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Reply | 16 and 17 year olds to get the vote.
at 23:40 17 Jul 2025
I’d agree with you.
The conservatives did something similar when they introduced compulsory photo ID to vote, barriers “disenfranchising” some groups were introduced.
It’ll be interesting to see if Labour change the eligibility around photo ID to vote because some types of ID which are approved for older people aren’t approved for younger voters. It’s also worth noting that most 16 year olds may not have a driving licence. |
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Reply | Resident doctors demand another big pay rise
at 22:02 16 Jul 2025
I agree with much of what you’ve posted. I know a plumber, he charges £35 an hour and he’s on the go at least 6 days a week which comes out at around £80k. He told me he is one of the cheapest in the area, all his customers are local and long standing and he feels charging more is ripping people off and it goes against the grain. I know a chippie who charges £250 a day which is at least £60k per year. A barber near us charges £17 per haircut, he does 3 every 2 hours ( all appointments no walk ups) and works 5 days a week - if he works 50 weeks a year that’s £57k.
The Cameron, May, Johnson era saw public service pay savaged and the police were really poorly treated because they had no recourse to do anything about it.
The police and the government have a process to review and determine what the police pay rise should be, however it was very one sided in that the government set the parameters and if they didn’t like the “ independent “ recommendation they could ignore the recommendation and impose what they felt like. Guess what, the government did just that!
A top line Constable in England and Wales is on £48k, they get a 10% premium on their hourly rate for night shifts, but nothing extra for weekend work. Scottish police weren’t subject to the “austerity” programme and they get £50.5k.
If we’re going to remove people’s right to strike, then I think it’s only fair that we introduce independent pay reviews body’s whose decision is binding on all parties. |
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Reply | Resident doctors demand another big pay rise
at 21:35 16 Jul 2025
A band 9 Nurse would be the Director of Nursing for a Health Board, there’s probably only a small number of them in Wales and they’d all probably be late 50s early 60s.
The old Matron type nurses are generally Band 8A’s and they have responsibility for particular areas, or a number of wards or specialities. |
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Reply | Has Royal mail lost its way?
at 07:38 16 Jul 2025
Mate of mine recently retired from his job as a postie. He had a large rural round which it was impossible to cover in one standard shift. Management prioritising parcels and if that meant first class letters weren’t delivered so be it, they could be done the next day or the next day or the day after that. That isn’t in keeping with what they were supposed to do, but that was the way it worked. They wouldn’t pay OT to get the job done, but equally they didn’t like mail being brought back. He was glad to get out. |
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Reply | Resident doctors demand another big pay rise
at 07:32 16 Jul 2025
The question posed was to you, not the junior doctors. Gwyn specifically asked you what you thought was a reasonable wage for someone who’d accumulated a significant amount of debt and spent 12 years training to get to grade 6.
So what do you think is the reasonable wage as per Gwyn’s question. |
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Reply | The country has gone nuts
at 22:26 15 Jul 2025
I was stunned when I read this, it’s a real mess.
FWIW I’ll give my tuppence worth. The leak should never have happened and someone or several persons should be held to account over it. The fact that the current government have hidden behind the “we don’t comment on individuals” is really poor, we deserve an answer as to what has happened and the punishment.
The previous government hid this behind a super injunction - that’s outrageous and a blatant attempt to hide it from the public and from scrutiny. Disgusting behaviour. I could understand a very short term injection to be able to evacuate those at risk, but not a long term super injunction that they can hide behind. Even the judge commented on the lack of accountability in a democracy.
As far the Afghans themselves, I agree with Cat’s comments. “These people helped us during a very nasty war, they risked their lives and are as worthy of coming here as any other immigrant and certainly more worthy than many.”
When people step up to the plate to back you, the least you can do if it goes Pete Tong is have their back. It’s about doing the right thing. There’s no doubt in my mind had these individuals remained in Afghanistan that the Taliban would have killed then and their families. [Post edited 16 Jul 9:16]
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Reply | No more tax raises
at 23:56 14 Jul 2025
You mention speaking to politicians. Got to say, I’m far from being an Nia Griffith fan, but I was in Llanelli Town Centre a few weeks ago where there was somekind of an event going on. She turned up at the event and spent a fair amount of time speaking to organisers and members of the public.
After she’d been there a while and I suspect was ready to leave, she was approached by someone I suspect to be a constituent. She didn’t fob him off, instead she found a table, grabbed some paper and spent a fair length of time talking to him, taking notes etc. TBH I was quite impressed, most politicians rock up, get their picture taken and FO - not her. She went up in my estimations. |
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Reply | Reform Policies
at 18:48 14 Jul 2025
That’s not quite right as someone as knowledgable as you should be fully aware of.
Blair was not responsible for freedom of movement, that was something that came about as a result of the Maastricht Treaty which John Major signed in the 90’s. FOM was enshrined in EU law and as such it wasn’t possible to undo it. Blair or anyone else for that matter was stuck with it.
At the time when FOM came in to force in 2004, Britain was booming and there was bipartisan support for FOM across the board. Blair’s mistake was not exercising the option to introduce temporary restrictions and conditions during the first 4 years of FOM, Britain, Ireland and Sweden were the only 3 countries not to introduce temporary restrictions on movement which saw large numbers arrive here. Blair wouldn’t have been able to stop FOM, all he could have done was kick the can down the road for a maximum of 4 years.
We’ve had much higher immigration levels under the Conservatives than under Labour, check out the figures for the last few years. The figures under both regimes have been far too high and immigration needs to be curtailed. [Post edited 14 Jul 18:50]
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Reply | Reform Policies
at 22:23 13 Jul 2025
According to the IFS the cost of raising the tax allowance to £20k would be between £50 and £80bn per year, there’s no way that’s going to happen unless there are huge cuts in public spending or state benefits.
This is coming from the left field, but what about taxing some state benefits over a certain level? [Post edited 13 Jul 22:23]
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Reply | Reform Policies
at 21:48 13 Jul 2025
It’s a huge issue, our benefits bill has increased significantly and the way it’s going it will be unsustainable if it isn’t already.
There needs to be a massive culture change with regards to benefits, people who’ve been on long term UC and some other benefits need to be asked questions like
When was the last time you had a job?
What are you doing to get a job?
What training have you undertaken to make yourself more employable?
What new qualifications and skills have you acquired?
These and more searching questions.
I’d also bring in work for the dole/ voluntary week at least 24 hours per week. A time limit on unemployment benefits maybe something like 18 months or 2 years which is enough time to find or upskill to get a job somewhere.
People who can work deserve to be supported, but people who don’t want to work but have had all the help and still aren’t working then they lose their entitlement to benefits.
There was a young hirl in one of the nationals last week, 21 years of age, 3 kids with another on the way whinging that her benefits had been cut below £2.5k per months. FFS - that’s mental. She’s probably never made a contribution to the pot but is taking out.
I’m all in favour of helping people and giving them a hand up, but it’s a 2 way street and some just want to take.
I know jobs don’t grow on trees, but there are opportunities out there. There was an article on TV about Grimsby earlier this year, they’ve got food factories up there with thousands of migrant workers because Brits don’t want to work in them, should we tolerate British people being able to pick and choose whether to work by staying on benefits for the “foreseeable future /forever” [Post edited 13 Jul 21:48]
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Reply | All this Budget Speculation
at 10:20 11 Jul 2025
Sadly, that’s all to often the case as we’ve seen repeatedly over the years, I have to say it does seem to have become a lot worse over the last 9 years since the Brexit vote with all sorts of factions and groups holding out for their own ends. |
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Reply | No more tax raises
at 10:17 11 Jul 2025
But that doesn’t make it right. We should be doing the right thing as should other countries. |
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Reply | No more tax raises
at 23:51 10 Jul 2025
We did the appeal against our valuations last year and it was a complete waste of time.
One of my near neighbours has built a house that’s almost identical to ours apart from the fact his garage is slightly bigger whereas our back garden is slightly bigger. We’ve sent pictures of his and other neighbours houses from google earth and all we’ve had is the stock line “ not enough evidence.” If you complain you just get the same stock answer and are fobbed off. 🤬🤬🤬 |
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Reply | Another ill thought out plan by the Senedd
at 17:00 10 Jul 2025
Beggars belief.
I suspect that they, nor their advisors nor the civil servants in charge of implementing policies have any experience of catching the bus or bus fares otherwise they’d have picked this up at the outset.
Add this to the 20mph debacle. [Post edited 10 Jul 17:01]
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Reply | No more tax raises
at 16:55 10 Jul 2025
That depends how you define rich. The super rich, non doms, multimillionaires etc have access to very clever accountants and their money is put in places where their tax bills are much reduced.
I was talking to a petrol tanker driver the other day, his basic is £73k per year, a carpenter I know charges £250 a day which equates to £60k for 40 hours per week for 48 week, plumber I know charges £35 an hour which is £68k for 40 hours a week over 48 weeks (and he works a lot more than that) and that’s all in south west wales. Are they rich?
There was an article in The Sun this week about a 21 year old with 3 kids and a 4th on the way whinging she couldn’t get by on £2.5k per month benefits - WTF is that all about? She’s getting £30k in her hand for nowt and no doubt when the kids are older there’ll be free school meals etc etc. Someone in employment has to earn £40k per year to take that home and then they’ll have to shell out on bills.
And you whinge about giving doctors a pay rise? They’re amongst the most sought after profession globally - if we can’t or won’t oay them they’ll walk with their feet |
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Reply | REFORM IN GOVERNMENT
at 20:17 8 Jul 2025
So the question is are Reform any better? It doesn’t look that way at the moment.
One of their MP’s is now sitting as an “Independent” after The Times carried a report that 2 of his companies obtained bonds back losses totalling £70k, one is said to have had no assets or employees while the other was dormant.
If Farage is serious about being in government, he has to sort out issues like this out. |
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