Brexit thread 2 Electric Boogaloo

[RedNoodle]

Yeah lets rebuild by spending money we don't have and putting us into so much debt that everyone's kids, grandkids, great grandkids etc will be saddled with it's effects for the entirety of their lives. It's ok though as we can just sell off more of our country to anyone with a few bob to spare, or our gold reserves at bottom prices as done by the last labour Government.

A member of my family is still reeling from having their pension fkd by the last Labour Govt. So much for looking after those that need the most help.

[Balinkay]

Aren't Labour tanking massively in the recent polls? Like lose half their seats bad?

[RedNoodle]

Aren't Labour tanking massively in the recent polls? Like lose half their seats bad?

Yes. Though I'm sure they'll 'rally' a bit after the media start their usual agenda driven smear campaigns.

[redebreck]

Yeah lets rebuild by spending money we don't have and putting us into so much debt that everyone's kids, grandkids, great grandkids etc will be saddled with it's effects for the entirety of their lives. It's ok though as we can just sell off more of our country to anyone with a few bob to spare, or our gold reserves at bottom prices as done by the last labour Government.

A member of my family is still reeling from having their pension fkd by the last Labour Govt. So much for looking after those that need the most help.

I've mentioned this before. When North Sea oil was discovered, the labour government wanted to use it to build up financial reserves, 1 pence of every barrel to go into a savings account. Tories won the election just after the discovery, Labour didn't get the chance to carry out what they wanted, and the tories sold off the North Sea oil to their cronies.
Norway has in fact done what the Labour government wanted to do and they're now one of the most affluent countries in the world.
The lesson from this?
Don't ever vote Conservative.

[Balinkay]

Aaah, is this the infamous Norwegian oil fund? I heard they're tanking deeply into it to subsidise electric car purchases.

[redebreck]

Aaah, is this the infamous Norwegian oil fund? I heard they're tanking deeply into it to subsidise electric car purchases.

Could be, I've not heard of this. Any links available?

[Balinkay]

Could be, I've not heard of this. Any links available?

Think I first heard it here:

[stevie harkness]

So it's Norway's fault that we are destroying ocean life by deep sea mining for the precious metals necessary to build more electric cars so we can reduce carbon emissions and save the planet? The world's gone mad.

[redebreck]

Think I first heard it here:

yes, that's it.
just imagine, the UK could have had a fund like that if the Tories hadn't squandered it.
criminal, isn't it?

(I used to think the tories sold it to their cronies - looking at these articles I was wrong, they just wasted it on short-term stuff)

nice to hear btw that most of their (Norwegian) electricity is produced from hydro.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16976267.heseltine-thatcher-blew-uks-north-sea-oil-windfall/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19871411

https://www.thenational.scot/news/15629769.how-westminster-plundered-the-north-sea-and-sold-out-generations-of-scots/

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2013/04/thatcher-and-north-sea-oil-%E2%80%93-failure-invest-britain%E2%80%99s-future

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/britain-gained-300billion-tax-north-6390332
snippets:
"The increasing oil revenue to the UK in the 1980s drove up the sterling exchange rate, making much of British industry uncompetitive. Unemployment increased as a result, exceeding three million people out of work in 1984, and some of the extra tax revenue from oil paid unemployment benefits.

The oil revenues allowed the top rate of income tax to be reduced from 60p to 40p by 1988 and much of the extra income ended up creating a boom in house prices.

There were politicians, even within Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative Party, who felt the funds would have been better used to modernise British industry and improve the transport infrastructure.

The previous Labour government had mooted the idea of setting up an oil fund, but this idea got tangled up with infighting within the party and it never happened.

An oil fund was established by the Norwegian government in 1990 and as of 2015 it holds £549billion invested in 1.3 per cent of the entire global equity market, including 2.5 per cent of Europe’s listed companies. By comparison, there had been no effective political planning to handle the windfall of North Sea oil in the UK other than short-term economic and political expediency."

[Balinkay]

Ouch. Politics is a dirty business.

[dicko1969]

Ever seen the uk debt clock... how many trillion ?

Britain is not great.

Not because of immigration
Not because of the NHS

It's because of the past 40 years GOVERNMENTs totally misunderstanding future planning.

[redebreck]

Ever seen the uk debt clock... how many trillion ?

Britain is not great.

Not because of immigration
Not because of the NHS

It's because of the past 40 years GOVERNMENTs totally misunderstanding future planning.

And it could have been avoided..

[Clungeman]

And it could have been avoided..

I think you'll find that ALL government spending is entirely unavoidable, and ALWAYS for the benefit of the people of the UK.

This article should illustrate that nicely. ;-)

https://newsthump.com/2019/11/18/children-in-need-celebrates-raising-less-than-half-the-cost-of-boris-johnsons-aborted-get-ready-for-brexit-ad-campaign/

[redebreck]

And it could have been avoided..

I think you'll find that ALL government spending is entirely unavoidable, and ALWAYS for the benefit of the people of the UK.

This article should illustrate that nicely. ;-)

https://newsthump.com/2019/11/18/children-in-need-celebrates-raising-less-than-half-the-cost-of-boris-johnsons-aborted-get-ready-for-brexit-ad-campaign/

What I meant was, the oil fund would have covered a decent amount of the spending.

UK government constantly gets itself/the people in a shit and then has to spend a shit load of money to sort things out.
Lack of forward planning is the root of a lot of it.

[RedNoodle]

Politicians only care about the here and now because they know that they won't be around/in power for long. First and foremost they do as much as they can in the time they get to feather their own nest, and secondly they make short term decisions because they know they won't be around to deal with any of the consequences that arise from any of them.