And so it begins

[Sorastro]

Thursdays result was not a complete surprise.

 I thought Farage's Reform party would have fared better but none the less he's got into the Commons and I really hope he shakes things up a bit.

Having watched the speech by Starmer outside no. 10 yesterday it was very upbeat and full of hope, I've taped it so during his stint as P.M. I can revisit it and see how he's faring {baring in mind I hope to still be around in another 5 years}.
I watched on the news this morning the new cabinet ministers arriving to start "work" and Angela Rayner turned up, now I may not be an expert on ladies fashions but as she walked up Downing street she resembled a tea clipper in full sail, not to mention the colour but then again if she does a good job I don't care if she does it wearing a monks habit and ski mask.

Don't expect too much too soon....as with all incoming parties they spend the first 2 years of their tenure blaming "the last lot" as to why things are not moving on apace.....I wish them luck, lets hope he's not Rishie Sunak part two.

[Sorastro]

Only a few days in and Labour are saying we will do this and we will do that.

I notice that Rishi Sunak has lost one of his cabinet, Cameron has quit {again} and got the hell out of Dodge, Rishi won't be too far behind him no doubt, I predict by Xmas Rishi and his wife's bank account will be living in America.

Labour says they are hoping to recoup some money from the "failed" Rwanda scheme, while they're about it they can recoup all the money that was wasted on bogus P.P.E. contracts during the pandemic {like they said they would do at the time}.

They are going to build 1.5 million homes over the next parliament, already the N.I.M.B.Y's are closing ranks, especially the Tory held seats.
That amount of housing will take up a lot of space.
One way would be to buy up agricultural land from farmers and build there, green belt I hear you cry! well lets face it agricultural farming in this country has been on the decline for years, almost anyone reading this knows of a farm that has a field {or fields} full of Solar panels, or a farmer who now runs glamping/camping sights on arable land, as traditional farming does not seem to pay, besides the vast majority of our foodstuffs is shipped in from abroad anyway.

Speaking of new cabinet members I was surprised to find Emily Thornberry has not been offered a cabinet post, maybe she was too close to Corbyn and this new party want's to distance itself from him, if that is true then they need a new leader!!!

[Sorastro]

Meanwhile what's your thought on Jo Biden

It just gets worse, Biden at the meeting yesterday, when introducing Volodymyr Zelenskyy called him president PUTIN!!! and later he referred to his vice president as "Vice president TRUMP".
He says he's had a least 3 tests to prove his fitness to run and passed basically with flying colours, well of course you can pass when your being tested by yes men and sycophants your bound to come out smelling of roses.

I predict that before the election gets under way Biden will be forced out, something along the lines of
"President in hospital undergoing surgery and doctors advise him he must drop out on {physical} medical grounds" thereby saving face.

Trump needn't do any electioneering at all....Bidens doing all that for him.
 

[Sorastro]

Well it had to happen....... Trump.

The conspiracy theorists are on line in droves apparently....Put up job, the C.I.A. were behind it, etc.
No matter what the reason this is not the way a "civilised" country behaves!!!
Having said that I have always had my opinion about who was involved in the J.F.K. assassination ever since I watched his demise unfold on t.v. when I was a teenager and it's never altered all these years later.

On this side of the pond I doubt there are many Trump supporters but it was shocking to see, he's one very lucky bloke.

[Sorastro]

Trumps running mate sounds a right bundle of fun, just by watching the news today it seems just over a year ago the vice president pursuivant Michael Pence couldn't stand Trump and he took every available second of air time to talk him down, now all of a sudden they are big buddies.

Allegedly:-
 It appears Pence seems anti Ukraine and possibly thinks Putin is the bees knees, so any help for Ukraine against Putin will more than likely dry up if they get in. He also has made it abundantly clear he does not like Britain's new Labour government so working with a Trump president is going to be an up hill struggle for Starmer and his crew.

[Sorastro]

Correction...The incumbent V.P. is J.D.Vance not Pence which is the name I saw when I looked him up, obviously not updated their blogs.

After listening to Biden this morning I can only assume his doctors and those around him read this forum!

[Sorastro]

The Triple Lock for pensioners..

I have just had a quick look at the Triple Lock promises made by Labour and Conservative.
 For those unfamiliar with T/L this has been used when calculating pensions, this goes up annually by either 2.5% or inflation {whichever is the greater} granted over the last couple of years it's gone up by the rate of inflation which has been high so it looks {on paper} as if O.A.P.'s are doing well, unfortunately the personal tax threshold {P.T.T.} which is the figure what O.A.P's are allowed to receive in pension before having to pay tax on it, which has always gone up slightly at the same time, has been frozen since 2021 and both the Tories and Labour have virtually said the freeze will continue till at least 2028 which means that O.A.P's {especially O.A.P.'s on just the basic pension} will find their pensions overtaking the P.T.T. and will have to start paying tax which is taxed at 20%.
I myself am already paying tax as I have two small private pensions coming in and this has tipped me over, not only for this year but last year as well.

I know it's early days yet but I've been trawling through Labours "pledge" on pensions on line and although they are insisting on keeping the triple lock I can find no reference to the P.T.T. part of it so it looks like, up to now, the freeze is still on.

[Sorastro]

I have just watched Kemi Badenoch in the house of Commons, the other day,  addressing Angela Rayner and congratulating her on her new role.

She basically told Angela that her new government has "Stitched her up" none more so than in regards to Labours pledge to build 1.5 million homes in this parliament as it's unattainable and she makes some valid points. She basically said 1.5 million homes roughly works out at building over 800 per day in the length of this parliament to reach their target. Labour has been in power about 3 weeks now and already not a brick has been laid, this also doesn't take into consideration all the asylum seekers that are going to be fast tracked and allowed to stay {they will need homes!} so by the time they get their fingers out they are going to be thousands of homes behind and more than likely can't catch up.

Now I understand why the Tories lost the election.....it's because they wanted to. Give it about 3 years and Labours name will be mud.

[Sorastro]

Meanwhile what's your thought on Jo Biden

It's the right decision but he should have done it awhile  ago. He's clearly not well maybe just old age but he's  not upto the work needed.


Just found out he's dropped out, lets hope he didn't do too much damage leading up to the election.

[Old Cruser]

He should have stood down awhile ago, clearly gas age issues abd won't  be up to the job.

[Sorastro]

3 weeks in and Labour are already back wording on some promises, cancelling projects {including new hospitals} and a threat of increasing taxes, basically, as they put it, because the Tories were not straight on the countries finances.

The Tories on the other hand are claiming that's just an excuse to convince the electorate that they have no other choice but to increase taxes and not fulfil certain promises....................who do you believe?

Me I believe none of them, politicians couldn't tell the truth if their lives depended on it.

[Sorastro]

Now I understand why the Tories lost the election.....it's because they wanted to. Give it about 3 years and Labours name will be mud.

Correction I'll give it 3 months, they've obviously hit the ground running......nose first.

As for the p.t.t. on pensions apparently the freeze IS staying till 2028 which, especially in my case, by the time the end of 2028 comes round the vast majority of both my private pensions will be swallowed up in paying tax.

[Old Cruser]

I went to a coffee morning yesterday the pensioners are not happy.
Worked the majority of their lives and being penalised for their savings was the general view.

[Sorastro]

I went to a coffee morning yesterday the pensioners are not happy.
Worked the majority of their lives and being penalised for their savings was the general view.

Quite right O.C. the fact that we have the next 5 years of a Labour government {that's if they last that long} that within weeks has kicked the O.A.P.'s not once but twice, the p.t.t. freeze plus now no winter fuel payments.

I notice that Rachel Reeves has not suggested a wage reduction for politicians or a culling of the house of Lords to save some cash, you only have to look at the Kings coronation and more recently the state opening of Parliament to see where the money is being wasted, all they had to do at the state opening was stick an ordinary shop sign on the door that said "WERE OPEN"
O.k. maybe the winter fuel payment was not very well thought out when you consider ALL pensioners were entitled to it, that meant the likes of Alan Sugar, king Charles et al, plus a good % of the house of Commons and ALL of the house of Lords you can see how skewed the system is, rather than scrap it out of hand at least means test it.

As I said before was there a budget defecit or are they telling porkies, I doubt we will ever get to the bottom of it, we are like mushrooms, kept in the dark and cr*pped on twice a day.

[Old Cruser]

I doubt we will get to know the truth but as pensioners we are of no use to them for voting are we.
They want the young ones with a longer life expectancy.
We should take a leaf out of Viv Windsors book and
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