Labour Watch

[Max B Gold]

There we go then. The answer is because every last one of us is a hypocrite. The difference with politicians is that they are remorseless liars too.

[faldO]

[Dohnut]

What is so wrong with being a hypocrite?

Nothing wrong with being flexible.

[faldO]

Rachel Reeves has crashed the economy.

https://www.ft.com/content/6b9daf91-196 ... 57229ef688

The yield on the 30-year gilt touched 5.25 per cent on Tuesday, pushing past a previous peak in October 2023 and eclipsing levels reached during the height of the market fallout from Liz Truss’s ill-fated “mini” Budget the previous year.

[Dunners]

I'm not going to defend Reeves. But she never crashed it. It was already f*cked. However, she doesn't seem to have any idea how to rescue it, so I'm not holding out much hope for her. 30-year gilts have never really recovered from the infamous Truss-era mini budget.

Bond buyers are aware that Labour's pre-election plans were formulated during the low interest rate period, and are unconvinced that they have any way out of the current mess. They also know that you cannot run an economy on undocumented migrants renting dodgy Deliveroo licences, or poverty wages supported by Universal Credit to pack stuff in Amazon warehouses. They've also factored in the housing cost to income ratios blighting the younger generations.

All metrics are bad. Adjusted average wages haven't increased since 2008. Productivity and per-capita stats are flat. We're incapable of competent and efficient delivery of public and private infrastructure investment (I can not imagine us managing something as important as the Channel Tunnel anymore). There's hardly any major companies that are UK based/owned anymore.

Even after Boris enabled the importation of over a million immigrants on dodgy work and study visas to suppress the risk of wage inflation, GDP didn't budge. How the hell is that even possible unless the economy is so broken?

So, the price of gilts reflects how the buyers see the UK's economic prospects, even beyond this Parliament. This isn't a Labour v Tory thing anymore. The UK is in more trouble than most people can even begin to imagine.

[Max B Gold]

At some point, we will do better, because we have slipped back. Falling behind gives opportunities to catch up, for sure. But I don’t see a lot of evidence that it will be next year.

[Dunners]

Or we could do an Agentina for the next 100 years.

[Hoover Attack]

If only there was another way

[CEB2ElectricBoogaloo]

There is - have you not seen the Andrew Tate thread?

[Dunners]

Is this how international casual consumers of news content on social media are being presented with the situation in the UK right now?

[Currywurst and Chips]

Wonder what he’s got to hide?

[Long slender neck]

Who is charlie kirk?

[Hoover Attack]

It's amazing that over a decade later, there hasn't been an inquiry into what happened. Labour should be ashamed of themselves.

[oxo]

Who is charlie kirk?

American Evangelical Christian right wing ‘activist’ (grifter)

[Proposition Joe]

Is this how international casual consumers of news content on social media are being presented with the situation in the UK right now?

Are you suggesting Labour should have taken a different stance just to placate the US Turning Point whackos?

[Dunners]

Is this how international casual consumers of news content on social media are being presented with the situation in the UK right now?

Are you suggesting Labour should have taken a different stance just to placate the US Turning Point whackos?

No, that's not the point I'm getting at. The point I'm trying to make is how this whole story is being spun internationally.

[Hoover Attack]

It's actually bonkers.

[Currywurst and Chips]

Mad that it’s taken this long for this scandal to come to people’s attention

[Long slender neck]

I wonder which subject the far right will try and inflame next?

[Proposition Joe]

Is this how international casual consumers of news content on social media are being presented with the situation in the UK right now?

Are you suggesting Labour should have taken a different stance just to placate the US Turning Point whackos?

No, that's not the point I'm getting at. The point I'm trying to make is how this whole story is being spun internationally.

I guess it depends what you mean by "being spun internationally". Are the far right 'citizen journalists' reporting it this way? Obviously yes. Are Der Speigel, CNN and Le Monde doing likewise? I assume probably not.

[Hoover Attack]

How about Fox News and the like?

[Proposition Joe]

No idea

As sad as it all is, still get amused by the fact we have the most right-wing Labour government in history and they're still getting crucified for not being awful enough. Everyone from the centre-Left to the centre-Right has got what they want and yet everyone's still miserable and angry.

[Currywurst and Chips]

They got a third of the votes of people who could be bothered to vote. Not exactly everyone got what they wanted

[Dunners]

Megapost alert!

I've attempted to get my head around all the key elements to this, but genuinely happy to be put right on any points I'm unsure of. I think the gist is as follows:

1 - Pakistani Muslim men did target predominantly vulnerable white girls for sexual exploitation over many years with potentially tens of thousands of victims.

2 - Therefore, it was the perpetrators that added the racial element to what would otherwise have been “just” a sexual abuse scandal, and not the far right (although, they are happy to do so too).

3 - This was ignored and covered up by people in authority, and positions of trust and responsibility, for fear of being labelled as racist and in the interest of "community cohesion".

4 – A Home Office circular from 2008 (so yes, Labour) suggests that Central government were developing some degree of awareness of an issue. But this circular seems to have been interpreted (perhaps incorrectly) by many people in positions of responsibility to suggest they turn a blind eye to things.

5 – The Rochdale rape gang was prosecuted in 2011, and this brought the issue more into the public eye. When head of CPS, Kier Starmer authorised a national response in 2012, which resulted in thousands of prosecutions. So, credit where it is due.

6 - There have been inquiries into abuse in individual local authority boroughs. There has been a generic inquiry into all forms of child abuse (i.e. the Jay Report). There has been no specific national inquiry into the systemic rape of white girls by predominately Muslim men, and its cover up.

7 - This specific national enquiry is what the survivors are calling for.

8 - The Tories refused this national enquiry back in 2022. So, it’s disgusting for them to try and now claim the moral high-ground.

9 - Labour now claim that a full national enquiry would just delay acting on implementing the Jay recommendations.

10 - But none of the Jay recommendations would be influenced in any way by the announcement of a new inquiry. So, f*ck Labour too.
--------------------

The absence of a single source of truth, open to public scrutiny, is fertile breeding ground for the spreading of rumour, theories, claims etc. So, let’s now take a look at some of them:

11 – A claim being put about now is that the scale of the abuse could only have been possible with the complicit support and protection of the perpetrators’ friends, family, and wider community.

12 - There is a claim that some Labour MPs are nervous to wade into this issue because they are reliant on thin majorities of predominantly Pakistani Muslim voters. The implication being that these communities would punish their MP, thus lending weight to the claim made in point 11 above.

13 - There is a claim that the reason the victims of these rape gangs are being denied their full national inquiry is the same reason they were first targeted; They are white, and their attackers were predominately Muslim.

14 - There is a claim that the reason the scandal did not previously receive the same level of publicity, outrage as other examples social justice/miscarriage of justice, is the same reason they were first targeted; They are white, and their attackers were predominately Muslim.

15 – There is a claim that the likes of Elon Musk and the far right couldn’t give a flying f*ck about these victims but are just using this to further their agenda. This is undoubtably true. However, the deafening silence from the progressive left on this issue since 2011 could lend weight to the claim that they don’t give a flying f*ck about them either.

16 – There is a claim that this whole thing is being blown out of proportion, and that what has happened is entirely consistent with the background level of child abuse endemic throughout all sections of our society. This may be true; however, I do note the absence of the usual voices that would be all too quick to put out such helpful information (i.e. BBC Verify is very quite on this issue). But this could be because there’s no evidence to either support or refute this claim (yet).

17 - A full public enquiry, as requested by victims, could explore whether there was any basis to the above claims, identify where failings have occurred, and propose recommendations for justice and improvements. If these claims were proven to be incorrect then, while it may not stop the far right from spreading lies, it would mean everyone else could be informed. It would also close down any information vacuum which, as we know from certain other topics, the far right are skilled at exploiting.

Have I got this right? Is the above an accurate summary of the situation as it is currently known?

[Hoover Attack]

Are the survivors calling/demanding a national inquiry into what happened? I only ever hear/see far right types demanding it.

And they're doing so now, not 6 months + ago, because of Sirkier.