Politics Election 2019

[Wij]

Just listened to her first PMQs. She's done the same voice coaching as Thatcher did. She's speaking a good half an octave lower.

And she's fucking loony. More oil and gas extraction. No more taxes on that extraction. No taxing the vast profits currently being made.

Any help we get over the next few years, we'll be paying for it - not the energy companies, no. The bosses can keep their yachts, their private planes, their fancy new houses on the French Riviera, their private wine collections. No, we have to pay for it all.

What a fucking horrible scumbag of a human being.

Our kids will be paying for it all tbh.

Grandkids probably.

Cunt.

 

[Scouse]

Our kids will be paying for it all tbh.

Grandkids probably.

If they're not dead from wars caused by mass migration.

 

[Billargh]

I genuinely believe Truss is an actual simplton. Not that it's anything new given we've just got rid of Boris, but her PMQs had me foaming, she and her little sidekicks are absolutely revolting.

 

[Wij]

I think we could only go lower with Braverman.

 

[Tom]

"You can't tax your way to growth". Does the stupid moron actually think that gigantic energy bills will grow the economy?

 

[Scouse]

100bn is apparently what it's going to cost for the energy freeze.

Should have spent double that over the last 14 years on insulation then we wouldn't be giving a fuck about gas prices.

 

[Embattle]

What concerns me is all well and good spending 100bn but I want a similar amount spent on really energy independence.

 

[Wij]

What concerns me is all well and good spending 100bn but I want a similar amount spent on really energy independence.

Could have built some huge nuclear reactors for that money

 

[Gwadien]

Could have built some huge nuclear reactors for that money

Could contribute to some huge nuclear reactors* and let private companies pay the rest and then charge us a fortune for the energy...

 

[Embattle]

Could have built some huge nuclear reactors for that money

It would help but I want a multi pronged approach to it.

 

[Scouse]

Could have built some huge nuclear reactors for that money

If they were greenlit in the late 80's they'd actually be useful too. Both of them.***

Sizewell C is supposed to be 20bn - but realistic estimates are £45bn - and it won't be ready in time to help us at all (as we've no clue how to build it).

You could, however, have built a shitload of renewables, done network upgrades, and, you know, insulated a shitload for £100bn - and it would have been real tangible spend where we got some productive and useful assets and reductions in energy requirements - rather than profits for Russia and other producing countries.


***Edit: Of course, none of this is decomissioning costs.

 

[Tom]

100bn is apparently what it's going to cost for the energy freeze.

Should have spent double that over the last 14 years on insulation then we wouldn't be giving a fuck about gas prices.

I'm still waiting for a hint of something about insulation, because I plan to massively increase the insulation in my loft. I don't want to buy anything and find out I can't reclaim it because I bought before a new scheme came in. But I don't hold out much hope.

Insulation lasts pretty much for the building's lifespan. A bung to the energy companies lasts a few years. We should be subsidising insulation and dramatically reducing energy use forever. They're so fucking stupid.

 

[Scouse]

Agree @Tom. But then, people have been calling for this since before I went to University - including changes to building regulations (that still have never been brought in - so every house we've built since the early 90's has added to the problem that we knew existed).

Embattle still isn't amending his position that he doesn't want to pay for rich people's insulation. But that overcomplicates things and is an excuse for inaction.

Yet we're still paying £100bn of our tax money to energy companies - and I've not seen him say "don't do that" - despite the fact that it benefits the rich the most - in both capped energy bills for massive houses (which could easily exceed the cap before energy prices went up anyway) and shareholders.

 

[Trem]

Why are gas prices so high now because of the post-covid recovery? Is it so they can claw back what they lost in covid (only thing that makes sense to me)? The manufacturing has gone back to normal so how do they explain it? There wasn't millions of super factories built during covid just waiting to fire up.

The Ukraine situation adds to it but our prices now went to this before the war so I don't believe that narrative for the majority of it (in our country).

 

[Trem]

@Scouse with being off grid in winter how would you have constant heating/hot water? You'd need some mother fucking gigantic batteries, even then would they get charged enough in the day?

 

[Tom]

Basically increased demand and reduced supply. That's it. So they charge more.

The issue is that we can levy taxes on them to reduce their profits. And this is fine, because they're not actually doing anything to build those profits. They're just charging more because there's more demand.

 

[Embattle]

Anything you do in government generally has a set budget and it would undoubtedly not be open ended and thus if people who can afford to do insulation are included then budget and resources for those that can't afford it will ultimately miss out, I've no intention of changing my view for people like Scouse.

Personally I've no problem with a extension to the windfall tax while profits are so high, but it comes with the realisation you don't get any where near what you expect as companies do what they've always done and move profits around.

 

[Ormorof]

I would argue the opposite, if the last two decades have taught anything its that government budgets are effectively limitless as long as theres political will to spend it on a particular thing, the planned cost of insulating every home in Britain probably would not even put a dent in that 100 billion, even if some do end up benefiting from it that maybe could have just done it themselves

 

[Ormorof]

Take track and trace, 35 billion was spunked up the wall on that to zero end benefit for anyone but the leeches that live on this kind of crisis

 

[Scouse]

Oh. It's 130 billion. Spunked into the pockets of shareholders.

I don't give a fuck really - but I do give a fuck that the Tories took us to this position by refusing to back renewables (the cheapest form of energy), whilst continuing massive subsidy to oil and gas - and refusing to insulate people's homes.

They are owned - owned - by the fossil fuel lobby.

As are their voters.

 

[Scouse]

Liz Truss "no" to windfall tax:

Big oil and Opec are holding the world to ransom – it’s time to rein them in | Kenneth Mohammed

The UN’s call for windfall taxes must be taken up by governments to help break the power of greedy cartels

www.theguardian.com

 

[Trem]

Liz Truss "no" to windfall tax:

Big oil and Opec are holding the world to ransom – it’s time to rein them in | Kenneth Mohammed

The UN’s call for windfall taxes must be taken up by governments to help break the power of greedy cartels

www.theguardian.com

Hopefully our nation will see what is going on. Hopefully this Sunday Laura Kuntberg will decide to have Jonathan Pie as a guest. Hopefully the Mail offices get hit by a bomb.

 

[Wij]

She used to work for Shell didn't she?

 

[Scouse]

She used to work for Shell didn't she?

I work for a big bank, but it doesn't mean I support what they do or even are.

Career of conscience is a very difficult thing to achieve or do. Ultimately we all have to pay the bills. A friend's kid just quit her job at Philip Morris to work for Coca Cola (for a huge wadge more cash). She doesn't drink sugary drinks, doesn't smoke and recently watched her granddad die of lung cancer.

Capitalism's mechanism of "the market will do good" is bullshit - because people's first priority is survival. This system is brutal. It's designed to keep us in our place and rob us of our wealth and time so we remain "productive" long past the time when we should be kicking back and relaxing.

In that context - "worked for shell" doesn't really say much.

 

[Scouse]

Something to say @Embattle? Or is it just a bit of a ding in your worldview that you don't like?

 

[Embattle]

Something to say @Embattle? Or is it just a bit of a ding in your worldview that you don't like?

No...just the same old same old.

 

[Scouse]

No...just the same old same old.

It's a sensible response to @Wij's post - and I don't see you rebuffing it.

 

[Gwadien]

I work for a big bank, but it doesn't mean I support what they do or even are.

Career of conscience is a very difficult thing to achieve or do. Ultimately we all have to pay the bills. A friend's kid just quit her job at Philip Morris to work for Coca Cola (for a huge wadge more cash). She doesn't drink sugary drinks, doesn't smoke and recently watched her granddad die of lung cancer.

Capitalism's mechanism of "the market will do good" is bullshit - because people's first priority is survival. This system is brutal. It's designed to keep us in our place and rob us of our wealth and time so we remain "productive" long past the time when we should be kicking back and relaxing.

In that context - "worked for shell" doesn't really say much.

She has shares in big oil though.

 

[Scouse]

She has shares in big oil though.

How do you know that?

BTW - you got a pension? Because you will too.

 

[Trem]

Ok Scouse, she's a cunt. Will that do?