Bring it on Elon!

Some food for thought - but realistically Starmer is making huge efforts to re engage with Europe according to the newspapers. Let’s not forget that Starmer is pm so he is ahead of the game so unsure the USA will dictate our foreign policies, health systems etc. It has felt to me that the USA has a record of dominance in foreign affairs. It has a much greater budget but that’s regardless of Musk buying into Reform.
As my family live in the Uk, I do have a forlorn hope that some good news will eventually filter through!

This is the man who is trying to get the rule which requires companies to report automated vehicle crash data. On Thanksgiving Day 2022 the autopilot of a Tesla crossing the Bay Bridge in San Francisco suddenly failed and it veered across into another lane causing a pileup. Luckily no one was seriously injured.

This from an American motoring organisation.:

"Washington, D.C. – November 1, 2024 – The U.S. government auto safety regulator is investigating Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) over crashes that have occurred in the so-called full self-driving mode (FSD).

The investigation could lead to a recall of roughly 2.4 million electric vehicles and comes on the back of four accidents, including one that resulted in a fatality."

I think Iraq was the point when public anger about the tail wagging the dog became a real issue and many were disgusted we followed the USA blind into a dodgy war.

Since then we have acted within NATO (yes, that does include the war in Afghanistan) and security wise/geographically it makes sense to continue to align ourselves within NATO Especially vis a vis Russia.

Wyllow3

"We are seeing a once in a hundred years seismic shift in our politics."

Towards what? In what ways? with what policies?

There is a definite move towards Popularism in Europe and the USA and I think that young people in this country who were too young to vote re the EU will find these policies of Farage appealing.. I despair frankly for the future.. but this is what inequalities, lack of available housing, very expensive education and an unsustainable high cost of living can lead to..

I think Reform (Tice in particular) want to seriously address the wastage in the UK. I think that Musk will have this in his sights too. Look what he did when he bought Twitter (now X), Cut unless jobs and encouraged free speech. No wonder the Twitterati moved on ..

This illustrates the scale of wastage of taxpayers money:-

In October, Reform MP Rupert Lowe (I really like him) tabled a Parliamentary question to uncover the cost of translation and interpretation to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over the last five years. From £2.7 million in 2019-20, it had jumped up to £6.9 million in 2023-24. 😮

Over the whole five year period, it had cost taxpayers over £27 million in translation and interpretation costs for just one government department. According to Mr Lowe, nearly a million calls to the DWP last year required an interpreter.

The scenario is much the same across the public sector, be it the NHS, the Judiciary, or local authorities.

*useless

Go to any European country and local authorities transact only in their mother tongue. Get a speeding fine in Spain? - Spanish. Want to rent a home in France? - French. Need a hospital appointment in Germany? - German. Stop this nonsense.
We really ARE soft!

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I think Reform (Tice in particular) want to seriously address the wastage in the UK. I think that Musk will have this in his sights too. Look what he did when he bought Twitter (now X), Cut unless jobs and encouraged free speech. No wonder the Twitterati moved on ..

This illustrates the scale of wastage of taxpayers money:-

In October, Reform MP Rupert Lowe (I really like him) tabled a Parliamentary question to uncover the cost of translation and interpretation to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over the last five years. From £2.7 million in 2019-20, it had jumped up to £6.9 million in 2023-24. 😮

Over the whole five year period, it had cost taxpayers over £27 million in translation and interpretation costs for just one government department. According to Mr Lowe, nearly a million calls to the DWP last year required an interpreter.

The scenario is much the same across the public sector, be it the NHS, the Judiciary, or local authorities.

In the UK govt pamphlets aimed at the public are translated into a variety of languages which can be very helpful. Here in France I have to use Deepl sometimes to translate official documents. Furthermore, documents are written in plain English whereas here they are sometimes incomprehensible.

When we lived in Suffolk my DH had a French lady teaching him French. He took a document to her and she didn't understand it. She said that most people have a fonctionnaire in their family and that person is asked to explain.

In the UK govt pamphlets aimed at the public are translated into a variety of languages which can be very helpful

My point exactly illustrated right here. These helpful administrative aids cost a lot of money!

Have you looked at the back of NHS literature - pamphlets, blood test appointments - Urdu anyone? Gujarati perhaps? Polish? As in other countries, let those who need the service find their own interpreters. I’m with Reform on this.

I think it's absolutely essential to have assistance in certain areas. Not speeding fines (slap it on and give a leaflet!) or renting a home, (up to the person to ensure help!)
but for healthcare, courts, and some benefits.

Nope. I disagree Wyllow. Totally. When in Málaga and we went to the local health centre for Himself to be seen we didn’t expect English to be spoken. Even modern smartphones can speak or translate text into different languages and for free! Besides which, we were only on holiday. Those who LIVE in the UK ought not to be provided with this service. Stop it and people will find ways to sort themselves out, trust me.

My family home was in Spain, if we went to the Doctor, Dentist or local hospital we had to speak Spanish. At the bank, Municipalities, Entidades Locales we had to be able to read/speak Spanish.

On holiday in Italy when I was a teenager my mother was taken seriously ill and hospitalised, no translators, it was scary for all of us. Fortunately someone who worked in our hotel translated for us.

If anyone comes to live in the U.K. they should have to pass a language test when their right to remain or citizenship is issued.

P.S. we are repeatedly told that the reason so many seek asylum /refugee status here in the U.K. is because they speak English 🤷‍♀️

I was always under the impression that Brits abroad expected everything to be in English ( and it usually is).

DH tells me ( apologies but don’t know where he read or heard it) that Musk wants to manipulate the market in the UK in favour of his vehicles.

I suggest review of services not cutting all. Some areas cant be covered by a family member or friend.

MayBee70

I was always under the impression that Brits abroad expected everything to be in English ( and it usually is).

Well, there is that too, we are spoilt in that English is the most spoken second language especially in holiday locations.

MayBee70

I was always under the impression that Brits abroad expected everything to be in English ( and it usually is).

Oh well, having lived and worked abroad as did my parents, my sister was educated (both primary and secondary) abroad our experience was that if you wanted to assimilate and be excepted you spoke the language of the people you worked and lived with.

The every Brit abroad expects English to be spoken along with an all day breakfast is extremely stereotypical.

In October, Reform MP Rupert Lowe (I really like him) tabled a Parliamentary question to uncover the cost of translation and interpretation to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) over the last five years. From £2.7 million in 2019-20, it had jumped up to £6.9 million in 2023-24.

So Rupert Lowe MP has no idea how money flows in an economy?

That £6.9million in 23/24 directly paid for lots of peoples salaries. It also paid for paper, printing and distribution costs. All the latter done by private companies (because the State has no production facilities). Indirectly it paid the wages of the people who worked for the private companies and it boosted local economies as the government an private company employees spent their wages on food, hospitality, clothes etc. etc. some of it probably went on rental or mortgage costs. Ultimately a considerable amount of it came back to the state's coffers through taxation of one kind or another.

Now tell me what will happen to all those wage earning jobs and all those businesses if the state cut out its translation services?

If you can't hablar or parler you pay for your own interpreter.
Simple.

Plus of course we are fortunate any of us going abroad as English is spoken in most countries as a second language - as Wyllow mentions.

I vaguely remember from my history lessons something called the Wiemar Republic.

Now tell me what will happen to all those wage earning jobs and all those businesses if the state cut out its translation services?

Technology probably MaizieD will negate these jobs anyway. Heard of Google Translate? Costs nothing … on a smartphone near you.

I think everyone might be quite surprised quite how well Reform do at the next election… 3 more years of stagflation, flat lining growth and unnecessarily high interest rates coupled with a limp foreign policy and crass ineptitude that make the last Tory administration look vaguely professional and Nigel is sure to be on to a winner….

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I think everyone might be quite surprised quite how well Reform do at the next election… 3 more years of stagflation, flat lining growth and unnecessarily high interest rates coupled with a limp foreign policy and crass ineptitude that make the last Tory administration look vaguely professional and Nigel is sure to be on to a winner….

Reform were second in over 80 seats in the last GE according to breakfast news this morning.

I agree that the next GE will be interesting…

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Sir John Curtice is about to be proved right. We are seeing a once in a hundred years seismic shift in our politics.

Me? I would rather have donations from someone in another country who loves Britain, than from someone in Britain whose loyalties lie elsewhere.

Out of interest; did you vote for Brexit, ie to remove foreign interference in UK politics. ?

Thank goodness we have at least one U.K. politician with enough between his ears to keep talking to the future leaders of America!

I suspect Musk’s donation of finance to the Reform cause will be of greater value than Starmer’s donation of 100 people to the Democrat cause.

But then no one ever accused Starmer of being overly savvy.
All in all, closer ties with the Free World is good. The days of woke socialism are ending.