The 1 in 10

[SueEllen]

Or how to buy a peerage

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...00000-to-party

One in 10 Conservative peers are big donors to the party, giving almost £50m in total, new analysis shows, amid controversy over more financial backers believed to have been put forward on Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
After speculation about more donors due to get peerages within the coming weeks, figures compiled by the Guardian show 27 out of the party’s 274 peers have given more than £100,000 to the Conservatives.

The rate of donors being given peerages appears to have picked up over the last six years, during the tenures of Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

[xoggoth]

But how many millions would get extra state benefits by voting for Labour?

More seriously, the Lords needs to go or be replaced by an elected house.

[malvolio]

Two thoughts occur. Aren't the people who can afford to donate such sums the same people that generate the country's wealth? Ànd how much are the unions paying their political wing out of the money they get from the workforce?

It's reality at work. Live with it.

[mattster]

Two thoughts occur. Aren't the people who can afford to donate such sums the same people that generate the country's wealth? Ànd how much are the unions paying their political wing out of the money they get from the workforce?

It's reality at work. Live with it.

You think Michelle Mone "generates wealth"? These people are parasites; wealth takers, not weath creators. The idea that the rich are the ones doing all the work and we should be grateful for the opportunity to catch a few of their crumbs doesn't stand up to a lot of scrutiny IMO.

[SueEllen]

Two thoughts occur. Aren't the people who can afford to donate such sums the same people that generate the country's wealth? Ànd how much are the unions paying their political wing out of the money they get from the workforce?

It's reality at work. Live with it.

Not all unions are affiliated to, so pay, political parties. The BMA, Royal College of Nursing and NUJ aren't for starters.

While this Tory government tries to make out the RMT are affiliated to Labour they aren't affiliated to any parties either.

[malvolio]

OK, so none of the unions are trying to support Labour by direct donations., the RMT are fighting a battle for wages in the best interests of their already exceptionally well-paid members and independently wealthy individuals aren't trying to buy influence with the Tories, the Labour party has no interest in supporting the working man and the Tories are traditionally a high taxation, large state party.

We'll stick with your reality. It's probably preferable to the other options...

However Sunak and Hunt are proving themselves to be fools (even the Wail thinks they don't know what they're doing) and, what is worse, incapable of having any ideas about how to tackle the various crises we face. All very well impoverishing the working man but how about cutting back on the billions being wasted across all the civil service departments: there' s more than enough wastage there to allow them to backtrack on the recent taxation rises for one thing.

We will probably have a Labour government - possibly with a small majority, but a majority none-the-less. The only good thing about that thought is that they won't be able to do any more damage to our economy than the Tories are doing for them. But don't expect Starmer to stand up to the unions either.

I'm really rather glad I'm well out of it all.

[mattster]

Do you really think the unions are the cause of the problems we are seeing now? Union action now is very obviously a symptom, the cause being 12 years of the worst governance in my lifetime. Labour won't be able to fix it overnight, of course, but we do need to get the Tories out of power as soon as possible as a matter of some urgency.

[TheDude]

OK, so none of the unions are trying to support Labour by direct donations., the RMT are fighting a battle for wages in the best interests of their already exceptionally well-paid members and independently wealthy individuals aren't trying to buy influence with the Tories, the Labour party has no interest in supporting the working man and the Tories are traditionally a high taxation, large state party.

We'll stick with your reality. It's probably preferable to the other options...

However Sunak and Hunt are proving themselves to be fools (even the Wail thinks they don't know what they're doing) and, what is worse, incapable of having any ideas about how to tackle the various crises we face. All very well impoverishing the working man but how about cutting back on the billions being wasted across all the civil service departments: there' s more than enough wastage there to allow them to backtrack on the recent taxation rises for one thing.

We will probably have a Labour government - possibly with a small majority, but a majority none-the-less. The only good thing about that thought is that they won't be able to do any more damage to our economy than the Tories are doing for them. But don't expect Starmer to stand up to the unions either.

I'm really rather glad I'm well out of it all.

Many railway workers are responsible for hundreds of lives. Why shouldn't they be well paid.

The righ wing press alway wheels out nurses nurseries to paint people as greedy when the real issue is that nurses are underpaid in the first place.

[malvolio]

Do you really think the unions are the cause of the problems we are seeing now? Union action now is very obviously a symptom, the cause being 12 years of the worst governance in my lifetime. Labour won't be able to fix it overnight, of course, but we do need to get the Tories out of power as soon as possible as a matter of some urgency.

No I don't. I have a much better grasp of the current reality than many around here. However the unions are not creating all this disruption and risk for the sake of their members, they are following their own agenda that is primarily to remove the current government and install a Labour one. In fact, if you study your history, that's all they have ever wanted to do once they had established the basic workers' rights around the turn of the last century.

It is naïve to blame everything on either the unions or the current government, the causes are much more deep seated. Yes, we have had a pandemic and a war and a global problem with energy and food supplies as a result, but the fact we have a political class that in the main has no experience of actually holding down a real job in a real world and a culture that is more interested in wokery than reality means we don't have the leaders anywhere to cope with the pressures. Add in a hugely biased and divided press and media with no middle ground acceptance and the all-pervading influence of social media and its infantile understanding of the world and you get the perfect storm we have now. We have weaklings at the helm, pure and simple, and other weaklings trying to take over.

It's not about left versus right. Yes the current government is crap and has been for a while - although not the fashionable 12 years everyone shouts about, since half of that was sorting out the mess left behind by their predecessors - but frankly none of the current denizens of our Parliament have any hope of doing any better, regardless of party.

And it might have been the worse in your lifetime, but I have been there before. Macmillan through Callaghan, regardless of party, that was the worst by some margin. And they had far more capable, mature people to work with.

[hugebrain]

Or how to buy a peerage

https://www.theguardian.com/politics...00000-to-party

One in 10 Conservative peers are big donors to the party, giving almost £50m in total, new analysis shows, amid controversy over more financial backers believed to have been put forward on Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
After speculation about more donors due to get peerages within the coming weeks, figures compiled by the Guardian show 27 out of the party’s 274 peers have given more than £100,000 to the Conservatives.

The rate of donors being given peerages appears to have picked up over the last six years, during the tenures of Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

It seems a good deal. If you can buy a seat for a £100,000 and make over £50,000 a year (plus whatever you get from lobbyists) after a couple of years you are in pure profit. Not much effort so might be a good side-hustle for contractors.

I’d recommend paying off Labour though, seeing which way the wind is blowing.