[Tubby Isaacs]

This doesn't suggest Barrow will be turning into Hampstead any time soon.

As an aside, look at Scotland there. That's Tory standard dumping onto the level below. Wales is an honourable exception to that.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Talking of councils in Devon...

Brown was going to make that unitary, but the Coalition stopped it. I knew they had a general policy, as Andy says, but didn't know there were plans in Devon.

Funny old game. As I say, the argument for it is overall efficiency, not levelling up. So obviously, put it in a levelling up white paper. Ye gods.

[Tubby Isaacs]

On a similar theme to the last post. Of course, you'd generally try to promote efficiency. Unfortunately, it doesn't always fit easily with levelling up.

Then again, they got away with this before, on the basis that the jobs were "Labour non-jobs". So they might do again.

[Tubby Isaacs]

That's 618 jobs to be lost in Stockton and Sunderland, with more in Peterlee to come.

By comparison, there are 750 Treasury jobs going to Darlington with much fanfare.

[Cyclist]

Funny how all these offices earmarked for closure are situated somewhat to the north of the Home Counties.

[Boiler]

I hope the 924 employees of the Shipley office remember that when Philip Davies's name next appears on a ballot paper.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Funny how all these offices earmarked for closure are situated somewhat to the north of the Home Counties.

I don't know- are the jobs not in these places because they needed the jobs more than the south when they were set up?

Or as David Cameron would say, "Labour stuffed public sector non-jobs into their heartland to buy votes, but all it did was crowd out dynamic public sector investment".

[Tubby Isaacs]

I hope the 924 employees of the Shipley office remember that when Philip Davies's name next appears on a ballot paper.

He didn't do that well last time, compared to Tories generally. 1.4% swing to him, compared to 4.5% nationally. Labour clear in 2nd place.

[Boiler]

I hope the 924 employees of the Shipley office remember that when Philip Davies's name next appears on a ballot paper.

He didn't do that well last time, compared to Tories generally. 1.4% swing to him, compared to 4.5% nationally. Labour clear in 2nd place.

I'm sure the Tories of Burley-in-Wharfedale will do their best to keep him in place.

[AOB]

Universal Credit: Jobseekers must widen job search more quickly

From Thursday, people will have to look outside their sectors after just four weeks, rather than three months, or face sanctions.

This government had mates who set up companies to provide PPE gear so they could get the billion pound contracts, they gave Covid loans to companies they knew full well were no longer trading because they were mates- all this skulduggery would have made Al Capone blush- yet job seekers are given yet another hoop to jump through just to claim their pittance.

[Watchman]

Yes, don’t these redundant office workers realise fruit and veg won’t pick itself

[davidjay]

Universal Credit: Jobseekers must widen job search more quickly

From Thursday, people will have to look outside their sectors after just four weeks, rather than three months, or face sanctions.

This government had mates who set up companies to provide PPE gear so they could get the billion pound contracts, they gave Covid loans to companies they knew full well were no longer trading because they were mates- all this skulduggery would have made Al Capone blush- yet job seekers are given yet another hoop to jump through just to claim their pittance.

The Tories in a nutshell - you make the rich work harder by making them richer, you make the poor work harder by making them poorer.

[RedSparrows]

Universal Credit: Jobseekers must widen job search more quickly

From Thursday, people will have to look outside their sectors after just four weeks, rather than three months, or face sanctions.

This government had mates who set up companies to provide PPE gear so they could get the billion pound contracts, they gave Covid loans to companies they knew full well were no longer trading because they were mates- all this skulduggery would have made Al Capone blush- yet job seekers are given yet another hoop to jump through just to claim their pittance.

The Tories in a nutshell - you make the rich work harder by making them richer, you make the poor work harder by making them poorer.

Nice summary. Two different species, obvs.

And they have the temerity to bleat 'class war' at the merest hint of progressive taxation. Bastards.

[Andy McDandy]

I think it was Scott Adams (before he went a bit odd) who said that in most companies, below a certain level you're a cost to be eliminated; above it you're an asset that needs to be retained at any cost.

If you're paid £100,000 and can justify and manage the firing of 20 £20,000 employees in a year, you've made the company (or its shareholders) twice what you cost. And if all your shareholders care about is maximising profit, gutting the company and moving on, then bully for you.

[Boiler]

Yes, don’t these redundant office workers realise fruit and veg won’t pick itself

Hey. there'll be over 70,000 NHS staff looking for a job after next week - sorted!!

[Crabcakes]

The Tories in a nutshell - you make the rich work harder by making them richer, you make the poor work harder by making them poorer.

I have a slightly different take: you make the rich shut up and stop bothering you by giving them more disposable income and hence more opportunities for leisure as a distraction, and you make the poor shut up and stop bothering you by making their lack of income and exhaustion from never having the luxury of leisure time as a distraction.

[Youngian]

From Thursday, people will have to look outside their sectors after just four weeks, rather than three months, or face sanctions.

For people that have jobs instead of trades, careers and professions, 'What sort of work are you looking for?' seemed a daft question if you're looking for any old work to pay the bills. So this move won't effect them. It will however waste the time of a plumber or IT specialist and the boss of the local pizza parlour who know's these applicants are going to piss off at the first possible opportunity. Johnson is selling this as a side effect of a succesful growing economy not the result of telling a workforce happy to fill these vacancies to piss off back to their own country. And then forcing people who don't want the jobs to take them.

[Samanfur]

This can only end well:

Professor who suggested non-white Britons not ‘indigenous’ to advise Gove on levelling-up plan

Michael Gove has picked a controversial professor who suggested non-white British-born people are not “indigenous” to advise him on levelling up plans, The Independent can reveal.

The appointment of Paul Collier, who claimed immigration has made “the indigenous British” a “minority” in London – apparently excluding ethnic minorities – has been condemned as “divisive” by anti-racism campaigners.

The development economist at Oxford University also argued, at a seminar, that people born in this country should count as indigenous only if they have integrated into British society.

In one TV interview, he also argued immigrants have led to Britons leaving the capital, asking: “Is London such a great success for the indigenous population?

“Something rather drastic has happened to the indigenous population in London ... I can think of no other major city where the indigenous population has more than halved.”

[Cyclist]

The development economist at Oxford University also argued, at a seminar, that people born in this country should count as indigenous only if they have integrated into British society.

So, all those natives of that large antipodean island who were excluded from 'Australian' society are not indigenous to Australia then. Right. Ok. Or does it mean that white Australians who haven't "gone bush" can't count themselves as Australian?



Worracunt. Should fit in well with the current Tories.

[Tubby Isaacs]

Is he a troll appointment?