General Election to be called today?

growstuff I think you are more rural than here.

The Independent’s are the majority on our local council, and are doing an excellent job. Our MP is Conservative, and has been very helpful within the local community.

The County Council as you say is true blue two of DH’s are serving councillors, so I shall decline to comment…

We have several Dental Practices who are still taking NHS patients, as they also do a lot of aesthetics I can only assume that this subsidises the NHS appointments.

I and the AC, GC who live local are all with the same GP Practice which is the biggest in the area. It is possible to get n appointment on the day, if it is a telephone one if necessary this will lead to a face-to-face one. Both DH and myself have been on the two week pathway in the last six months, seen within one week, biopsies, medical photography, fortunately all clear.

Talking to friends who are with smaller local practices, they struggle to even get a telephone appointment.

Going by GN and friends and family scattered across the U.K. it does appear that depending on where you live things vary enormously.

LizzieDrip I agree, all areas should have good local facilities.

Local and County Councils should look at ways to attract businesses and independent retailers to their High Streets.

Few retailers will be interested in areas where there are low wages and high unemployment, and I really don’t know what you can do about unskilled and poorly educated people who are out of work.

Doodledog

We sound like neighbours, growstuff.

The (Tory) council keeps signing off housebuilding on every blade of grass, without building schools, GP surgeries or making any other improvements to the infrastructure.

People are paying £££ for houses on new estates which are marketed as being in the catchment area for an excellent school, but then finding that their children have to be bussed out to neighbouring towns with less good schools, and long-term residents are finding that despite generations of their families going to the town schools there is no room for them either. The estates are on the outskirts of town so everyone has to drive into the town centre, increasing pollution and causing constant moaning about the lack of parking, the solution to which being concreting over even more greenery for their 4x4s.

People have to live somewhere, but we need to deal with the infrastructure before building more and more houses. It's so blindingly obvious that it feels like wilful stupidity not to do so.

I too live in Essex, though in a unitary so don’t even benefit from the sparse services of ECC. We have seen a decline in services, increases in crime, increased use of food banks, increased homeless, dirty streets, issues with drains each time we have a downpour, all our children’s centres were with closed with the exceptions of those “sold” into the private sector, we have at least three private “children’s homes”, a high street with no virtually no shops, youth services and clubs non existent, people placed in temporary accommodation in condemned tower blocks. I could go on but frankly it’s too depressing.

We’ve had mixes of councils across the years across the political parties but Tory MPs for as long as I’ve been born.

We have an inspiring, hard working, young Labour candidate this year…. 🙏🙏🤞🤞

Germanshepherdsmum

Few retailers will be interested in areas where there are low wages and high unemployment, and I really don’t know what you can do about unskilled and poorly educated people who are out of work.

It’s pretty easy really, you retrain and educate them. Interesting we list a lot of our training courses for the unemployed when we left the EU as most of them were funded by our EU grants and of course, unlike promised, the govt did not replace these funds.

Btw not everyone out of work is unskilled and poorly educated! It’s incredibly hard to break into the labour market after a long period of unemployment whatever your situation.

LizzieDrip

^Not every area is on its knees^

That is exactly the point GG! It’s the inequality - all areas should have such services, not just ‘some’. I live in a mid-sized northern town, once thriving, that has been well and truly left behind. High street is full of empty derelict shops; what used to be a ‘youth hub’ near me is closed; a well woman clinic - closed; local bus services cancelled leaving many elderly isolated; library was going to close but the community fought to save it - feels like all we’ve got left. I don’t begrudge you your fantastic local facilities - but every town / village should have them; it shouldn’t be a postcode lottery!

👏👏👏👏👏👏

Not all unskilled, poorly educated and unemployed people are capable of being retrained or educated Cossy. Many become dependent on alcohol and/or drugs and have become used to life on benefits.

Of course not everyone out of work is unskilled or ill educated, but those who are skilled and reasonably well educated are far more likely to get themselves back into work.

Going by GN and friends and family scattered across the U.K. it does appear that depending on where you live things vary enormously.
Well yes .

This is the problem, and the Tories recognised that by using the notion that they would 'level up' to win over so-called Red Wall voters at the last election. That they didn't do anything of the sort is no surprise to me, as levelling up involves creating a fair society which does not mean that things vary enormously, and this would remove the inbuilt advantages for the better off that is central to Tory policy and philosophy.

Free markets and lack of state regulation necessarily involve exploitation and reserve 'armies of labour' who are desperate to work even for low wages. Low taxation and low provision of services inevitably means that many people will work hard but not be able to afford necessities, which leads to crime and reliance on benefits. Top-up benefits subsidise low-paying employers and remove the incentive to work longer hours, and this is compounded by very high childcare charges. Means-testing (badged as 'targeting') means that people on low or average earnings can never 'better' themselves, as as soon as they save or earn more they are deemed 'able to afford' things that others get free, so a whole section of society is unable to get above a subsistence level.

Some of these things happen regardless of geographical area, but a lot of those who suffer from them will be concentrated in 'left behind' areas, which then have less money circulating in local economies, leading to fewer employment opportunities and so on.

A fairer society will mean that those who have the advantage of an above average salary will lose some of their spending power in order that someone on a below average one can buy the basics. It will mean that more money will go to struggling areas, so inevitably less will go to the better off. The question is whether enough people can see the sense and fairness in this to carry the vote.

Ah! But I thought the Conservatives were going to "level up". What happened?

What happened indeed? A big fat nothing!

Get Brexit Done (yep, we got done by Brexit!)
Stop the boats
Levelling up

Nice catchy bylines with no substance and no positive outcomes.

Germanshepherdsmum

I never cease to be surprised by the holidays ‘ordinary’ people take. The cost of those holidays over a year would equate to the fees for a minor independent school. However, many ‘ordinary’ people go without nice holidays, and make other sacrifices, in order to afford school fees.

How on earth do you know what people spend on holidays? How do you know if they have chosen to go on holiday instead of sending their child to a "minor public school"?. Perhaps they can afford both.

GSM ^don’t know what you can do about unskilled and poorly educated people who are out of work." You can educate them and give them skills, but first you have to convince them that acquiring a skill - of any kind, however minimal it may seem to those with degrees and diplomas - will help get them employment. If there are still no jobs after they have improved themselves, they will be disillusioned and truculent. Wouldn't you?

In a country with universal education there should be no-one without enough education to get and carry out a job. For some it will be too late if they misssed out at school (whether the fault was the school or their own lack of motivation) but if you are making it compulsory to attend school then you ought also to make the schooling an effective one. That means funding schools and fostering the unthusiasm of the teachers trying to acieve that end.

For the ones who for whatever reason failed to benefit from their years in the schoolroom, there need to be opportunities later to catch up, or to study further and get qualifications and skills that fit their interests and the needs of local employers. Again, that takes money and enthusiasm.

Whoever "wins" this election, they won't win the ensuing struggle to remake the country in five years.

On a completely different note, Nigel Farage has announced that he won't be standing for election at the GE.

No doubt he will be campaigning hard for Reform, though...

Cossy many years ago there was an exclusive road which I think is near you, it had high end clothes shops, an independent department store, good restaurants, wine bars and decent pubs.

I drove along it a couple of weeks ago and it is unrecognisable, all the above have gone.

As for the main High St., I hadn’t been for over ten years until January this year, I will not return.

Few retailers will be interested in areas where there are low wages and high unemployment

Neoliberalism at its best Areas where there’s no money will be thrown on the scrap heap. What a disgusting principle!

No bloody levelling up here - unlike Sunak’s wealthy constituency which received £19million. I suppose we don’t deserve it because of our low wages and high unemployment. Inequality sickens me. I don’t expect my town to turn into Kensington overnight - I just want those of us who live here not to be treated like second class citizens.

LizzieDrip 👏👏👏

"unthusiasm" should have read "enthusiasm" - though I am sure that most teachers find that they become more full of unthusiasm.

Seconded

I am totally confused as to who I will vote for.

Our constituency MP is good on local issues, our local facilities are good, stick with the familiar?

Do I vote for an unknown Labour candidate in order to oust the Conservatives from Westminster and in doing so maybe jeopardise the local MP/constituent relationships and support?

Chance my arm with a local independent Candidate?

I honestly have no idea…

Whoever "wins" this election, they won't win the ensuing struggle to remake the country in five years.

In the unlikely event of the tories winning their 'struggle to remake the country' will focus on low pay, low taxes, low state spending and massive deregulation. They have already introduced 'freeports' (or 'SEZs') in which no UK legislation applies and in which businesses are not subject to taxation.

Not a very cheering prospect for the country...

GrannyGravy13

Cossy many years ago there was an exclusive road which I think is near you, it had high end clothes shops, an independent department store, good restaurants, wine bars and decent pubs.

I drove along it a couple of weeks ago and it is unrecognisable, all the above have gone.

As for the main High St., I hadn’t been for over ten years until January this year, I will not return.

Yes, I live very close to that street. It’s so sad, I’ve lived here for over 30 years and there were delightful and lovely independent shops in that street and at the very end “wonderful Woolworths”

Now it’s a mix of supermarkets, four at least, charity shops, some nice and some not so nice cafes and a few hairdressers.

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

My really True Blue area would usually vote for a donkey if it wore a blue rosette.

But, to be fair, the (old style) Tory MP was a nice man, who genuinely did a lot for his constituents.

So, normally, I would have been a bit hesitant with who to vote for. I’ve never voted Tory, but I did pause for thought.

But, he’s announced he’s standing down, so that problem is solved.

Labour will never get in here. So, to keep the Tories out, I will probably have to vote LD, who I don’t support, on a tactical level.

I think it is time for a change now. The government seems stale, complacent and out of any ideas.

It happens after one party has been in power for ages, but I’m not assuming Labour will suddenly make life any better.

It probably won’t.🤷‍♀️

Germanshepherdsmum

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

We have a similar coastal town here in Essex Jaywick.

GrannyGravy13

Germanshepherdsmum

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

We have a similar coastal town here in Essex Jaywick.

Jaywick has been the same for many years - through Labour and the Tories.😗

Germanshepherdsmum

There are two towns some way along the coast from me in Norfolk and Suffolk where groups of unemployed people sit around drinking and there is a lot of crime. Now how are you going to get people like that into work?

That’s sad, both for them and for the local community.

There used to be so much training and so many schemes for the unemployed, all gone now. In those days, with properly trained, people focused work coaches it would be possible to persuade most people to attend and assist back to the world of work.

Many of these schemes and funding have gone.

The only “incentive” available now is to push people back to work by threatening to withhold their benefits.

Unemployed people are out of work for so many reasons, in the main the “carrot” humane approach works far better the stick approach, which should be reserved for those mentally and physically fit people who “refuse” any help to get back into work. Having worked in this area between 2009 and 2022, I can categorically tell you quite often a life on benefits is not their first choice, a life on benefits is not easy whatever your own perception might be.

We all need to understand the “bigger picture”. What leads people to this place, their backgrounds, their education, their health, there’s no one fit for all.