Damn Lettuce!
Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
111–120 of 651 posts
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#112I know this topic is important in substance and the thing I'm about to say is an aesthetic issue, but as an American watching this unfold I have admired the Brits for the sense of heart that still seems to be present in their politics. I'm referring to the parliamentary sessions in which, even though they're savagely roasting each other, they're doing in a way that feels somehow good-hearted and doesn't lay bare the…
Fellow American, asking earnestly - are both examples just products of the media environment of their respective countries? Does the UK still have popular media outlets that aren't solely pushing corporate agendas?
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#113An obvious fall guy. Rather shameful maneuver.
That is what I was thinking. Was she worse than Boris or is it just sexism? Edit: I'm sure objectively she was bad, but yeah.
We've had two female Prime Ministers before her, one of whom was quite successful as a politician (bloody awful for the country though).
It wasn't sexism, she is genuinely completely useless. Fractally shitty, in that if you examine any part of her stint in politics it is every bit as shitty and inept as the whole.
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#114What happens next will be interesting . At this point, a general election would be the obviously correct solution. It's clear that the conservative party don't have a platform and can't agree major policy points amongst themselves. However that would require conservative MPs to vote for it, which is the turkeys voting for Christmas so unlikely to happen, so I'd expect we'll have to wait till 2024 for that election. T…
Calling an election is now back in the hands of the government (not parliament) since the repeal of the Fixed Term Parliaments Act; a PM can ask the monarch to call an election without having to get the agreement of parliament. Neither the current nor next PM (whoever they end up being) is likely to do this if the polling numbers are anything to go by, of course. I think the only other way an election can be called i…
Technically speaking, King Charles III does not actually need to PM to ask in order to dismiss parliament and force a new election. Given that Charles I and Charles II both dismissed parliament maybe Charles III will grow a pair and do the same. It is somewhat ironic that while dismissing parliament caused the downfall of the monarchy for Charles I is it likely to buy a significant amount of time for the monarchy if Charles III does the same.
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#115Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not all the tax cuts announced were bad or badly received. Especially, I think that the cancellation of the rise in corporation tax was very welcome and in fact economists now say that the rise to 25% will make the recession deeper and longer (unsurprisingly, frankly). The issue was that the other cuts, especially abolishing 45p income tax rate but frankly also the decrease of the basic rate, were not discussed, not…
> Not all the tax cuts announced were bad or badly welcomed. Not a tax cut per se, but I'm curious what will happen with the energy bill support scheme? That seemed like a good thing to implement, one for which Truss and her cabinet got a lot of critics from a certain part of the media. Granted, I'm not from Britain so maybe I'm reading the room wrong and that support scheme was, in fact, not liked by everyone involv…
Frankly, this energy support scheme is a blank cheque to the energy companies.
It guarantees that the energy companies will fully profit from high energy prices, all in effect funded by the taxpayer, and Truss also rejected any windfall taxes on energy companies.
I think it makes sense to limit it in its current form to this winter instead of 2 years (which is the latest status). It'll still be possible to reassess the situation next year and perhaps come up with a more targeted scheme if needed.
Edit in response to reply:
Truss had formally said in Parliament that there would be no additional taxes on energy companies when the £2500 price cap scheme was announced.
The current windfall tax was implemented by Boris Johnson and considering it taxes energy companies at 25% instead of the normal 19% when the plan was, and again is, to tax all businesses at 25%, it's more spin than anything else.
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#116What happens next will be interesting . At this point, a general election would be the obviously correct solution. It's clear that the conservative party don't have a platform and can't agree major policy points amongst themselves. However that would require conservative MPs to vote for it, which is the turkeys voting for Christmas so unlikely to happen, so I'd expect we'll have to wait till 2024 for that election. T…
Every time I think the USA is completely ruined, I remember how much worse the citizens of the UK have it. I remote worked for a London based CTO for years, with a science Phd, and to hear him discuss UK politics gave me an insight how effective propaganda and being immersed in a culture impacts one's judgement.
The UK and US systems share a lot of similarities, which is not surprising considering the history, but UK politics seems better (or rather, less bad) to me? Both Boris and Truss were forced to resign by their own party, whereas the GOP's relationship with Trump is... well, different. Plus in spite of the first-past-the-post system there are actually candidates of alternative parties being voted in, even if we ignore the regional parties like SNP, DUP, etc. The Lib-Dems have a chequered history, but it's better than nothing.
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#117I know this topic is important in substance and the thing I'm about to say is an aesthetic issue, but as an American watching this unfold I have admired the Brits for the sense of heart that still seems to be present in their politics. I'm referring to the parliamentary sessions in which, even though they're savagely roasting each other, they're doing in a way that feels somehow good-hearted and doesn't lay bare the…
Parliamentary conduct is fairly strictly policed. That said, you can still jeer and yell in a way which would be unacceptable in 99% of professional workplaces.
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#118What happens next will be interesting . At this point, a general election would be the obviously correct solution. It's clear that the conservative party don't have a platform and can't agree major policy points amongst themselves. However that would require conservative MPs to vote for it, which is the turkeys voting for Christmas so unlikely to happen, so I'd expect we'll have to wait till 2024 for that election. T…
There was no general election when Gordon Brown took over from Tony Blair.
And that was also a point of criticism at the time.
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#119I know this topic is important in substance and the thing I'm about to say is an aesthetic issue, but as an American watching this unfold I have admired the Brits for the sense of heart that still seems to be present in their politics. I'm referring to the parliamentary sessions in which, even though they're savagely roasting each other, they're doing in a way that feels somehow good-hearted and doesn't lay bare the…
> they're doing in a way that feels somehow good-hearted and doesn't lay bare the naked resentment and hatred that seems to be all we have left in the USA
It's nice that it looks this way, but the different parties and their supporters in the UK absolutely hate each other. Front-bench party members now routinely and openly using words like 'scum' and 'detest' to talk about their colleagues on the other side. I don't think US politics is quite that openly aggressive and hostile.
In the past few years we've had politicians on both sides killed in politically motivated attacks. I think that's a worse tally than the US as well.
Re: Liz Truss resigns as UK prime minister
#120Imagine rising to the ranks of prime minister of one of the most influential countries ever and for your legacy to be a head of lettuce out-survived your reign. That the Queen literally died the day after meeting you. Unbelievable.
Yep, she was so reprehensible the queen died! And then off that great distraction she did the job that baldy she almost tanked the world economy. Now falling on her sword and claiming the shortest tenure in British history. I would feel very poorly about the tory gang in London if I were say from the North Irish area or Welsh, or Sottish at the moment. This isn't good for European stability either. Hopefully the mone…
Most of London isn't fond of the Tory gang either. Of the 73 seats that London has, the Conservatives only hold 21 of them.