I wanted to vote in the middle but a little to the right. No chance of that.
I guess we are possibly a political mirror either side of political centre!!
Seriously though if brexit was the cause of the change there wouldn't have been the various structural issues within Labour party that have been going on for a long time according to political scientists, pundits, editors and experts. A good few years ago IIRC there was talk of diversifying source of party funding. At the time it was the thinking that Labour party was struggling to compete. It's not just the campaigning during and between GEs it's the day to day funding for operations too iirc. Then there's the rigid method for developing policy. All nice and socialist form of democratic decision making but slow to be changed. Then there's the issue with who they represent. A very existential problem that needs solving. Old sources of voters simply grew away from the politics that Labour became or was always part of.
In the link I posted there was mention of Foots longest suicide during his general election as Labour leader. More modern times that was used to describe Tory party in its disintegration under John major in 1997. However Tory party in 1997 had a higher percentage of the vote than Foot got but they still got fewer seats in the HoC than Foot's Labour party.
It's a cycle I my suppose. Labour and Tories take turns to boom and bust. When one party struggles the other party does well. Kind of obvious but there seems to be a difference with Labour this time.
BTW I heard of Tories buying a vote for labour leadership courtesy of the £3 supporters fee. It raised money but led to a Pi$$ take. Tory voters have a laugh by voting the hopeless old school socialist in to leader role. Hard left getting a little control over the party through the push towards grass roots support. Neither led to strong opposition right through the brexit process when we need them to stand up effectively.
Going back to my council tax rebate: I've basically been overcharged for 11 years and 9 months due to the Valuations Office not doing their job properly. I've now been told that the Welsh Assembly decided that councils shouldn't have to repay anything more than 6 years. The 6 years is calculated from the date of re-banding and not the date I made the claim for some reason, so in the 3 months the VOA took to admit their mistake I paid an extra £140. The council have now agreed to pay me back about £800 and they've generously said I don't need to pay any council tax for the rest of the year to cover the rest. There doesn't seem to be any need to pay me interest on the amount they're borrowing off me for the next 9 months though and you don't get interest payments for the money you've been without for 6 years It's also been over a month now and apparently they were just about to send out a letter with a form to fill in to let them know where we want the money to go.
The justification for the 6 year rule is that it was too much trouble for the council to track down everyone who owned the houses since 1993. In my case I was the first owner so I don't see how that relates to my case. It also saves the council having to waste time on 'complex calculations' to work out how much I've overpaid. I'm tempted to submit a freedom of information request for how much I've been overcharged just to make them take the trouble to do it anyway. They also said it saves the authority keeping records of who lives where and paid what tax for more than 6 years. Again I can prove residency so they don't need records. Apparently this will reassure the public that their data isn't vulnerable to misuse though, apart from the 6 years where it is obviously. The main reason though is to protect the council from having to repay the money they weren't entitled to take, or in my case not give me a few extra months without having to pay my bill. Apparently the council have better things to do with my money than give it back to me. I've been asking for an extra dog poo bin for our street for over a year now but apparently that's not what my money is good for.
I would bet my stolen 5 years and 9 months worth of rebate that this legislation cost more to bring into law than councils would have had to pay back to the very few home owners that were eligible for rebates The VOA have said that if I don't like it I can write to my local assembly member. Maybe I'm supposed to ask if he'll consider putting less in his expenses bill this year to cover the extra council budget to pay for my refund (and dog poo bin).
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
On @Fire ‘s advice I sourced some Cosmos Versailles Red. Not the sloppy deep pink version of the Tetra range but the strong, deep dark red. They were not easy to find but I eventually found a seller on Etsy based in Latvia who was selling them. This happened before Brexit regulations took hold.
I germinated them but subsequently lost over half to slug attack. But about 15 have battled through, some planted well away from other cosmos so I can save the seed without too much risk of cross fertilisation.
Today was the big day. The first one came into flower. Well if this is deep, dark red, Trump is sane, Boris is grey, Love Island is worth watching and begonias are just fine. Cheers, Fire.
On @Fire ‘s advice I sourced some Cosmos Versailles Red. Not the sloppy deep pink version of the Tetra range but the strong, deep dark red. They were not easy to find but I eventually found a seller on Etsy based in Latvia who was selling them. This happened before Brexit regulations took hold.
I germinated them but subsequently lost over half to slug attack. But about 15 have battled through, some planted well away from other cosmos so I can save the seed without too much risk of cross fertilisation.
Today was the big day. The first one came into flower. Well if this is deep, dark red, Trump is sane, Boris is grey, Love Island is worth watching and begonias are just fine. Cheers, Fire.
It is rather gorgeous @Fire but not, unfortunately, as advertised. Hope you do better with the rest but that's a keeper for me.
@wild edges, I sympathise with your frustration and yes, a letter to your Assembly member and your MP and the minister for local government is in order.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
@BenCotto - oh, so sorry it turns out not to be the lovely dark red of Versailles Tetra. I have about a third of a packet left - about ten seeds. I didn't want to risk them this year without paying full attention to each seed, as it seems they are no longer available.
Hopefully next year I will plant them and then carefully save the seed. If it works, I can share the seed on the forum.
I have never seen your yellow colour in a cosmos before. It is beautiful. I'd say it would be saving that seed for future reference. I might write to Sarah Raven and ask them why they have stopped stocking it and if they will again.
Is it a cosmos at all? You can buy yellow cosmos, called Sulphur. i was equally disappointed with mine this year, I bought Carmine Red, they turned out to be dark pink.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Perhaps if we'd all been turning our own thermostats and did a load more that were doing now years back we'd not be having this hot weather quite so bad.
I read that that there's something like 4 heat domes across the northern hemisphere which is unprecedented. Obviously climate change in action. I hate it! I'm a cold weather person. If I had the choice of hypothermia or heat stroke it would be hypothermia every time. And I've had both a few times over the years. Not severely but enough to be a worry and to learn from.
At work there's ovens creating heat, the office has direct sun in the heat of the afternoon so get very hot and there's very few places to cool down. One is too obvious and the other had two directors spending a lot of time there. I had nowhere to hide and hide from the heat. I also wear jeans at work as they're tough and protective. Can't get away with shorts. I've been wearing shorts since march or April outside work. I'll be wearing them until November. I can't wear shorts at work.
If it carries on I'm throwing a sickie!!! I'm from Northern England FFS! it's nearly August and should be weeks of cooling rain by now.
Posts
I guess we are possibly a political mirror either side of political centre!!
Seriously though if brexit was the cause of the change there wouldn't have been the various structural issues within Labour party that have been going on for a long time according to political scientists, pundits, editors and experts. A good few years ago IIRC there was talk of diversifying source of party funding. At the time it was the thinking that Labour party was struggling to compete. It's not just the campaigning during and between GEs it's the day to day funding for operations too iirc. Then there's the rigid method for developing policy. All nice and socialist form of democratic decision making but slow to be changed. Then there's the issue with who they represent. A very existential problem that needs solving. Old sources of voters simply grew away from the politics that Labour became or was always part of.
In the link I posted there was mention of Foots longest suicide during his general election as Labour leader. More modern times that was used to describe Tory party in its disintegration under John major in 1997. However Tory party in 1997 had a higher percentage of the vote than Foot got but they still got fewer seats in the HoC than Foot's Labour party.
It's a cycle I my suppose. Labour and Tories take turns to boom and bust. When one party struggles the other party does well. Kind of obvious but there seems to be a difference with Labour this time.
BTW I heard of Tories buying a vote for labour leadership courtesy of the £3 supporters fee. It raised money but led to a Pi$$ take. Tory voters have a laugh by voting the hopeless old school socialist in to leader role. Hard left getting a little control over the party through the push towards grass roots support. Neither led to strong opposition right through the brexit process when we need them to stand up effectively.
I germinated them but subsequently lost over half to slug attack. But about 15 have battled through, some planted well away from other cosmos so I can save the seed without too much risk of cross fertilisation.
Today was the big day. The first one came into flower. Well if this is deep, dark red, Trump is sane, Boris is grey, Love Island is worth watching and begonias are just fine. Cheers, Fire.
@wild edges, I sympathise with your frustration and yes, a letter to your Assembly member and your MP and the minister for local government is in order.
i was equally disappointed with mine this year, I bought Carmine Red, they turned out to be dark pink.
Perhaps if we'd all been turning our own thermostats and did a load more that were doing now years back we'd not be having this hot weather quite so bad.
I read that that there's something like 4 heat domes across the northern hemisphere which is unprecedented. Obviously climate change in action. I hate it! I'm a cold weather person. If I had the choice of hypothermia or heat stroke it would be hypothermia every time. And I've had both a few times over the years. Not severely but enough to be a worry and to learn from.
At work there's ovens creating heat, the office has direct sun in the heat of the afternoon so get very hot and there's very few places to cool down. One is too obvious and the other had two directors spending a lot of time there. I had nowhere to hide and hide from the heat. I also wear jeans at work as they're tough and protective. Can't get away with shorts. I've been wearing shorts since march or April outside work. I'll be wearing them until November. I can't wear shorts at work.
If it carries on I'm throwing a sickie!!! I'm from Northern England FFS! it's nearly August and should be weeks of cooling rain by now.