.
Levity my arse. Daft bugger. Your heroes are taking the country apart and all you can offer is levity.
I don't know who you think you are kidding but it certainly isn't me.
Yep you failed alright, in keeping with your master. [/quote]

I’ve got absolutely no quarrel with you Derwent, or anyone else, and sorry that’s how it came across.

no that happened last year when the cost of heating went up. i love it when people who previously either disliked or have shown no interest in pensioners suddenly jump on their bandwagon to force an agenda on others. there is a big difference from discomfort by being cold than dying from it. at least the vast majority now live in houses where they are so drafty that the curtains still blow with the windows shut. been there and huddled round a two bar electric fire due to the clean air act of the late 50,s.

I been reading your messages since you joined around 6 months ago. It does appear to me that you have a political agenda on the bunker. And you could very well be a political protector..... Starmertist.

But Labour themselves said less than 2 years ago that there'll be 4000 more pensioner deaths if the WFA is abolished! Has something changed to alter that or are those 4000 just collateral damage? What if it's your parents or grandparents who die, still OK?
Labour have also said there'll be 50000 more pensioners living in poverty, that shows the cliff edge that some are living in and Labour have just pushed them over. Probably cost the NHS a shitload of money to care for many of them but who'd have thought it might be worth doing g a risk analysis on it eh, just a few thousand old f*ckers at the end of the day.
Too many badly thought out policies rushed out without any thought to the consequences even though they'd had 14 years to prepare and would hit the ground running.
Not jumping on the pensioners bandwagon, just standing up for what's right and moral.

just wonder if the tories either would have done the exact same as labour have done. was this the reason they did not look that interested in the last election. how much extra has been spent by them on everything covid related and increased immigration both legal and illigal that was never expected or budgetted for. payback from us a main source of a governments revenue really had to happen no matter what any of us oersonally feel about where its all going to.

pensioner deaths were just electioneering. the words going into poverty is the same as child poverty. not poverty itself like we think of, no heat and living off bread and jam, but a system where if your money is below a certain amount you are deemed as being in poverty.

So the 4000 deaths that Labour saud would happen was just lies then?

Most of threads now seem political, so difficult to avoid it. When I used to post years ago there was much more chat about bread, socks and Ricky Martin, and a lot more humour. By contrast someone started a thread recently on the Christmas tree and it took about five posts to get back to politics.

What do you think is best here. Let everyone who thinks alike keep at it and I stay out of it? Happy to oblige or if you think different opinions keep it interesting I’ll keep chipping in. I don’t mind marra, just let me know.

Look sunshine I can smell patronising bullshit from two counties away.
Levity my arse. Daft bugger. Your heroes are taking the country apart and all you can offer is levity.
I don't know who you think you are kidding but it certainly isn't me.
Yep you failed alright, in keeping with your master. [/quote]

I’ve got absolutely no quarrel with you Derwent, or anyone else, and sorry that’s how it came across.[/quote]

My only interest in you my friend (copyright you) is your behaviour on here and, as has been intimated, you come across as a left wing activist who, every time you're called out, play the I'm sorry card.
Play the smartarse as much as you like but don't be surprised if and when you get called out.
Have as much fun as you like on here but keep the political undertones further under, There's a good lad.

There wasn't the prospect of an election 2 years ago, so electioneering is pretty implausible btw.
Bottom line is that for the majority of us that our lives and standard of living are being negatively impacted at supersonic speed by this bunch. And that's absolute fact.

What happens on here is the Government of the day gets held to account as did happen with the last lot. The Tories had fourteen years of it, now its Labour's turn.
So when you posted before what was your username. I had you down as a returnee and as such kept an eye out. Not all returnees come back as friendly so to speak.

I have very little interest in British politics and don't rate any of these actors. It doesn't matter " what I think is best here " I simply made a observation based on your messages so far
" carry on regardless ".

Could he be PJ

I’ve got absolutely no quarrel with you Derwent, or anyone else, and sorry that’s how it came across.[/quote]

My only interest in you my friend (copyright you) is your behaviour on here and, as has been intimated, you come across as a left wing activist who, every time you're called out, play the I'm sorry card.
Play the smartarse as much as you like but don't be surprised if and when you get called out.
Have as much fun as you like on here but keep the political undertones further under, There's a good lad. [/quote]

If I come across as leftwing, it can only be comparative to the general tone of posts here because I'm really not. If I called people here far right, that would equally be nonsense. I find politics interesting but only really have an opinion when someone says something demonstrably false. Got no problem with opinions even when I disagree. As I've said elsewhere though, posting recently has gone from offering a different opinions to seemingly being a problem and I don't want that to be the case. I offered an olive branch but the bunker is a tough old place these days. Bit of a shame.

think our living standards can be measured now in how the town centres everywhere have deteriorated. they started off slowly but increased in pace. a population on average watching their pennies, dressing scruffily in an increasing depressing looking town. town means anytown now and not just in the north. i,d guess now even the small cotswold and surrey towns have there problems they never once saw coming. could things change for the better again, well not till any government and not just this one lead the way to put britain and the british first, vastly control immigration and ditch all green policies and leave them to people and countries who personally can afford and want them. anything left in the kitty can then be given on foreign aid and not the percentage set out before they start.

Could he be PJ

Good god, this really has gone wrong if I'm being mistaken for PJ, God bless him! Gone but not forgotten.

Derwent - As I said when I rejoined I used to have a username Boyd's something or other but couldn't remember what I used never mind my password. Thought I'd go with my actual name this time to avoid future issues!

My only interest in you my friend (copyright you) is your behaviour on here and, as has been intimated, you come across as a left wing activist who, every time you're called out, play the I'm sorry card.
Play the smartarse as much as you like but don't be surprised if and when you get called out.
Have as much fun as you like on here but keep the political undertones further under, There's a good lad. [/quote]

If I come across as leftwing, it can only be comparative to the general tone of posts here because I'm really not. If I called people here far right, that would equally be nonsense. I find politics interesting but only really have an opinion when someone says something demonstrably false. Got no problem with opinions even when I disagree. As I've said elsewhere though, posting recently has gone from offering a different opinions to seemingly being a problem and I don't want that to be the case. I offered an olive branch but the bunker is a tough old place these days. Bit of a shame.[/quote]
i,d be surprised if anyone on here is fully left or right wing but a mixture of both that depends on the subject being discussed. how can even a politician agree personally with 100% of what their party says or acts.