And so it begins, Reform’s Britain

Why in Durham particularly Galaxy, is it different to the other authorities that now have Reform councils?
I’d imagine the officers are going to struggle to fulfil 3000 FOI requests, it seems an odd thing for a party which wants to reduce bureaucracy to submit that number. They must realise the impact?

Yes that isn't a stupid thing to do. That will be fascinating in Durham.

The party has submitted 3,000 freedom of information requests to councils ...

www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-reform-uk-local-elections-populism/

Here's another one:

www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/dei_costs_20/response/2956339/attach/3/25144%20FOI%20Initial%20Request%20Response.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/directory-record/80908/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei-officers-employed

Request

1: A list of all Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) officers employed by the council.

Decision

1-2. Lincolnshire County Council does not employ any Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) officers.

westendgirl

I have just read that Andrea Jenkins intends to tie up Labour in legal challenges, hopefully until the next general election.
(Independent)
Is this a good way to spend the money ?

Sounds fairly typical. Hopefully, her challenges get caught in the courts' huge backlogs and don't get heard.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

Ilovecheese

Just seen than Lincolnshire County Council doesn't actually have any diversity officers.

They do.
They’ve just got different titles. ‘Coaches’ is one.
There are others.

And how much do they spend on them? The estimates I've seen conclude that nationally about 1% of council budgets is spent on diversity - and that includes initiatives such as autism hubs, encouraging more females to study engineering and science and helping disabled people find work. Maybe you don't agree with those.

I have just read that Andrea Jenkins intends to tie up Labour in legal challenges, hopefully until the next general election.
(Independent)
Is this a good way to spend the money ?

Maizie I think part of the problem is that there has been so much emphasis on identity politics. The Conservatives and Reform don't care about improving public services or supporting the poor, so they've appealed to social conservatives (with a small 'c'), of whom there are many.

Ilovecheese

Just seen than Lincolnshire County Council doesn't actually have any diversity officers.

They do.
They’ve just got different titles. ‘Coaches’ is one.
There are others.

Allira

MaizieD

I do know that, just didn't mention it. I realised I should have done, but I'd already pressed 'send'...

The point of my post was that there is no such thing as 'road tax'.

I think people still think of it as road tax even though it's vehicle licensing.

Yes. The patronising tone regarding semantics is really off putting, is it even necessary? Vehicle tax must be a huge revenue for the government.

David says:

Politics is changing, there seems to be much less socialist sentiment,

I would disagree.

It may not be expressed as a desire for 'socialism', but in general people want a government to look after them by making their lives better. They want decent wages, good access to services, particularly the NHS. they don't want swingeing increases to charges for utilities such as energy and water when they can see the privatised companies prioritising dividends over investment in improving infrastructure and preventing the discharge of sewage into out waterways and onto our beaches. They don't want to see punitive changes to disability benefits and attempts to force welfare recipients into work when there are few job opportunities available in their areas. I don't think they want to see their children and grandchildren struggling to buy their own homes, especially when new developments of unaffordable houses are springing up around them.

Above all, they want to know why the 'burden' of increased taxation always seems to fall on them while the wealthy and super wealthy get off very lightly.

If these 'wants' (and this isn't an exhaustive list) can't be viewed as tending to 'socialist' then I don't know what they are.

The problem that I see is that the term 'socialist' is fatally tainted by association with communism and and is feared as much by the people who desperately need to be treated with as much care and consideration by governments as are the more successful high achievers and the wealthy. Yet these wants and needs are not unreasonable, are they?

Populists do recognise this and get a great deal of mileage out of railing against 'elites' and offering to improve the lives of the sections of the population who feel ignored and uncared for. This is how revolutions are nurtured...

I found this BBC news report, in which Labour MPs reported what their constituents are saying to them, very illuminating. The Labour leadership has to wake up and listen to the 'ordinary ' people who voted for them and start questioning whether more of the same that has been on offer for the past 14 years, austerity, penny pinching and courting the wealthy , is really the way to go.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8jdr900r7o

Sorry that wasn't in response to you Wylllow, posted as I posted!

Ilovecheese

Just seen than Lincolnshire County Council doesn't actually have any diversity officers.

And yet Andrea Jenkyns is planning to get rid of them. She is also saying she wants like to cut 10% of council staff.

It would appear that Reform has been flooding councils with FOI requests for staff numbers and breakdown of roles.

The majority of people employed by Lincolnshire Council are employed in adult social care, children's services and the fire service.

Is this really what the people of Lincolshire voted for?

Galaxy social media is media?

No that's not what is happening, people, the 'ordinary' people, now have a place where they can express their views relatively freely - social media. I actually think it has been one of the best things to happen in terms of hearing a range of views. Yes of course people can fall into echo chambers but it allows people to be heard in a different way. Twitter for example tends to be discussing issues way before the guardian or the mail get to them.

People can still see MSM online which is very valuable, it's a real shame that so many paywalls have gone up.

People just pick up the headlines and so much temptation to just quote from them as its made those MSM them more "Red Top"

But there is ITVX online, Channel 4 news online, Sky, Yahoo, I player, Guardian, etc.

Sky and Yahoo pick up news from Telegraph and Times a day after. It's there to find.

A concerning trend is when people get other news from chat LBC or similar as they are not news programmes but opinion programmes.

David49

Galaxy

No one pays any attention to the media anymore, that ship sailed a long time ago.

I certainly don’t, are you saying nobody takes any notice if newspapers these days, I thought people bought newspapers to read them!.

It was not worded well, because the number of views on mainstream and social media sites show that they do. People don’t get their views from nowhere, what has changed is that there are many more options to seek sites that reinforce whatever your views are.

People particularly the younger generation don't buy newspapers anymore in the way they used to, it is why some are struggling. Social media holds the power now.

Just seen than Lincolnshire County Council doesn't actually have any diversity officers.

Galaxy

No one pays any attention to the media anymore, that ship sailed a long time ago.

I certainly don’t, are you saying nobody takes any notice if newspapers these days, I thought people bought newspapers to read them!.

eazybee

I saw that, FGT and I was surprised.
I do not believe Farage can lead a Party successfully as he has never managed to work satisfactorily with anyone else. He follows Trump in peremptorily sacking anyone who disagrees with him.

At the moment he is spot on with issues concerning a large part of the population, and the social media tactics he uses endorse this. I wonder at the quality of the new councillors elected, who if previous campaigning form has been followed, make rare appearances in public and generally withdraw from the hustings.
We shall see.
Someone said, he has the nose for a good story and leads the news not follows it. He is a classic demagogue. Not necessarily good qualities for a politician. He is an innovator, but has never had the opportunity to implement any of his policy suggestions, and if they were that easy to do other parties in power would have done so.

Is he an “innovator” or is he basing much of his “wants” on Trump and simply telling his supporters what they want to hear?

I haven’t actually seen or heard one sensibly costed “policy” as yet from Reform, and as for the below:-

“ Having just won a few seats of local power Farage is already on high horse declaring (the Times) that Reform have declared they will begin a campaign to “re-moralise” young people: clamp down on “woke” in universities, have a “patriotic” curriculum, and erect statures of the Great British figures around the country as well as ending working from home and cutting all diversity initiatives.

Grandstanding when the real concerns are how councils can best deliver services in difficult times without cutting its vital social care and other functions.”

What this says to me is a backward and retrograde step, and there’s no explanation of what is actually means!

I saw that, FGT and I was surprised.
I do not believe Farage can lead a Party successfully as he has never managed to work satisfactorily with anyone else. He follows Trump in peremptorily sacking anyone who disagrees with him.

At the moment he is spot on with issues concerning a large part of the population, and the social media tactics he uses endorse this. I wonder at the quality of the new councillors elected, who if previous campaigning form has been followed, make rare appearances in public and generally withdraw from the hustings.
We shall see.
Someone said, he has the nose for a good story and leads the news not follows it. He is a classic demagogue. Not necessarily good qualities for a politician. He is an innovator, but has never had the opportunity to implement any of his policy suggestions, and if they were that easy to do other parties in power would have done so.

Sorry, no edit button!

vintage1950

I worked from home for many years, as a freelance, sometimes till the early hours, at weekends and on Bank Holidays. It was a routine which fitted in well with looking after my children. So I had no childcare or travel or workwear expenses and didn't waste valuable time commuting. The clients didn't mind my working from home as long as I could be contacted within office hours, did the job properly and on time. What's wrong with that?

Obviously there is no problem with that. However, you were self-employed and the Right does not want to give employees freedoms. The right will try to convince workers (employees) the a) America is the land if the free and b) we should have those freedoms.

However, we gave our own freedoms and that would mean giving them up. America has freedoms "to" while Europe and the UK have freedoms "from". This is obviously a generalisation but freedoms "to" are only if you can afford them and entail limiting freedoms "from". Freedoms "from" can limit the opportunities of those who can afford to exercise their freedom to increase their wealth at the cost of those who can't.

Freedoms "to" are often characterised by an emphasis on individual acts without government interference, and freedoms "from" negative conditions, come through government action.

The balance between them is a key aspect of politics, with one extreme emphasising almost exclusively freedoms "to", the other extreme emphasising freedoms "from" and a large (but ever-changing) group wanting a blend of both those the country does embrace and a blend of those it doesn't.