smithtonyd.bsky.social
#Networks with #government, #thinktanks etc for #Birmingham, one of the UK's great but dis-empowered #cities. I own my views but they are socially constructed.
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Let’s see the paper tomorrow…
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Presentational disaster yes.
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Certainly true re HMT
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Or it could be that we do actually need a grown up discussion… #newsnight
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Totally irrelevant (though I take your point)
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Won’t solve the problem.
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That won’t solve the underlying problem #newsnight
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We spend billions on housing benefit instead of building affordable homes. We have worse health outcomes than most of Europe which lowers employment and GDP. Employment support is fragmented and poor. Fix these things and there would be savings in benefits without harming individuals #newsnight
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You’re wrong about the government.
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Bombarding people with random nonsensical posts is not a useful discussion.
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Back to its own territory. Russia was welcomed to the international community after the wall fell but Putin destroyed that by trying to recreate the Soviet empire.
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And we need a serious debate about real policy solutions to help working people, not Trumpite or Farragist nonsense…
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Trump didn’t storm into the White House full stop. He won a slight majority in a totally divided country which he is now dividing even further…
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The context is much wider as I’ve said. It’s not helpful to reduce things to such a simplistic level just to promote differences within a party. We need a serious debate that goes way beyond benefit payments…
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Yes but they ignored the other angle which is that we’re spending a shed load of money but achieving poor outcomes. That might be partly because we’re not spending enough. If spending more brings more growth then the savings could still be met… #r4today
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I don’t think that’s a fair description of minister’s views - though I know it’s how the current system often feels…
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If Trump would get behind a real push to drive Russia out of Ukraine and double down on sanctions it might only take a year to get him back to the table in a very weak position… #c4news
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… but social care is being dumped on the council tax so it’s less visible in the national budget. Why do we spend billions on housing benefit instead of investing in affordable homes? Why is our primary care system on its knees while we pour money into hospitals to try to keep waiting lists down..?
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I suspect the debate in Labour is a lot more nuanced than that - though it’s certainly been deployed in the past. We don’t actually know what the policy is yet of course… #r4today
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…and we must stop spending billions on housing benefit and temporary accommodation because our housing system is broken. Invest in affordable housing not rent subsidies. #newsnight