Stop voting for fucking Tories

[SaintK]

The wicked witch from Witham says "find your own housing"

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2 ... ightmove

Don't know the timescales involved, but is this so unreasonable after a year being housed in a hotel? That's enough time to get settled to an extent over here.

You'd have thought the home office would have a resettlement team in place? Seems a bit odd to (a) have them in hotels for a year anyway especially when there's so many jobs around and then (b) tell them to do it themselves. What about credit checks for example? I can't imagine renting in the UK is that similar to renting in Afghanistan.

And when I say you'd have thought I mean the government obviously don't.

Quite!
The Home Office is a shambles. Will be interesting to see who Truss puts in there as Home Secretary as apparently (according to Private Eye that is) she can't stand Patel

[tabascoboy]

There are all the knock-on effects on businesses which will incur extra costs that have to be passed onto goods and services - and during a time when consumers will have much, much less disposable income . Many business already struggling and that's before they have to worry about massive increases in costs for heating / refrigeration. It really is going to be carnage, and our government either refuse to see that, don't care or don't have a clue what to do about it. The timing of the shitshow of the leadership contest doesn't help but neither does going on holiday for several weeks when they should be 100% focused on the upcoming crisis. And we're going to have a total dipshit of a PM to deal with it. Oh joy...

[I like neeps]

There are all the knock-on effects on businesses which will incur extra costs that have to be passed onto goods and services - and during a time when consumers will have much, much less disposable income . Many business already struggling and that's before they have to worry about massive increases in costs for heating / refrigeration. It really is going to be carnage, and our government either refuse to see that, don't care or don't have a clue what to do about it. The timing of the shitshow of the leadership contest doesn't help but neither does going on holiday for several weeks when they should be 100% focused on the upcoming crisis. And we're going to have a total dipshit of a PM to deal with it. Oh joy...

A huge amount will downsize and some go bust. It's inevitable unfortunately.

[_Os_]

Don't know the timescales involved, but is this so unreasonable after a year being housed in a hotel? That's enough time to get settled to an extent over here.

You'd have thought the home office would have a resettlement team in place? Seems a bit odd to (a) have them in hotels for a year anyway especially when there's so many jobs around and then (b) tell them to do it themselves. What about credit checks for example? I can't imagine renting in the UK is that similar to renting in Afghanistan.

And when I say you'd have thought I mean the government obviously don't.

Any landlord/letting agent will require: A deposit, proof of identity, proof of immigration status, credit history, and likely proof of employment status.

It's illegal for landlords to provide accommodation to an illegal immigrant, part of the hostile environment forces unqualified people to become petty officials enforcing laws they don't understand. This is compounded by the constant changes in the UK's immigration system which have turned legal immigrants into illegal immigrants overnight, in addition to any migration system having provision for an immigrant's status to change (time limited visas for example). Potentially any landlord housing an immigrant could end up housing an illegal immigrant and be heavily fined. There's increasing competition for rented accommodation (landlords have been squeezed and many have quit, and there's not enough houses in the right areas), most landlords/letting agents will look at an Afghan refugee with potentially an immigration status they don't understand and unemployed with no credit history, then immediately bin them in favour of others that are less complicated.

The only landlords interested will be a subset of those that exclusively let to those on housing benefit. Those landlords aren't putting up nice photos on Zoopla and Rightmove.

[sockwithaticket]

Starmer has come out and said the cap should be freezed so I presume the govt will bailout suppliers going bust e.g. the financial crash.

On another note, plans are being drawn up by academy trusts for schools to only open 3 days per week to deal with the cost of heating. I really don't think people appreciate how bad this is going to be. Across Europe this winter there will be discussions on how long we can support Ukraine, I predict.

What would no longer supporting Ukraine do?

I could be being thick, but surely the profits energy companies are enjoying demonstrate that the main problem is less supply and more their sheer greed combined with a lack of will from government to rein them in.

[fishfoodie]

Starmer has come out and said the cap should be freezed so I presume the govt will bailout suppliers going bust e.g. the financial crash.

On another note, plans are being drawn up by academy trusts for schools to only open 3 days per week to deal with the cost of heating. I really don't think people appreciate how bad this is going to be. Across Europe this winter there will be discussions on how long we can support Ukraine, I predict.

What would no longer supporting Ukraine do?

I could be being thick, but surely the profits energy companies are enjoying demonstrate that the main problem is less supply and more their sheer greed combined with a lack of will from government to rein them in.

Exactly. It would make sense to go the other way entirely, & re-double the support to Ukraine, & break Russia.

It'll be Dec/Jan when the first Ukrainian pilots complete their training with their new F-15/F-16s in the US; & that'll make life interesting

[GogLais]

Starmer has come out and said the cap should be freezed so I presume the govt will bailout suppliers going bust e.g. the financial crash.

On another note, plans are being drawn up by academy trusts for schools to only open 3 days per week to deal with the cost of heating. I really don't think people appreciate how bad this is going to be. Across Europe this winter there will be discussions on how long we can support Ukraine, I predict.

What would no longer supporting Ukraine do?

I could be being thick, but surely the profits energy companies are enjoying demonstrate that the main problem is less supply and more their sheer greed combined with a lack of will from government to rein them in.

It was blindingly obvious that opposing Russia would have consequences. To vigorously support Ukraine and then leave them in the lurch when things get messy/cold would be shameful.

[I like neeps]

Starmer has come out and said the cap should be freezed so I presume the govt will bailout suppliers going bust e.g. the financial crash.

On another note, plans are being drawn up by academy trusts for schools to only open 3 days per week to deal with the cost of heating. I really don't think people appreciate how bad this is going to be. Across Europe this winter there will be discussions on how long we can support Ukraine, I predict.

What would no longer supporting Ukraine do?

I could be being thick, but surely the profits energy companies are enjoying demonstrate that the main problem is less supply and more their sheer greed combined with a lack of will from government to rein them in.

A funny thing happens to supply when you cut off a major producer. Right or wrong, I think a bad winter it becomes a debate.

[sockwithaticket]

Starmer has come out and said the cap should be freezed so I presume the govt will bailout suppliers going bust e.g. the financial crash.

On another note, plans are being drawn up by academy trusts for schools to only open 3 days per week to deal with the cost of heating. I really don't think people appreciate how bad this is going to be. Across Europe this winter there will be discussions on how long we can support Ukraine, I predict.

What would no longer supporting Ukraine do?

I could be being thick, but surely the profits energy companies are enjoying demonstrate that the main problem is less supply and more their sheer greed combined with a lack of will from government to rein them in.

A funny thing happens to supply when you cut off a major producer. Right or wrong, I think a bad winter it becomes a debate.

I suppose my point is, the energy companies could be charging less than they are right now. Yes, their costs have gone up, but, clearly not that much given how much profit they're making. Obviously they're all a pack of cunts who aren't going to price cap or lower anything out of the goodness of their hearts, but there's room to work with for a government that has the desire to when it comes to dropping legislation on them that mitigates the profiteering and helps the populace at large.

Equally, if we go to Russia cap in hand, do prices actually improve where it matters (for the consumer) or do they try and extort us? All the while we show ourselves to be a fairweather ally and that costs a lot of influence and power globally.

[I like neeps]

What would no longer supporting Ukraine do?

I could be being thick, but surely the profits energy companies are enjoying demonstrate that the main problem is less supply and more their sheer greed combined with a lack of will from government to rein them in.

A funny thing happens to supply when you cut off a major producer. Right or wrong, I think a bad winter it becomes a debate.

I suppose my point is, the energy companies could be charging less than they are right now. Yes, their costs have gone up, but, clearly not that much given how much profit they're making. Obviously they're all a pack of cunts who aren't going to price cap or lower anything out of the goodness of their hearts, but there's room to work with for a government that has the desire to when it comes to dropping legislation on them that mitigates the profiteering and helps the populace at large.

Equally, if we go to Russia cap in hand, do prices actually improve where it matters (for the consumer) or do they try and extort us? All the while we show ourselves to be a fairweather ally and that costs a lot of influence and power globally.

Russia are still selling energy to Europe so it's not cap in hand but for sure is a damaging geopolitical win for Putin. I guess the question is - we're seeing what is happening in the UK and that's going to happen across Europe. How do you turn off the taps without a serious recession? And how do you avoid unrest this winter?

I think yes, there is obscene profiteering going on with the producers. But the distributors in the UK need the cap to increase because they don't produce energy always sometimes it's just pricing arbitrage.

[Paddington Bear]

Starmer has come out and said the cap should be freezed so I presume the govt will bailout suppliers going bust e.g. the financial crash.

On another note, plans are being drawn up by academy trusts for schools to only open 3 days per week to deal with the cost of heating. I really don't think people appreciate how bad this is going to be. Across Europe this winter there will be discussions on how long we can support Ukraine, I predict.

What would no longer supporting Ukraine do?

I could be being thick, but surely the profits energy companies are enjoying demonstrate that the main problem is less supply and more their sheer greed combined with a lack of will from government to rein them in.

A funny thing happens to supply when you cut off a major producer. Right or wrong, I think a bad winter it becomes a debate.

Especially in Germany where attitudes to Russia are different to here and there is a substantial wing of their politics wedded to having half decent relations with Russia.
I don't think Britain or France will break on this, but can certainly see Germany trying and countries that are particularly economically connected to Germany doing little about it.

[dpedin]

This map sums up this Tory Gov and the gross failure of privatisation of essential utilities and services. Paying more for shitty water services, swimming in shit being pumped into rivers and seas whilst draining rivers and endangered chalk streams about sums it up really. Water and sewage should never have been privatised in England, profit overrides public health and safety. Feck knows what water and sewage services are going to be like in next 10 years.

Over 70% of these companies is owned by overseas investors including the Governments of Australia, Canada, Kuwait, Norway, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, UAE and private companies based in: Australia, Bermuda, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Jersey, Malaysia, Netherlands, Switzerland and US.

I'm not saying Scottish Water is perfect, they have their faults, but in comparison to these private companies they are the good guys. I think the CEO of Scottish Water gets paid £267k basic and last year got a 90k bonus. This was seen as excessive and created a bit of a political stushie for the Gov. However this was dwarfed by salaries of CEO's in privatised industries who averaged somewhere around £1.7m. Talk about being ripped off!

[Biffer]

Big question - can USA step up and find a way to ship LNG to Europe at huge rates? Problem is tankers not supply, but trying to reprioritise where shipments are made in order to break Russia isn't beyond the imagination.

[I like neeps]

What would no longer supporting Ukraine do?

I could be being thick, but surely the profits energy companies are enjoying demonstrate that the main problem is less supply and more their sheer greed combined with a lack of will from government to rein them in.

A funny thing happens to supply when you cut off a major producer. Right or wrong, I think a bad winter it becomes a debate.

Especially in Germany where attitudes to Russia are different to here and there is a substantial wing of their politics wedded to having half decent relations with Russia.
I don't think Britain or France will break on this, but can certainly see Germany trying and countries that are particularly economically connected to Germany doing little about it.

Yeah I think Germany are going to be happy for others to kick up a fuss. But at least Germany are implementing a pretty public campaign to use less power domestically and civically. Something we need to see across Europe.

[Slick]

This map sums up this Tory Gov and the gross failure of privatisation of essential utilities and services. Paying more for shitty water services, swimming in shit being pumped into rivers and seas whilst draining rivers and endangered chalk streams about sums it up really. Water and sewage should never have been privatised in England, profit overrides public health and safety. Feck knows what water and sewage services are going to be like in next 10 years.

Over 70% of these companies is owned by overseas investors including the Governments of Australia, Canada, Kuwait, Norway, Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, UAE and private companies based in: Australia, Bermuda, Finland, France, Hong Kong, Jersey, Malaysia, Netherlands, Switzerland and US.

I'm not saying Scottish Water is perfect, they have their faults, but in comparison to these private companies they are the good guys. I think the CEO of Scottish Water gets paid £267k basic and last year got a 90k bonus. This was seen as excessive and created a bit of a political stushie for the Gov. However this was dwarfed by salaries of CEO's in privatised industries who averaged somewhere around £1.7m. Talk about being ripped off!

They still managed to dump 48m cubic metres of sewage into our seas and rivers last year, mainly around urban areas. That’s 40% more than 5 years ago. Excuse the pun, but it’s still fucking shite

[Insane_Homer]

[shaggy]

Big question - can USA step up and find a way to ship LNG to Europe at huge rates? Problem is tankers not supply, but trying to reprioritise where shipments are made in order to break Russia isn't beyond the imagination.

Lack of receiving infrastructure is the major bottleneck.

[fishfoodie]

Get back to work, you fat ponce !

[Mahoney]

This didn't actually happen - it's another of RS Archer's fantasies:

[fishfoodie]

The bigger scandal is that there, wasn't someone shouting this at him !

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Get back to work would be such an odd thing to shout at BJ the sad clown, in that it supposes he ever started

[Biffer]

Hey,if he can make stuff up and have people believe it, why shouldn’t any one else?

[SaintK]

This one's real!

[sturginho]

This one's real!

It's the dirty look she gives as she walks off that cracks me up

[SaintK]

No wonder they want to keep it all confidential!!!

A Foreign Office official raised concerns about plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, citing state surveillance, arbitrary detention, torture and killings by the country’s government, the high court has heard.

He cited one document from a Foreign Office official which states: “There are state control, security, surveillance structures from the national level down to [households]. Political opposition is not tolerated and arbitrary detention, torture and even killings are accepted methods of enforcing control too.”

At that hearing it emerged in court documents that on 10 February 2021, the UK high commissioner to Rwanda said the UK should not do a deal with Rwanda because the country had been accused of recruiting refugees to conduct armed operations in neighbouring nations.
A Foreign Office memo dated 20 May 2021 urged No 10 not to get involved with the Rwanda deal owing to significant human rights concerns.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2 ... seekers

[salanya]

No wonder they want to keep it all confidential!!!

A Foreign Office official raised concerns about plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, citing state surveillance, arbitrary detention, torture and killings by the country’s government, the high court has heard.

He cited one document from a Foreign Office official which states: “There are state control, security, surveillance structures from the national level down to [households]. Political opposition is not tolerated and arbitrary detention, torture and even killings are accepted methods of enforcing control too.”

At that hearing it emerged in court documents that on 10 February 2021, the UK high commissioner to Rwanda said the UK should not do a deal with Rwanda because the country had been accused of recruiting refugees to conduct armed operations in neighbouring nations.
A Foreign Office memo dated 20 May 2021 urged No 10 not to get involved with the Rwanda deal owing to significant human rights concerns.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2 ... seekers

The most ridiculous thing is that Rwanda's record on human rights is known quite publicly - all of this is a surprise to absolutely nobody.

The fact that these Tory politicians were so keen to go ahead with this policy (being ridiculous in cost and effort as well as the humanitarian impact) just shows their true colours. And now we know any claims of ignorance on this issue were also false.

[I like neeps]

No wonder they want to keep it all confidential!!!

A Foreign Office official raised concerns about plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda, citing state surveillance, arbitrary detention, torture and killings by the country’s government, the high court has heard.

He cited one document from a Foreign Office official which states: “There are state control, security, surveillance structures from the national level down to [households]. Political opposition is not tolerated and arbitrary detention, torture and even killings are accepted methods of enforcing control too.”

At that hearing it emerged in court documents that on 10 February 2021, the UK high commissioner to Rwanda said the UK should not do a deal with Rwanda because the country had been accused of recruiting refugees to conduct armed operations in neighbouring nations.
A Foreign Office memo dated 20 May 2021 urged No 10 not to get involved with the Rwanda deal owing to significant human rights concerns.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2 ... seekers

The most ridiculous thing is that Rwanda's record on human rights is known quite publicly - all of this is a surprise to absolutely nobody.

The fact that these Tory politicians were so keen to go ahead with this policy (being ridiculous in cost and effort as well as the humanitarian impact) just shows their true colours. And now we know any claims of ignorance on this issue were also false.

Rwanda wasn't their first choice - Ghana publically rejected them, you'd assume they'd have asked Kenya too. I wonder about Uganda and Nigeria (extremely unstable though). South Africa I doubt they'd ask for obvious reasons... Not sure of any other sub Saharan anglophone country that has a veneer of stability who you could then ask? Considering the tensions between Rwanda and the DRC with Tshisedeki threatening war with Rwanda for backing rebels the stability is a question.

Rwandans have a saying about being as gullable as the white men. I think Kagame is switched on enough to extract a lot of money from us for a fairly small number of people (they have one hotel earmarked).

[GogLais]

I know there was the trial flight that wasn't a few weeks ago. It's annoying how news media doesn't follow these things up - am I right in thinking there hasn't been on since and if so, what's our Home Secretary got to say about it?

[sockwithaticket]

Np wonder Tories are so hell bent on slashing the civil service, they keep offering pesky reminders about morality and legality.

[fishfoodie]

Its for your own good !

Pollution warnings are in place for almost 50 beaches in England and Wales after untreated sewage was discharged into the sea around the coast.

Official data shows discharges have taken place since Monday and Southern Water says they have been made to protect homes and businesses.

It follows a period of heavy rain across southern England, after a spell of extremely dry weather.

Data was provided by water companies to the Safer Seas and Rivers Service.

The service is run by the charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Sewage regularly dumped illegally in England and Wales rivers
Environment Agency seeks jail for polluting water bosses
Many of the beaches contaminated are popular resorts, and include Bognor Regis, Lulworth Cove, Newquay, Eastbourne and Southend-on-Sea.

The majority are along England's south coast.

Southern Water is one of the water companies responsible for those regions, along with Wessex Water and South West Water.

In a statement, Southern Water said: "There were thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain the night before last and yesterday [Tuesday]. Storm releases were made to protect homes, schools and businesses from flooding. The release is 95-97% rainwater and so should not be described as raw sewage.

"We know customers do not like that the industry has to rely on these [discharges] to protect them, and we are pioneering a new approach."

Last year Southern Water was fined a record £90m after admitting deliberately dumping vast amounts of sewage into sea across the south coast.

These kind of discharges - which are legal - mostly happen after heavy rain, when there is a risk that pipes, which carry storm-water along with sewage, may overflow.

This is only supposed to happen in exceptional circumstances. However, in 2020 and 2021, there were almost 400,000 spill events.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62574105

[sturginho]

I love it!

[Big D]

They still managed to dump 48m cubic metres of sewage into our seas and rivers last year, mainly around urban areas. That’s 40% more than 5 years ago. Excuse the pun, but it’s still fucking shite

Aye, Scottish Water are a middle of the pack water company in terms of overall performance. Could almost certainly do with a bump in bills but the Government will never sign off on it which is understandable. Leaves a lot of aging assets though.

[tabascoboy]

[Big D]

Its for your own good !

Pollution warnings are in place for almost 50 beaches in England and Wales after untreated sewage was discharged into the sea around the coast.

Official data shows discharges have taken place since Monday and Southern Water says they have been made to protect homes and businesses.

It follows a period of heavy rain across southern England, after a spell of extremely dry weather.

Data was provided by water companies to the Safer Seas and Rivers Service.

The service is run by the charity Surfers Against Sewage.

Sewage regularly dumped illegally in England and Wales rivers
Environment Agency seeks jail for polluting water bosses
Many of the beaches contaminated are popular resorts, and include Bognor Regis, Lulworth Cove, Newquay, Eastbourne and Southend-on-Sea.

The majority are along England's south coast.

Southern Water is one of the water companies responsible for those regions, along with Wessex Water and South West Water.

In a statement, Southern Water said: "There were thunderstorms accompanied by heavy rain the night before last and yesterday [Tuesday]. Storm releases were made to protect homes, schools and businesses from flooding. The release is 95-97% rainwater and so should not be described as raw sewage.

"We know customers do not like that the industry has to rely on these [discharges] to protect them, and we are pioneering a new approach."

Last year Southern Water was fined a record £90m after admitting deliberately dumping vast amounts of sewage into sea across the south coast.

These kind of discharges - which are legal - mostly happen after heavy rain, when there is a risk that pipes, which carry storm-water along with sewage, may overflow.

This is only supposed to happen in exceptional circumstances. However, in 2020 and 2021, there were almost 400,000 spill events.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62574105

These "CSO" or "EO" which are either storm overflows or emergency overflows should only really be used during storms or pump station failure. Ideally the storm and sewage sewers would be separate (as most new housing estates would be) but there is still a lot of older, some ancient, sewers that are combined sewage and storm flows. Southern Water are right to an extent that it should be a highly diluted flow that spills but it will happen more regularly as the pipelines are sized on old flow rates and storm projections. What was once a 1 in 30 year storm is now happening a lot more regularly. The cost of replacing old pipelines would be high millions across the UK.

The above, which every water company has and uses under agreement with SEPA in Scotland and the EA in England (I think), is different from deliberately discharging sewage to the watercourses which Southern Water has been guilty of.

[Biffer]

They still managed to dump 48m cubic metres of sewage into our seas and rivers last year, mainly around urban areas. That’s 40% more than 5 years ago. Excuse the pun, but it’s still fucking shite

Aye, Scottish Water are a middle of the pack water company in terms of overall performance. Could almost certainly do with a bump in bills but the Government will never sign off on it which is understandable. Leaves a lot of aging assets though.

Aye, just being better than the companies in England is not a high bar. Still needs investment but we won't get it within the UK.

[SaintK]

Yet in The Times:

Somewhat confusingly, in a separate interview with the Times, Shapps said he was “not attracted to the bureaucracy of registration plates”, adding: “That would go too far.”

Fucking useless twat!

[Mahoney]

Aye, just being better than the companies in England is not a high bar. Still needs investment but we won't get it within the UK.

I thought your government could raise and spend its own revenue?

[Lobby]

Yet in The Times:

Somewhat confusingly, in a separate interview with the Times, Shapps said he was “not attracted to the bureaucracy of registration plates”, adding: “That would go too far.”

Fucking useless twat!

I assumed the cyclist registration plates were to make it easier to identify them after they’ve been run over by a lorry driven by someone without an HGV license as a result of Shapps’ other great idea.

[ia801310]

A kinder gentler politics

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... -Cook.html

To be fair the SNP have called it out, if anybody thinks this behaviour helps the SNP or the cause of Scottish Independence they are kidding themselves.

[Big D]

They still managed to dump 48m cubic metres of sewage into our seas and rivers last year, mainly around urban areas. That’s 40% more than 5 years ago. Excuse the pun, but it’s still fucking shite

Aye, Scottish Water are a middle of the pack water company in terms of overall performance. Could almost certainly do with a bump in bills but the Government will never sign off on it which is understandable. Leaves a lot of aging assets though.

Aye, just being better than the companies in England is not a high bar. Still needs investment but we won't get it within the UK.

We pretty much pay for what SW gets through our water bills. The decision not to increase funding via rates increase or other means sit with the Scottish government.