U.K. Politics: Nadine Dorries resigns her post as MP - or does she?

[greek_boy]

Bank of England expected to raise rates in May

The odds of the Bank of England raising interest rates again next month have jumped.

The money markets indicate there is a 97% chance that the BoE lifts Bank Rate by a quarter of one percentage point to 4.5% in May – up from an 82% chance yesterday.

The markest also imply there’s a good chance that rates will hit 5% by the autumn.

The Bank will be concerned that UK inflation looks to be stickier than hoped.

https://www.theguardian.com/business...-business-live

Meanwhile, our government is focusing on small boats and culture wars.. priorities!

[Wayne]

Its an absolute disgrace that in a civilised society, we have 1,300 people die while homeless - it shouldn’t happen.

[Thriller]

Yet according to the Tories we're 'world-beating'! Never has a parliament been so out of touch with the real issues.

[Artoo]

We just need a new party to come along and put real people back into parliament, not this Eton lot that haven’t got a clue. I know we vote for them, but the parties we have keep the gates locked in terms of who they’ll allow to represent them in each constituency. It’s very frustrating and the days of being educated in an expensive environment no longer means you have superior knowledge or intellect.

Career politicians wind me up.

[HouseTargaryen]

Homelessness is such a global pandemic that is horribly ignored.

It's only getting worse

[Thriller]

We’ll see so much more of it too once climate change really ramps up over the next 50 years and there’s mass migration.

[greek_boy]

eeeeek what's going on with this country?

[Thriller]

That first guy in that video symbolises a lot of what is wrong with this country, why we have Brexit and why we
have had 13 years of Tories.

[greek_boy]

[Thriller]

The emergency alert was a bit sinister!

[Wayne]

The emergency alert was a bit sinister!

I know! My Nanna and my sisters all disabled the alerts (god knows why) and my Mum thought she'd done the same but hadn't and so had a fright. glad we've tested it but hope to never hear it again.

[Artoo]

My alert came through early and the mother’s was ten minutes late, and people on Three didn’t get one at all

I have no issue with them having the technology to issue such alerts, but I’m not sure what the point is - we’ve managed this far and even with covid, I don’t see what use it would have done.

If there’s a nuclear bomb and the alerts are going to be ten minutes late, then there’s really not much use in sending one anyway

[greek_boy]

i did not get the alert

If there’s a nuclear bomb and the alerts are going to be ten minutes late, then there’s really not much use in sending one anyway

exactly

[Spartan]

Maybe I was living under a rock but I hadn't heard anything about these alerts until today.

[Artoo]

Maybe I was living under a rock but I hadn't heard anything about these alerts until today.

They were announced a few months ago. It was originally scheduled for 6pm but they moved it so it didn’t happen during the football. Sometimes this who country seems to be scheduled around sodding football.

[CrazyCrazy]

I didn't know about it either Spartan so don't worry, however I didn't receive it...I think I may be on their list of people they desperately want killed off!

[Thriller]

Even though I'd heard about it, I don't think their publicity was very good as plenty of people hadn't! I'm surprised it didn't cause chaos for some.

[SholasBoy]

I can imagine the scenes in theatres and cinemas (though you probably couldn’t hear it over all the chatting )

[greek_boy]

[Thriller]

Of course they had no plan, I don't think they banked on over half of the country being so gullible and buying into their rhetoric, they just wanted to stir things up without ever actually having to do anything like Brexit. It'll go down as one of the biggest scandals and mistakes of this country's history.

[Thriller]

Small businesses and unions have hit back at the Bank of England's chief economist saying people need to accept they are poorer otherwise prices will keep rising.

British households and businesses “need to accept” they are poorer and stop seeking pay increases and pushing prices higher, the Bank of England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, has said.

Pill said a game of "pass the parcel" of workers asking for wage rises and businesses passing on higher costs was fuelling inflation.

But the Federation of Small Businesses said his comments were "out of touch".

Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the trade body, said small firms had been left with no choice to pass on the "huge increases they have seen for energy and input costs" to customers.

"In many cases even that is not enough to fill the gap," she added.

Ms McKenzie said many firms who are "only just hanging on day by day", were not able to invest and were cutting costs.

Amanda Gearing, a senior organiser for the GMB union, said it was "absolutely outrageous to be honest, asking some of our lowest paid workers in this country, not to take a pay increase when inflation is so high".

"People can't afford to live, they're not able to pay their rent or put food on the table," she told the BBC's Today programme.

Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, added people didn't "need lectures" over pay and called for a plan to "make sure workers get their fair share".

Mr Pill, who made £95,183, including benefits, in his first six months at the Bank, is paid more than £190,000 a year.

Another out of touch arsehole.

[Artoo]

I mean it’s comments like that that prove the system is broken. More to the point, it simply isn’t true - energy costs are coming down and have no correlation to a person’s salary, but are the justifying factor in most of the increases we’ve seen.

The whole system is an utter shambles. The UK economy is going to crash because people cannot afford to feed themselves, never mind buy themselves a home. The housing market frankly is a ticking time bomb.

[greek_boy]

Of course they had no plan, I don't think they banked on over half of the country being so gullible and buying into their rhetoric, they just wanted to stir things up without ever actually having to do anything like Brexit. It'll go down as one of the biggest scandals and mistakes of this country's history.

Absolutely but what do we do to reverse the damage? Everyone knows it was a bad decision based on lies - how come no political party is brave enough to come forward and campaign in favour of reversing it or at least as a first step to negotiate a deal in the style of Norway/Switzerland? Is it because of the free movement that is a red flag to many?

I feel like we're watching a Titanitic-type of disaster unfolding and no one is doing anything.

[Artoo]

Absolutely but what do we do to reverse the damage? Everyone knows it was a bad decision based on lies - how come no political party is brave enough to come forward and campaign in favour of reversing it or at least as a first step to negotiate a deal in the style of Norway/Switzerland? Is it because of the free movement that is a red flag to many?

I feel like we're watching a Titanitic-type of disaster unfolding and no one is doing anything.

I believe the Liberal Democrat’s did say if they won an election they would look to reverse Brexit, but they won’t win an election ever again.

Personally I believe it isn’t reversible - as a nation it isn’t productive to keep voting in or out every few years, and that’s why Labour aren’t entertaining it. Brexit was a once in a generation vote and the results are binding. We just have to get on with it.

As much as I wanted to remain in the EU, it isn’t a perfect organisation. I’ve always been uncomfortable about a potential European Army (which continues to gain support) and I don’t like the funding model.

[greek_boy]

As much as I wanted to remain in the EU, it isn’t a perfect organisation. I’ve always been uncomfortable about a potential European Army (which continues to gain support) and I don’t like the funding model.

The UK voting system isn't perfect, shall we move to a dictatorship?

I'd say the best way to see if it was worth leaving the EU or not is by comparing the benefits the UK had as an EU member VS any benefits (!) as a third country (current relationship)

Oh and yes, I absolutely agree with you! EU is not perfect. But leaving the world's largest trading bloc is not the answer and won't solve any problems (in fact, it created many issues and introduced red tapes). UK is definitely in a much worse position now than before.

The UK had an advantageous and influential position within the EU. They had the power to influence decisions, legislations and propose changes. What the UK politicians said about the EU being the bad guy who was telling the UK what to do was a big lie to manipulate voters.

And let's not forget the EU laws which protected human and employment rights and now the Tory Brexiteers want to ditch.

It's all rumours about a potential European army (correct me if i am wrong) and nothing official yet. I don't know if it's the worst idea ever but I definitely know that any concerns would've been flagged by the UK government.