Do you want to discuss boring politics? (33 Viewers)

Grendel · Feb 17, 2026

Reeves is just incompetent. If Starmer had any balls he would sack her. She is economically illiterate - put her out of our misery

UK unemployment rate hits near five-year high as wage growth slows

The Office for National Statistics said the figures reflected "weak hiring activity", with unemployment among 16 to 24-years-olds now at 16.1%.

www.bbc.co.uk

Sky Blue Pete · Feb 17, 2026

Grendel said:
Reeves is just incompetent. If Starmer had any balls he would sack her. She is economically illiterate - put her out of our misery

UK unemployment rate hits near five-year high as wage growth slows

The Office for National Statistics said the figures reflected "weak hiring activity", with unemployment among 16 to 24-years-olds now at 16.1%.

www.bbc.co.uk

18-24 rate is disastrous

Earlsdon_Skyblue1 · Feb 18, 2026

Surprised this hasn't reached people's news feeds.

Nine arrested in France over death of far-right student

Quentin Deranque died on Saturday, two days after being beaten in Lyon by masked men believed to be far-left militants.

www.bbc.com

Brighton Sky Blue · Feb 18, 2026

Earlsdon_Skyblue1 said:
Surprised this hasn't reached people's news feeds.

Nine arrested in France over death of far-right student

Quentin Deranque died on Saturday, two days after being beaten in Lyon by masked men believed to be far-left militants.

www.bbc.com

First I’ve seen of it. Totally indefensible and hopefully they get long sentences.

Sky Blue Pete · Feb 18, 2026

Earlsdon_Skyblue1 said:
Surprised this hasn't reached people's news feeds.

Nine arrested in France over death of far-right student

Quentin Deranque died on Saturday, two days after being beaten in Lyon by masked men believed to be far-left militants.

www.bbc.com

Just awful

CCFCSteve · Feb 18, 2026

Grendel said:
Reeves is just incompetent. If Starmer had any balls he would sack her. She is economically illiterate - put her out of our misery

UK unemployment rate hits near five-year high as wage growth slows

The Office for National Statistics said the figures reflected "weak hiring activity", with unemployment among 16 to 24-years-olds now at 16.1%.

www.bbc.co.uk

Keep saying it, this is the government of unintended consequences. It’s the PLP as well as Reeves though. A load of ill thought out, ideological policies that make sense and can probably be supported on a purely standalone basis but unfortunately the real world doesn’t work like that.

Unintended consequences can also work in your favour though, by damaging the private sector jobs market, wage growth pressures should drop and with it inflation. This should allow BoE to reduce rates quicker.

Earlsdon_Skyblue1 · Feb 18, 2026

Brighton Sky Blue said:
First I’ve seen of it. Totally indefensible and hopefully they get long sentences.

Yep, and I suspect they will. I don't know how you can claim to be the good guys, compassionate and tolerant, yet do something like this.

Brighton Sky Blue · Feb 18, 2026

Earlsdon_Skyblue1 said:
Yep, and I suspect they will. I don't know how you can claim to be the good guys, compassionate and tolerant, yet do something like this.

I imagine a lot of people who carry out political violence consider themselves to be ‘good’. I remember watching Muhammad Ali talk about if he was scared of being assassinated while signing autographs. His reply was that anyone doing that would be doing so because they disagreed with his views; and he was happy to die for those.

While that’s a very brave stance, it’s one that I share. If you murder people for having different views, you actually embellish those views instead of silence them.

Sky Blue Pete · Feb 18, 2026

CCFCSteve said:
Keep saying it, this is the government of unintended consequences. It’s the PLP as well as Reeves though. A load of ill thought out, ideological policies that make sense and can probably be supported on a purely standalone basis but unfortunately the real world doesn’t work like that.

Unintended consequences can also work in your favour though, by damaging the private sector jobs market, wage growth pressures should drop and with it inflation. This should allow BoE to reduce rates quicker.

Exactly what’s happened

Skybluekyle · Feb 18, 2026

Sick Boy said:
It’s up to people themselves if they want to have children or not rather than a weirdo like him. The HMT reference is for people like him who see women’s main purpose in life as having children above anything else.

Inspired by the most logical race in the universe, the Vulcans, breeding will be permitted once every seven years. For many of you, this will mean much less breeding. But for me, much much more!

Nick · Feb 18, 2026

Ohh reform saying they will bring back the 2 child cap and force mental health pip to need a clinical diagnosis.

Should both be standard anyway really.

Wonder if starmer will u turn on the child cap?

Brighton Sky Blue · Feb 18, 2026

Nick said:
Ohh reform saying they will bring back the 2 child cap and force mental health pip to need a clinical diagnosis.

Should both be standard anyway really.

Wonder if starmer will u turn on the child cap?

Reform are essentially the Tories with Farage’s face on the front. Not as much of a big tent party as they claimed it was.

chiefdave · Feb 18, 2026

Nick said:
force mental health pip to need a clinical diagnosis

presumably in order to enable this they've got a viable plan to get the waiting lists for mental health services from years to days.

or is the suggestion something more like the infamous work capability tests?

Nick · Feb 18, 2026

chiefdave said:
presumably in order to enable this they've got a viable plan to get the waiting lists for mental health services from years to days.

or is the suggestion something more like the infamous work capability tests?

I just assumed it would need a diagnosis for pip. Madness it doesn't.

chiefdave · Feb 18, 2026

Nick said:
I just assumed it would need a diagnosis for pip. Madness it doesn't.

Took nearly 2 years from me going to the doctors to having my initial assessment, which is only the first step on the road to getting a diagnosis. What are you doing in that time, turning everyone away?

Don't claim anything btw, don't think I'm eligible. Pretty sure it's not as easy as some like to make out.

Captain Dart · Feb 18, 2026

Looking like the Chagos Islands deal (aka giveaway) is about to collapse as the financials are revealed and there is pressure from Trump over Diego Garcia. Another nail in Starmer's coffin.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/02/15/starmer-chagos-deal-under-fire-mastermind-interrogated/

Nick · Feb 18, 2026

chiefdave said:
Took nearly 2 years from me going to the doctors to having my initial assessment, which is only the first step on the road to getting a diagnosis. What are you doing in that time, turning everyone away?

Don't claim anything btw, don't think I'm eligible. Pretty sure it's not as easy as some like to make out.

It stops it being gamed though.

It depends on the situation and the actual impact. If somebody is being sectioned compared to somebody with ADHD.

wingy · Feb 18, 2026

Interest to come down next month?
I think so?

Brighton Sky Blue · Feb 18, 2026

Captain Dart said:
Looking like the Chagos Islands deal (aka giveaway) is about to collapse as the financials are revealed and there is pressure from Trump over Diego Garcia. Another nail in Starmer's coffin.

Since we’re in the age of might makes right again, we should dust off the redcoats and Gatling guns. Retake one third of the globe for old time’s sake.

Nick · Feb 18, 2026

wingy said:
Interest to come down next month?
I think so?

Shit just got a new 2 year fixed

wingy · Feb 18, 2026

Nick said:
Shit just got a new 2 year fixed

Should have waited one more month.
But when it's due there's not much to be done.

fernandopartridge · Feb 18, 2026

CCFCSteve said:
Try living in Birmingham Dave !!!

I’ll keep asking, where the fuck is all the cash going

Ps I know social care costs are only going to increase as years go by but there is no way that’s the only reason for what’s happening across a lot of councils at the moment

Councils are exposed to the same price rises that ordinary businesses are.

CCFCSteve · Feb 18, 2026

fernandopartridge said:
Councils are exposed to the same price rises that ordinary businesses are.

That is not the reason why BCC is in the financial mess it’s in.

Nick · Feb 18, 2026

CCFCSteve said:
That is not the reason why BCC is in the financial mess it’s in.

Saw a retweet of it. No idea how true

CCFCSteve · Feb 18, 2026

Nick said:
Saw a retweet of it. No idea how true

That’s just the tip of the iceberg with BCC. Failed IT projects, totally mismanaging (initially ignoring) equal pay issues, overpaying into DB pension scheme when ‘bust, Commonwealth games property losses…the list goes on and on. Basically hundreds of millions.

Residents in the meantime get increased council tax bills (18% in two years) and significantly reduced services. No accountability though.

wingy · Feb 18, 2026

CCFCSteve said:
That is not the reason why BCC is in the financial mess it’s in.

Probs still funding headache from the Commonwealth games?

CCFCSteve · Feb 18, 2026

wingy said:
Probs still funding headache from the Commonwealth games?

One of the issues wingy. Unfortunately not the biggest

fernandopartridge · Feb 18, 2026

CCFCSteve said:
That is not the reason why BCC is in the financial mess it’s in.

I thought you were speaking generally. It's clear Birmingham is a badly run council. It's strange that the government wishes to create even more large councils like them imo. The two tier system works ok where I live.

CCFCSteve · Feb 18, 2026

fernandopartridge said:
I thought you were speaking generally. It's clear Birmingham is a badly run council. It's strange that the government wishes to create even more large councils like them imo. The two tier system works ok where I live.

There’s other councils that are being badly run as well but I don’t doubt there will also be some that are well run.

chiefdave · Feb 18, 2026

Nick said:
It stops it being gamed though.

Not sure it will tbh. There is zero chance the capacity can be found for that volume of formal diagnosis. We can't manage it for people who desperately need it for their treatment plans to be formulated let alone anyone else.

So it will have to be done elsewhere in the system. So then the question becomes who does that. They aren't going to employ thousands of public sector workers as they want to make cuts and become more 'efficient', and besides that's essentially the same assessment system we have now for PIP.

The only other option I can see is it being passed to GPs. So we'll clog up surgeries with people going in for a 5 minutes GP appointment where they'll just sign a form without a second thought.

chiefdave · Feb 18, 2026

Nick said:
Saw a retweet of it. No idea how true

Not sure what point he's making here? Why wouldn't the company that BCC have a contract with to provide interim accommodation due to the lack of social housing be classed as housing services?

If the contact is the best option or value for money is an entirely different issue and the answer to both is probably no.

Nick · Feb 18, 2026

chiefdave said:
Not sure it will tbh. There is zero chance the capacity can be found for that volume of formal diagnosis. We can't manage it for people who desperately need it for their treatment plans to be formulated let alone anyone else.

So it will have to be done elsewhere in the system. So then the question becomes who does that. They aren't going to employ thousands of public sector workers as they want to make cuts and become more 'efficient', and besides that's essentially the same assessment system we have now for PIP.

The only other option I can see is it being passed to GPs. So we'll clog up surgeries with people going in for a 5 minutes GP appointment where they'll just sign a form without a second thought.

It would be telling if people suddenly wanted a diagnosis so they could get benefits... Would think they would have got a diagnosis for treatment?

Sky Blue Pete · Feb 18, 2026

Captain Dart said:
Looking like the Chagos Islands deal (aka giveaway) is about to collapse as the financials are revealed and there is pressure from Trump over Diego Garcia. Another nail in Starmer's coffin.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2025/02/15/starmer-chagos-deal-under-fire-mastermind-interrogated/

And people slate Starmer for his U-turns
How many more times is trump gonna flip flop

fernandopartridge · Feb 18, 2026

CCFCSteve said:
There’s other councils that are being badly run as well but I don’t doubt there will also be some that are well run.

My opinion on it is that it is just too large, there will be so many points at which spend can happen that it becomes a huge industry to try and control it. I mean they can obviously do a far better job than they do currently but it's probably been so dysfunctional for so long the cultural change needed is huge.

Captain Dart · Feb 19, 2026

fernandopartridge said:
My opinion on it is that it is just too large, there will be so many points at which spend can happen that it becomes a huge industry to try and control it. I mean they can obviously do a far better job than they do currently but it's probably been so dysfunctional for so long the cultural change needed is huge.

Or put more sucinctly it's a shit show.

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