The UK is Out - New PM - and whither now for Article 50
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After reading this mornings news, I don`t know what will collapse first. Our education system or our health service. Life has been reduced to a balance sheet. The ideas of service and the common good are disappearing before our very eyes.
The Gov't recently mooted giving local councils authority to raise council tax by an additional 6% for social care. Problem with that is in areas around where I live there are a lot of pensioners (some of who receive social care themselves) who due to their low incomes pay little or no Council tax already so the money that increase brings from those who will pay it is nowhere near enough to make a difference.
Over successive years the have been reductions is taxes and increases in allowances before tax is paid, which has resulted in tinkerings in other areas to balance the tax income to the Gov't and the expenditure of that income (increase in retirement age, scrapping of certain tax deductible benefits, cuts to spending budgets etc.) which have mainly hit those who could least afford it.
There is a solution (won't go into detail as it is too long and tedious) but the Gov't nor any of the other parties have either the spine or the whatsits to actually bite the bullet and do it.
We're the fifth biggest economy in the world, 3.52% of the world's total GDP, anyone saying we can't afford to care for our elderly or to properly fund the NHS is lying.
Aslef - unfortunately even if they did pay what they owe and continued to do so, you are talking hundreds of millions, the people who want more are talking in the Billions so the gap will not be breached.
The NHS annual budget for 2015/16 was £116.4bn
There are a few Billionaires and Multi-millionaires in India, China, Africa, Arabia, South America ... I think you get my drift ...
.......apart from as much attention from the media as he can get
It seems these peoples only function is to come up with more ideas of how the Company can 'Grow' which includes making us provide sales leads - which has not been the roaring success they thought it would, we normally spend the first hour or so of visits listening to all the issues with the back office (which we report but they seem unable to do anything about) functions.
The problem is they keep employing these people then ramping up the pressure on the fee earners (those at my level and below and the one or two levels to a lesser degree above mine) because profits and income are down despite growth targets being achieved - given that the additional numbers of senior managers roles is costing us over £1 million in the UK alone, if this has been replicated globally it is not hard to work out why that is happening.
All the senior board and all the others down to Country level communicate to us is information about growth targets, turnover, expenditure, profit, budgets etc., etc. - nothing about the real running of the Company or improvements of service delivery to address the Client issues etc. it is almost as if they have abdicated that responsibility to each individual Country and are only interested in how much we contribute to the Company coffers which they get their extortionate wages and performance (whatever that may be) bonuses from. The thought of taking a bit less and investing a bit more on the front line, which would bring better customer satisfaction and probably more work from them on that basis, does not seem to occur to them.
when I suggested rather than growth, maybe we should pursue a policy of stabilisation and business improvement for a while then look at growth in a couple of years, I was told I knew nothing about business and leave it to the experts - which considering the job I am employed to do (I actually Client Manage and audit Business Management Systems) shows the people running things have lost touch.
Aslef - even if all that money was collected, given the UK Spending (around £740 Billion for 2016 and almost £785 Billion for 2017) and all those clamouring for more it would not go that far. The whole Gov't spending structure needs to be reviewed and re-prioritised and some have to accept what they are given as there is no endless supply. Despite what many believe, we can't keep borrowing for today leaving future generations to foot the bill - that is the true failure of the current generation in charge (sort of fits in the TML's views), we have to live within our means and those with the most (although some already do through charitable donations and work) should pay more and look at realistically what they need to live on.
Admeus, technology applied to produce more, to increase humanities choices and maximise its riches should and could be a desirable thing, if the riches and rewards were shared equally, used to enrich us all, and not at the planets expense. But those that control the means are keeping the vast majority of the spoils for themselves. No-one has the "right" to "more". The very fact that you point to charity, and there are people like Bill Gates and his philanthropic organisations doing on the face of it wonderful work, highlights to me that there is a huge imbalance in our system that needs addressing. But, to me, this imbalance is so drastic, (and the gap is widening as I type), that small reforms, from governments of any persuasion, are nothing more than temporary appeasements. I honestly think that if we continue on our current path, and things get worse before they get better, then in the short to medium term things could "turn nasty". This is why I think that we need radical solutions, wholesale shifts in our political and economic systems rather than reforms.
According to the constitution, an Act of Parliament is needed to authorise the govt to trigger Article 50.
So far so as it was before.
But the new bit is that the govt doesn't have to consult the devolved administrations.
Interesting times we live in....