I’ve seen suggestions on Twitter that the way to save the UK is for them to join the EU.
Brexcanwecomebackin?
While I would love for the UK to be part of the EU again, the oil tanker analogy applies here. Even if the whole country decided tomorrow to rejoin, it would take years and years to turn things around and sort out re-entry (particularly if the economy continues its downward spiral) and odds are very good it wouldn’t be on terms nearly as favourable as the ones we had previously.
So the EU isn’t going to save the UK even if the UK wanted it to. We need to save ourselves, and that requires putting someone competent in charge. Any suggestions?
Not by me. I thought the suggestions were a bit sarcastic.
Very funny! Well, you need laughter in times like these…
I was thinking of, Brexitwasjustajoke.
Another YouGov poll this afternoon has given Labour an even bigger lead. This is a reactionary shock which is unlikely to persist but still… LOOK AT THIS
(yes you’re reading this right - Labour are polling at 54% to the Tories 21% …a 33% lead!!!)
If this was a general election then…
LAB: 498 (+296)
CON: 61 (-304)
SNP: 36 (-12)
LDM: 29 (+18)
PLC: 4 (=)
Others: 2 (+2)
GRN: 1 (=)
It’s sort of entertaining to watch this. But it’s a ticket that’ll probably cost me tens of thousands in increased mortgage payments…
Whoa. That’s an impressive graph.
Just wait till her honeymoon period is over
This is why that Right Wing Populism (which I admit, kinda looks like fascism-lite if you squint a little) always fails. Promises are made, to appease the masses- and either the promise is not kept (trump) or the consequences are disastrous (Truss).
Truss may be counting on the GOP strategy of running up the national debt by borrowing , then blaming said debt on the Democrats. Is it possible she is trying to destroy the economy so that when the Liberal Party wins, there is no easy fix? (But she gets the credit for cheap home heating).
Why does that sound so familiar? 
I mean yes, generally. But an important point here is that Truss didn’t promise anything to the masses. She became PM by winning her party leadership contest. None of her ideas have been sanctioned by popular mandate. And they are such a radical break with her party’s previous policies that she can’t really claim that the Tory 2019 election victory gives her democratic legitimacy either.
It’ll be the Labour party that wins, and while they will inherit a shitshow that the Tories try to blame them for, Truss’s actual plan was for her ideas to work and to win the best election on the back of them. Which, you know, no plan survives contact with reality
The Bank of England will be forced to raise interest rates to control inflation and that means mortgage payments could go up substantially. So, too will the interest payments on the governments massive borrowings and so less money for public services. Pensions will not keep pace with the cost of living.
While Brexit was a poorly understood existential thing to do with Europe and Covid was a health issue that affected the old and infirm. Mortgage payments and pensions and the cost of living will hit people the widest range directly in the pocket. I really don’t think the Conservatives are going to get away with blaming it all on Putin.
Their plan for stimulating growth seems to be tax cuts for the wealthy, which are supposed to trickle down the benefit the rest of the economy - Reaganomics.
There are many ways to stimulate growth in the economy but tax cuts for rick folks is not going to win many votes.
The UK is a country that has grown used to borrowing money cheaply at low interest rates and the deflationary effects of cheap manufacturing in China.
That era seems to be coming to an end.
The Labour party will be taking aim at an open goal at the next election in two years. By then, the Conservative party reputation for fiscal responsibility will be completely trashed. If they are going to borrow, far better that it is spent on something more certain to stimulate economic growth.
Liberate all the women tied to the home by excessive child care costs would have been a better approach.
Labour will inherit a wrecked economy.
I’d have hated to see the swimsuit portion of the competition.
But she made all kinds of promises during the leadership campaign; here are 146 of them:
Yes, but none of those have been endorsed by the electorate. She just doesn’t have a democratic mandate to make the radical moves she’s making. Which, you know, fine, except when it goes tits up then there really is no reason for her to stay in in power.
Do fixed mortgages exist or are common in the UK? They’re fairly standard in the US (though variable adjustable rate mortgages are by no means rare).
I’m not up to date, but AIUI there have been lots of different deals, both variable and fixed rates, and a busy market fir people shopping around when their fixed-rate term comes to an end. Only, providers have slashed the number of deals available by a massive proportion since last Friday.
More on the Tories in headless chicken- mode:
I know I’m a relatively recent transplant to Europe, and someone who has been a serious outside observer of British politics only for the last few years, but I still find this absolutely astonishing. This cannot be normal. I am having difficulty thinking of a dimmer, less competent person elevated to the level of national leadership, anywhere, ever. Even Trump, a thoroughgoing moron if ever there was one, possessed a highly developed animal cunning, a well-honed instinct for recognizing and capitalizing on opportunities made possible by people’s weakness. Truss is just … hapless, a living caricature straight out of Ianucci. Watching her bumble forward with policymaking while her face is frozen in a rictus of grinning terror would be hilarious if she and her team weren’t doing so much real damage.
This clip is what losing the next 4 elections look like. People under 50 are never going to forgive the Conservatives (yes, the text is Labour but the clip from a BBC politics show is not of their making):
There are massive structural reasons here but basically, Truss has been permitted to ascend to the very highest levels of power without ever having been tested in any way.
The purpose of a system is what it does. And from at least Theresa May onwards, the purpose of our system seems to be to smuggle grossly unsuitable idiots and ideologues into power without ever subjecting them to scrutiny until they inevitably fuck the country up. At which point all the braying heads who were telling us this person is the only sensible choice suddenly become very clear about what a liability they are and how actually they, the clever people who are meant to hold power to account, knew this all along.