Jeremy Corbyn

Anyone would think that Corbyn was running this government and was responsible for the absolute mess the country is in now - not just the Brexit shambles but also the systematic running down of every public service.

There are plenty of one-liners on Gransnet which are nothing more than shrill opinions on Corbyn's character, motivation and abilities. There appears to be very little examination of what has happened to this country over the last 9+ years, who is responsible for it and an analysis of their performance and abilities.

Cameron and Osborne, true to Conservative objectives, committed the government to reducing the role of the state to 36% or less of GDP, in perpetuity, and espousing a policy of outsourcing services to private providers. In 2017 it was 38% of GDP; in Germany it was 44% of GDP and in Denmark it was 50% of GDP.

The results of these cuts deserve to be recognised:

Probation Service

the Financial Times recently headlined "Management of ex-offenders was so poor that public safety "put at risk" " ........ "Working Links, a key private provider [to the probation service] , collapsed in February. Inspectors had warned that "professional ethics had been compromised and immutable lines crossed" because of cost issues."

The BBC recently reported "Numbers returning to prison "rocket" ".

There have been numerous reports over the years citing the exodus of experienced staff, resulting in record numbers of assaults, suicides and self harm incidents. Now that the situation is really chaotic, in panic mode, the government recently allocated money for recruitment and training. There is really no point decimating a service and then throwing money at it once it is severely damaged. Because of right wing dogma (and some might say vested interests intent on pushing the privatisation of public services), the warnings were ignored and the prison service allowed to descend into chaos.

NHS
I think the disastrous effects of a significant reduction in funding, a plethora of private providers cherry picking the most profitable areas of the NHS and the knock-on effect of reductions in social care spending are already well known. The I this week also headlined "160,000 nurses leave NHS since 2010". There is a crisis in the recruitment of all areas of medical, nursing and support staff, which has not been addressed.

Public Health

Environmental Health officers have, on average, been cut by 25%. For example, in Huntingdonshire there has been a 33% cut, despite the number of food outlets to be inspected and monitored rising significantly. This obviously has implications for public health and for the NHS.

There have been reductions in local services including out-of-hours noise abatement services, park maintenance and park keepers, station masters, guards, post office counters, district nurses, health visitors, police officers and Community Support Officers, services for the elderly and disabled, to name but a few.

Legal Aid has been slashed to such a point that members of the public unable to obtain legal representation are trying to conduct cases themselves and, as a result, there are increasing numbers of adjournments blocking up the Court system.

Education

The surging "marketisation" of all areas of education has led to vast amounts of money being wasted on "free" schools and academies, with insufficient monitoring of expenditure on salaries and unnecessary peripheral spending - resulting in spiralling costs and the reduction of spending on vital maintenance and teaching materials (as evidenced in two Panorama programmes broadcast in 2018 and last week).

And the list goes on. Yet May, who was an inept Home Secretary and has continued as an inept Prime Minister, is heaped with praise for her stoicism and hard work.

I don’t hate him, I believe him to be a hypocrite and have not a scrap of trust in him .

I really hate (yes very strong emotion I know) but I really do hat Jellybean Cornerbin and everything he stands for!

And those who think we can go back to the 19th century have their heads buried in the sand

Nothing to do with bringing back "Marxism" Annie but of looking at the economy and realising it is broken and working to establish a mixed economy with protection for the environment. It's the only sensible way forward. Those who think things can go on as they are just have their head buried in the sand.

Trying to bring back the Marxist dream/nightmare is pathetic , denying The Labour Party is not run by Marxists is pathetic

So the manifesto stands for nothing? Really this fear of Reds under the beds is pathetic. There is evidence now that a solely capitalist economy can neither proceed and progress the way it has in the past, nor provide the necessary setting in which environmental protection can be ensured. Generations are now projected to be poorer than previous ones and we need to realise this and adjust accordingly. To be stuck in the past imagining that more and more can be sold with no thought for the consequences is just foolish.

Supporting Corbyn is supporting his Marxist views, else why support a man one doesn’t agree with

Why indeed?
Those who do not are threatened with de-selection.

trisher

" POGS you continue to describe the Labour Party as far left based solely on the factthat some people within it have expressed Marxist views. "
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You mean people such as Corbyn / Mc Donnell and those who surround Corbyn and hold all the key positions within the Jeremy for Leader /Momentum Labour Party .

As you say " some people within it have expressed Marxist views. " so why should I think any other.

Grandad

" The above polices are not in any way Marxist or Trotskyist as you state POGs, as they contain only two industries marked for re-nationalisation, that being the rail industry and water supply. That policy when placed in opinion poll canvasing seems to hold broad support with the electorate. "
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Only Water and Railways !

That ranks up there with 'Nationalisation will cost nothing '!

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/10/john-mcdonnell-says-moving-services-to-public-hands-would-cost-nothing

" The shadow chancellor told Labour’s alternative models of ownership conference: “The next Labour government will put democratically owned and managed public services irreversibly in the hands of workers, and of those who rely on their work.

“We will do this not only because it’s right, not only because it’s the most efficient way of running them, but also because the most important protection of our public services for the long term is for everyone to have and feel ownership of them.

“We aren’t going to take back control of these industries in order to put them into the hands of a remote bureaucracy, but to put them into the hands of all of you – so that they can never again be taken away.”

The CBI’s managing director for people and infrastructure, Neil Carberry, said Labour’s calls for nationalisation would wind the clock back on the UK’s economy.

“If Labour turns its back on good collaboration between the government and the private sector, public services, infrastructure and taxpayers will ultimately pay the price,” he said.
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news.sky.com/story/john-mcdonnell-says-labours-renationalisation-plans-not-a-return-to-past-11507472

" The shadow chancellor told Labour's annual gathering in Liverpool that the policy would "put this essential service back in the hands of local councils, workers and customers".

Mr McDonnell said the party's plans for sweeping nationalisation of industries like water, energy and rail would not be "a return to the past" but the catalyst for genuine change."

"Mr McDonnell said a Public and Community Ownership Unit in the Treasury would take charge of the return of water, energy, rail and the Royal Mail to public ownership."
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That would be the starting gun!

So remain Labout Party members have been going on about trusting JC, that he was plaing the long game, that he would stand and adhere to Conference decision to go for confirmatory vote if they could not get a GE in time...

and now, days before we are supposed to leave, he sends his minnion Barry Garnder to announce Labour is not a Remain party he shouts at Mrs May in the QT - and yet is still not making clear what he believes in, apart from fairies at the bottom of the garden, some sort of soft Brexit- with all the rights and none of the responsibilities - like some sort of Easter rabbit he could jollyingly pull out of a hat - I am beyond angry with him. Hope Starmer and others have the guts to walk the floor - NOW.

that was not the bit I meant to copy and paste - it must have jumped, sorry!

But this time it was a big one: an end to the cap on council borrowing for housebuilding
Thanks for some answers, Eloethan

Perhaps no-one will speak to him Anniebach ……

Oh dear, that was punny

Let’s hope when Corbyn is in Coventry no one gives him a horse

Eloethan, undoubtedly the housing crisis will be very high on the discussion agenda when it comes to the next general election even if Brexit remains unsettled.

The private renting sector and the conditions for the hundreds of thousands of tenants often trapped within it is a national scandal and those responsible for allowing it to continue should be put out of office as soon as possible.

Sorry to go on, but I am in fact bloody furious that he's treated the public with such disdain acting like a fool. Whilst thousands made their way to London to express their feelings on such a significant issue, he was heading out in the opposite direction. Beggars belief. OK, I'll shut up now.

What was he doing in Morecombe for goodness sake?
He was saying all the right words but not necessarily in the right order - or the right place Ginny42

What is it with leaders and dancing?

The question was asked "Why don't councils building more council housing than investing in commercial property?"

On the Shelter website in October 2018 was a blog relating to this issue. Extracts from it:

........"On Wednesday, Theresa May used her conference speech to make a housing policy announcement. But this time it was a big one: an end to the cap on council borrowing for housebuilding. This is currently the single biggest barrier to councils that build homes delivering more of them. By removing the cap, the government is letting councils back onto the playing field.

........." this could be big...... the country has never got close to building the 300,000 homes a year her government targets without local authorities as major players.........

"..... the other big barrier to building is access to land. If councils have to bid for land against private developers under our broken land laws, the higher prices they’ll pay will force them to build less affordable or worse quality homes to recoup their money. This would be a tragic missed opportunity, with borrowing for social homes diverted into an already bloated land market. The government must reform the Land Compensation Act 1961 to guarantee a supply of affordable land for affordable homes......

"It’s difficult or impossible for councils to make the finances of building social rent homes stack up under Right to Buy, as they might need to sell the homes at a large discount and hand over some or all of the remaining sales receipts to the Treasury in fairly short order. It’s like running a bath with the plug out."

Many of the properties that were bought under the right to buy scheme are now back with private landlords - so much for the "property owning democracy" that Thatcher talked about.

I don't think many people expect landlords to act as a charity. Of course, if you are buying/paying a mortgage for a house that you intend to rent out, you would need to get some return, as you would if you invested in any other market. However, renting out dilapidated and dangerous properties at exorbitant rates illustrates quite well the "unacceptable face of capitalism" that Heath talked about. There are always greedy and unscrupulous people who don't care if they damage the lives of other people so there must be firm policies and regulations to try and prevent this from happening.

It is not decent landlords I'm talking about but the increasing number of landlords who know they can rent out sub-standard properties at high rents, with very little chance of intervention from the authorities - they do not have enough resources to carry out regular inspections.

It's difficult to erase that image of him prancing on the prom whilst events in London were taking place. What next? Strictly?

Meanwhile Tom Watson was addressing the crowds in London. Who is the leader again? What was he doing in Morecombe for goodness sake? He'd had ample warning about the march, so that was clearly planned to get him out of London.

Is Watson the caretaker leader or perhaps Corbyn's carer

The Tories are looking for a caretaker leader. What a sorry mess we're in.

Oh dear, and this is the man who thinks he could negotiate an excellent deal with the EU in a few days and please everyone

do I shake my head in despair or just ?

What was he playing at? <sigh>