Politics Thread 6

[Moggy]

It proved to be false hope of course, but we weren't to know that at the time

Yes, I am not talking about the hope/optimism being true, obviously we all know what happened, but the hope itself was real.

And I don't think the young people of today feel it. Everything is just getting worse and worse.

[captain red dog]

It proved to be false hope of course, but we weren't to know that at the time

Yes, I am not talking about the hope/optimism being true, obviously we all know what happened, but the hope itself was real.

And I don't think the young people of today feel it. Everything is just getting worse and worse.

It was quite a unique time. I think we are a similar age, and that time period was around the time when we got to vote, and had a reasonably fresh Labour govt, and it was just before 9/11 and the "war on terror".

The cold war was done and dusted, and for a short while it looked like we may have been able to have a relatively peaceful time.

It's going to be many, many decades now until young people get anything close to that kind of optimism again in my opinion. The coming decades are going to be about grinding through crippling debt and cost of living, proxy wars and a long long fight just to protect some of the rights we currently have. I don't see any prospect on the horizon for the next generation or two to really prosper.

[Vermilion]

I just watched the last episode of Derry Girls and it made me wonder if the late 90s/very early 00s was the last time we had hope for the future (even if misplaced). I don't mean personally, but as a country.

In the late 90s we had the optimism that Labour were going to use their huge majority for good. Northern Ireland looked like it was heading for a bright future (maybe it still will!) and we had a future ahead at the heart of an increasingly united Europe. The Cold War was over and it looked like Russia was going to be a friendly nation. Racism seemed to be lessening, gay people were starting to be accepted and the internet had arrived promising a future where we could connect and befriend everyone in the world.

Obviously things didn't turn out the way we all hoped, but that feeling of hope and optimism was amazing. And I don't think we've felt it since.

Some of it will be rose tinted, people tend to look back fondly of the time of their youth. But I don't think modern day young people have that sense of hope for the future. Over the next few years/decades they have what looks like a huge recession/depression. House prices/rent way beyond their reach. A Britain increasingly lurching towards totalitarianism and in constant dispute with Europe. A possible nuclear war with Russia. And to top it all off, climate change.

strawberry float the world is depressing. I'd give anything to feel that late 90/early 00s optimism again, even if it was all too brief and misplaced.

I think generally it was a better time, things seemed simpler and more peaceful (though obviously there were still some issues), and i do remember the general feeling of optimism doing the rounds.

Yes there was a lot of trouble with 9/11, Iraq etc in the early 00's, but apart from 7/7, it always felt kinda remote and was just something you saw on the news and read about in the press. i think things closer to home started to really deteriorate with the 2008 crash, as that ultimately led to the Cameron years, brexit, and beyond. Things just seem to have gotten worse and worse and i really don't see any improvements on the horizon.

Had i not been subjected to sustained psychological abuse during the late 90's/early 00's, i think i would have been pretty happy back then.

[Moggy]

Yes there was a lot of trouble with 9/11, Iraq etc in the early 00's, but apart from 7/7, it always felt kinda remote and was just something you saw on the news and read about in the press. i think things closer to home started to really deteriorate with the 2008 crash, as that ultimately led to the Cameron years, brexit, covid, and beyond. Things just seem to have gotten worse and worse and i really don't see any improvements on the horizon.

I think 9/11 was where my hope and optimism started to die. Hatred of Muslims suddenly exploded into the mainstream media and it laid the groundwork for the rise of people like Farage to be seen as serious political voices.

It's not like there wasn't racism before it, but it was a real turning point into going back to the more overt 70s and 80s racism.

But yeah, the 2008 crash was when everything started going wrong and any hope of change started withering.

[Jenuall]

9/11, Afghanistan and Iraq wars and everything dodgy about their operation, 7/7, phone hacking scandal, the resurgence of more overt far right views and extremism locally, 2008 crash, and probably loads of other things all gradually eroded the optimism that had grown over the last decade or so

[Vermilion]

But yeah, the 2008 crash was when everything started going wrong and any hope of change started withering.

Yep, and following it, there was also the constant rhetoric which suggested the crash was all down to poor people/foreigners and not the banks.

That's how Cameron managed to make them the scapegoat with his sham 'no money left and all the poor are scum' austerity polices, which was proved to be the bollocks it was when the pandemic showed that there was always plenty of money available when it was needed and there was no need to cut everything to the bone.

[Oblomov Boblomov]

It proved to be false hope of course, but we weren't to know that at the time

Yes, I am not talking about the hope/optimism being true, obviously we all know what happened, but the hope itself was real.

And I don't think the young people of today feel it. Everything is just getting worse and worse.

It was quite a unique time. I think we are a similar age, and that time period was around the time when we got to vote, and had a reasonably fresh Labour govt, and it was just before 9/11 and the "war on terror".

The cold war was done and dusted, and for a short while it looked like we may have been able to have a relatively peaceful time.

It's going to be many, many decades now until young people get anything close to that kind of optimism again in my opinion. The coming decades are going to be about grinding through crippling debt and cost of living, proxy wars and a long long fight just to protect some of the rights we currently have. I don't see any prospect on the horizon for the next generation or two to really prosper.

How many decades are you thinking of here? Climate change will be killing everyone by around 2050.

[<]:^D]

i agree 1997-2001 felt like a brilliant time

[Moggy]

twitter.com/dmreporter/status/1527422393223987209

Weeks of pushing for a police investigation into Starmer not breaking the rules.

But now it's a waste of time and money to investigate actual law breaking by the government.

Wankers.

[Victor Mildew]

strawberry floating BBC banana splits sticking up for Johnson on tv.

"Let's move on"

"Very strong, accusing the prime minister of lying "

[Skarjo]

I just watched the last episode of Derry Girls and it made me wonder if the late 90s/very early 00s was the last time we had hope for the future (even if misplaced). I don't mean personally, but as a country.

In the late 90s we had the optimism that Labour were going to use their huge majority for good. Northern Ireland looked like it was heading for a bright future (maybe it still will!) and we had a future ahead at the heart of an increasingly united Europe. The Cold War was over and it looked like Russia was going to be a friendly nation. Racism seemed to be lessening, gay people were starting to be accepted and the internet had arrived promising a future where we could connect and befriend everyone in the world.

Obviously things didn't turn out the way we all hoped, but that feeling of hope and optimism was amazing. And I don't think we've felt it since.

Some of it will be rose tinted, people tend to look back fondly of the time of their youth. But I don't think modern day young people have that sense of hope for the future. Over the next few years/decades they have what looks like a huge recession/depression. House prices/rent way beyond their reach. A Britain increasingly lurching towards totalitarianism and in constant dispute with Europe. A possible nuclear war with Russia. And to top it all off, climate change.

strawberry float the world is depressing. I'd give anything to feel that late 90/early 00s optimism again, even if it was all too brief and misplaced.

I see it in my students all the time. It's really weird.

There is a real, palpable sense of 'everything is truly strawberry floated and we just have to wait for it to collapse'.

[Moggy]

I just watched the last episode of Derry Girls and it made me wonder if the late 90s/very early 00s was the last time we had hope for the future (even if misplaced). I don't mean personally, but as a country.

In the late 90s we had the optimism that Labour were going to use their huge majority for good. Northern Ireland looked like it was heading for a bright future (maybe it still will!) and we had a future ahead at the heart of an increasingly united Europe. The Cold War was over and it looked like Russia was going to be a friendly nation. Racism seemed to be lessening, gay people were starting to be accepted and the internet had arrived promising a future where we could connect and befriend everyone in the world.

Obviously things didn't turn out the way we all hoped, but that feeling of hope and optimism was amazing. And I don't think we've felt it since.

Some of it will be rose tinted, people tend to look back fondly of the time of their youth. But I don't think modern day young people have that sense of hope for the future. Over the next few years/decades they have what looks like a huge recession/depression. House prices/rent way beyond their reach. A Britain increasingly lurching towards totalitarianism and in constant dispute with Europe. A possible nuclear war with Russia. And to top it all off, climate change.

strawberry float the world is depressing. I'd give anything to feel that late 90/early 00s optimism again, even if it was all too brief and misplaced.

I see it in my students all the time. It's really weird.

There is a real, palpable sense of 'everything is truly strawberry floated and we just have to wait for it to collapse'.

Ultimately the late 90s/early 00s feeling of hope was misplaced.

Let's hope we are also wrong about the late 10s/early 20s feeling of despair.

[Victor Mildew]

I remember my geography teacher talking to us the morning after Labour got in, telling us what a wonderful time it was going to be for the country and we had such a better future to look forward to now.

strawberry float.

[Oblomov Boblomov]

Everything else could be miraculously solved today and climate change will still break down the way of life as we know it over the next few decades, ultimately bringing about the end of the modern era by the end of the century. The 21st Century will be the last of the Anno Domini.

[Knoyleo]

I just watched the last episode of Derry Girls and it made me wonder if the late 90s/very early 00s was the last time we had hope for the future (even if misplaced). I don't mean personally, but as a country.

In the late 90s we had the optimism that Labour were going to use their huge majority for good. Northern Ireland looked like it was heading for a bright future (maybe it still will!) and we had a future ahead at the heart of an increasingly united Europe. The Cold War was over and it looked like Russia was going to be a friendly nation. Racism seemed to be lessening, gay people were starting to be accepted and the internet had arrived promising a future where we could connect and befriend everyone in the world.

Obviously things didn't turn out the way we all hoped, but that feeling of hope and optimism was amazing. And I don't think we've felt it since.

Some of it will be rose tinted, people tend to look back fondly of the time of their youth. But I don't think modern day young people have that sense of hope for the future. Over the next few years/decades they have what looks like a huge recession/depression. House prices/rent way beyond their reach. A Britain increasingly lurching towards totalitarianism and in constant dispute with Europe. A possible nuclear war with Russia. And to top it all off, climate change.

strawberry float the world is depressing. I'd give anything to feel that late 90/early 00s optimism again, even if it was all too brief and misplaced.

I see it in my students all the time. It's really weird.

There is a real, palpable sense of 'everything is truly strawberry floated and we just have to wait for it to collapse'.

It's not that weird, they're probably right.

[Moggy]

Everything else could be miraculously solved today and climate change will still break down the way of life as we know it over the next few decades, ultimately bringing about the end of the modern era by the end of the century. The 21st Century will be the last of the Anno Domini.

Saving this post to quote in 2099.

[Hexx]

Forget cost of living crisis, double digit inflations, rampent Covid Fraud etc

We've got to crack down on benefit scroungers!

DWP staff will be given the power to arrest Brits in a hardline Universal Credit crackdown.

Two million claimants will have their cases dredged up and face fines for fraud under sweeping laws - even if they’re not convicted of a crime.

Department for Work and Pensions officers will be allowed to mass-request bank data more easily to spot-check if people are cheating the Jobcentre.

DWP staff will then make arrests, execute warrants, conduct searches and seize evidence themselves instead of leaving the work to police.

Even if a case does not make it to court, they will then get power to dish out civil fines - like those issued by HMRC.

But Tory ministers will be accused of chasing headlines as there’s no timetable for a new law and it's unlikely to start work for at least a year.

Many of the new powers need an Act of Parliament - but it’s thought this would only be introduced from May 2023 at the earliest.

[Cheeky Devlin]

Jesus wept.

The DWP can barely administer what they've already got on their plate but now they're going to be able to fine people as well as "arrest" and search people and property?

And the Tories want to cut 91,000 civil servants at the same time.

Seriously when do we get the guillotines out?

[Buffalo]

The DWP as it is have been a mess for the past 10-15 years. The whole thing needs tearing down and started afresh. A good start would be be to stop claimants of anything feel like a scummy underclass, but here they are doing the opposite.

[captain red dog]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-61487858

Interesting article on Police pay. However, I'm certain the Tory message that's going to come out of this is that benefits need to be cut.

I've seen signs of that from Tories already with comments around people taking on more hours or getting higher paid jobs. I give it a month before they start blaming "benefits cheats" for everything again.

I kind of accurately predicted something!

Alright. It was about 4 days rather than 4 weeks, but I can start to predict this shower of shite government I feel!