What are they going to do? Stick with Labour? They’ve pretty much demonstrated that they are certainly no better and possibly worse than the previous group.
It was a low bar, but they managed to limbo under it.
Bad as Labour are, they are definitely not worse than the Conservatives were. However, Labour are not bold enough to do what it takes to undo the damage the Tories have done.
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In contrast, Reform is bold enough to outdo the damage the Tories have done.
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I would be very surprised if she doesn’t get the sack as a minister.
Labour and Tories are basically driving support for Reform with their constant political drama fests.
And she is now gone…
Thats the 4th minister that has now resigned in Labours first year.
Labour is really doing badly right now.
Hard to see how they could turn this around given their policies.
So will Reform go harder on the cutbacks, or will they just continue to avoid dealing with the main issues?
They will avoid the main economic issues caused by demographics (as they have no solutions) and focus only on immigration and working age welfare.
They are very unlikely to touch the pensioners (who support them) but are much more likely to go after the public sector (in terms of jobs and pensions)
It will no doubt be super chaotic as most of the people in that party are basically incompetent. I would posit it will likely accelerate the managed decline that the UK is currently experiencing.
They probably won’t care much as many of them are grifters who just want to gain power to further enrich themselves (and their very dodgy friends)
This quote sums up the current state of the UK:
Without productivity growth (which is being supressed by high taxes and lack of productive investment), the UKs demographics will embed a permanent state of terminal decline.
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The UK has been in economic decline for the past 100 years but I never noticed it as much on the streets until my last visit this past month. Hard to articulate but the activity level and drabness in some of the towns and greater London was striking. More homelessness as well but this is universal. In a nutshell, it just did not strike me as an attractive place to live.
I understand why my daughter and her family want to move to Canada and will do everything I can to facilitate that.
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I struggled to find anything during my road trips around the UK to be anything comparable to say, rural Arkansas. If you want to see what failure looks like, put that on your list.
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When I interviewed for a job in the UK back in 2010/2011, it didn’t feel like an attractive place to live/work. I was quite disappointed in the salary offer I received. Though in retrospect, it’s still higher today then what a friend of mine is earning today after more than a decade of inflation. So maybe it wasn’t awful? I think about £32,000 in 2011.
ETA: I visited NYC in 2022 and felt very similar. A lot of really rundown infrastructure and poorly functioning systems (e.g. the absolute stupidity of how the mass transit payment system worked across NJ/NYC and the airports).
One strength of the Greater London area is their transit system. I give them credit for having made the investments that cities like NYC and Toronto should have.
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Curious why you singled out NYC here, as in my experience the transit there has been good. I would single out my city transit as awful.
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One of my impressions during my first visit to London earlier this year, where my hotel was on the fringe of Greenwich but my office is in the City, was just how much more impressive their transit system is as compared to NYC’s.
NYC is fine as long as you’re on the island of Manhattan or don’t mind going through Manhattan, and as long as you don’t need to get to/from an airport…and it’s certainly better than any other major American city’s public transit system…but London is at a whole 'nother level.
London does have a great transit system
NYC has a great network and 25 years ago I was impressed. But it has noticeably deteriorated since and compared to Asia/Europe/Australia the actual stations/train cars are dirty, smelly and loud - a bit like the city as a whole.
My transit experiences in Asia and Australia are a bit dated to be relevant today, but I have been on European metro systems multiple times in recent years and will hit at least 2 major European cities next month. I noticed plenty of funk on other visits there. I’ve had COVID twice, both times contracted in Europe and almost certainly on transit. Never caught it in the US.
NYC has good transit in Manhattan and to the Boroughs but little recent investment.
Is there a train from LaGuardia to Manhattan? No. All the major London airports have train connections.
How many intercity train stations does Manhattan have? Just Penn and Grand Central? London has 14 with train lines radiating out in all directions with frequent service to the rest of England.
How good is the transit system in the outer NY suburbs? Not good. London in contrast has incredible bus coverage in its suburbs as well as train service, overground and tube lines.
London’s Elizabeth Line was recently completed at a cost of many £ billion and is a pleasure to ride. So is the Jubilee Line and even the older lines. The NYC subways are dirty and old.
Me? I’ve had the opportunity to travel to a few world class cities e.g. NYC, London, Paris, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Los Angeles, Toronto(?), Vancouver(?).
NYC, and London both has systems that seemed extremely worn. Hong Kong, Singapore, and Sydney were all amazing. Sure, they’re great compared to other places in their own countries, but compared to systems in other countries, they just felt worn out and perhaps poorly structured.
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