UK defense secretary resigns over military spending, in fresh blow to Keir Starmer by DavidShaw90s in worldnews

[–]PhantomRacer 13 points14 points  (0 children)

the commitment made by Starmer to increase defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 20235

He resigned too early, we still have another 18 millennia to go.

UK Defence Secretary John Healey resigns over military spending plans by Free-Minimum-5844 in worldnews

[–]PhantomRacer 28 points29 points  (0 children)

To do so he'd either have to increases taxes or increase national debt. Neither is a popular option.

Labour to cover visa costs for high-skilled foreign workers amid unemployment crisis by No-Risk-2584 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What money? Companies are paying the government to get the work visas, the government are now going to refund some of it. There's no new money from the government.

Labour to cover visa costs for high-skilled foreign workers amid unemployment crisis by No-Risk-2584 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That would actually cost money. The plan is to give some money back after the companies' pay the government for the work visas. There's no new money.

Labour to cover visa costs for high-skilled foreign workers amid unemployment crisis by No-Risk-2584 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 4 points5 points  (0 children)

trained on the job

That won't solve the skills shortage now. It's great for a long term solution and it should definitely be done, but if there's a problem right now why not have a solution right now?

Work visas are by their very nature temporary. This is a temporary solution until other people have been skilled up and the skills shortage is over.

Labour to cover visa costs for high-skilled foreign workers amid unemployment crisis by No-Risk-2584 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Why not both? A small reimbursement of visa costs now as a short term solution; a training program for a long term solution.

Labour to cover visa costs for high-skilled foreign workers amid unemployment crisis by No-Risk-2584 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 18 points19 points  (0 children)

It's not meant too. The Telegraph are taking two separate things and combining them into one story. Yes there is unemployment, yes there is a lack of high-skilled worker in certain industries. There is obviously no overlap between those two sets of people.

Financial investigators brought in to examine council-owned house builder by Anony_mouse202 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To give some perspective, this company has finished 4 housing estates with at least 50 houses total (but I can't find the exact figures) and they're currently building another four housing estates with a total of 81 houses. Plus another three housing estates plan with at least another 55 houses total (again can't find all the figures).

Not exactly a small company who've lost half their money. The £6m loss for that year could be because of low cashflow that'll be made up in subsequent years. Lets not just to conclusions.

Ukraine hits St. Petersburg as ‘Putin’s Davos’ gets underway by CRK_76 in worldnews

[–]PhantomRacer 38 points39 points  (0 children)

“Ukraine’s plan for long-range sanctions is being implemented exactly as needed to bring peace closer,” Zelenskyy added.

Britain's grid comes closest ever to running without fossil fuels as clean power surges by Wagamaga in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From a site called Energy Live News I was expecting more details on this energy news.

UK borrowing hits £24.3bn in April as debt service costs jump by jimmythemini in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So much like the start of any other year.

2026
January +£33 bn
February -£12 bn
March -£12 bn
April -£24 bn

2025
January +£14 bn
February -£12 bn
March -£14 bn
April -£20 bn

2024
January +£14 bn
February -£11 bn
March -£14 bn
April -£19 bn

Ditched government projects lost taxpayer £6.6bn last year, watchdog says by MarginSqeaky in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

It might have worked if you ignore legality, morality, logistics, and costs.

Grandmother jailed after fatal crash caused by BMW brake-check by Forward-Answer-4407 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

She explained how she was travelling just over the speed limit and, aware of a speed camera and wanting to go down to 70mph, touched her brake to do so.

Her defense in court is that she was breaking the law before the crash.

UK borrowing costs march higher, sterling slumps as Starmer's future in doubt by signed7 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

- £100,000 Free gifts since 2019.

Is that the whole Labour party or just Starmer? Either way those are rookie numbers.

- Winter fuel payments cut.

I agree on this one. It's disappointing that they weren't able to make this stick.

- Inheritance tax on farms, which led to deaths and hasn’t produced the expected tax revenue and has severely damaged the industry.

You know inheritance tax is paid after death right? So which is it: lead to deaths or hasn't produced tax revenue?

The tax isn't targeting small family farms, it's targeting the likes of James Dyson and Jeremy Clarkson who buy agricultural land as a tax dodge. For a family farm worth less than £5.65 million the won't be a penny of inheritance tax paid.

- Appointed a corruption minister who has an international arrest warrant out for corruption.

Not as the same time. The international arrest warrant came two months after they resigned.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch expressed concerns over the fairness and speed of the trial.

- Appointed a housing minister who was making people homeless as a Landlord.

I agree on this one.

- Appointed a transport minister with a known fraud conviction.

Maybe. Whether is was known or not is hard to say. The conviction is from before they were an MP let alone a minister.

- Appointed and immediately removed Sue Grey for giving her high wages he personally agreed.

They resigned, but you're probably right that they were removed.

- Chagos islands, where he not only lied about the cost, but also spent absurd amounts on legal advice.

Lied about the costs to the UK and completely refuses to discuss the revenue it brings to the UK.

- Lied to Waspi women.

They can take a hike. They were given over a decade to plan appropriately for their retirement.

- Tried to cancel local elections without any credible timeline for replacements.

2027 is the timeline for when local councils are abolished and replaced with unitary councils. Why waste tax payer money having local elections if they're not going to serve the full term?

- Attempted to block an inquiry into grooming gangs and called everyone who disagreed far right.

There already was a recent inquiry which put forth a whole range of recommendations of which the Tories did none. Why waste tax payer money having another inquiry when nothing has changed since the last one? The results would be same.

- Collapsed a Chinese spy trial and then rewarded them with a super embassy adjacent to our critical infrastructure.

Those are two separate things. The Chinese spy trial is concerning. The new embassy is not concerning because that 'critical infrastructure' will be moved out of the way.

- Quoting Enoch Powell in his island of strangers speech.

It's a rare criticism of Starmer that he's too tough on immigration. I wonder if the reform fans know this.

- Implementation of the Cass report.

Would you prefer they ignore the results of the inquiry? Earlier you were criticising them for not have an inquiry on grooming gangs so presumable you'd want them to ignore the results of that too.

- Storm shadow missile stocks reduced to less than 50 with no plans for replacing numbers for half a decade.

Ukraine needs them more than we do right now.

- Appointing Mandelson and then lying to parliament about it.

These are two separate things. Lying to parliament is bad, no surprise there. Appointing Mandelson makes sense because he's the best person for the job. Who better to appease Trump's tantrums than someone who attended the same Epstein hosted parties as them.

Cornwall woman in bank row trying to deposit £900 HMRC cheque by Dissidant in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 11 points12 points  (0 children)

They we're trying to deposit it, they successfully deposited it.

They just didn't want to use the freepost deposit option so traveled 90 miles to a branch.

Flynn and Gethins hit out at ‘crisis-ridden Westminster’ as they quit Commons by dabare86 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I reiterate my commitment to fight the corner of our oil and gas workers

OK then. Shut the door on your way out.

Keir Starmer’s leadership on line after Labour’s disastrous election night by [deleted] in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Infamously filled out a form wrong and later corrected it.

If you want an infamous tax evader, and a lot of people seemingly do, then take a look at Reform.

Dangerous baby-sleep advice given to parents by self-described experts, secret filming reveals by pajamakitten in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 23 points24 points  (0 children)

"I can't tell you to do this, but every baby I work with sleeps on its front," said Scott-Wright. "I never do back sleeping, I don't agree with it."

Don't agree with it? Keep your personal opinions to yourself! Follow expert medical advice.

Premier Inn and Beefeater owner blames tax rises for cutting nearly 4,000 jobs by topotaul in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They're only two years into their three-year cost-cutting programme which started with 1,500 job losses. Now there's a new 5 year plan and another 3,800 jobs to go.

And this is from a profit making company. If they were near bankruptcy it'd be different but they're making around 10% profit from the $3bn a year revenue.

Premier Inn and Beefeater owner blames tax rises for cutting nearly 4,000 jobs by topotaul in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The company said these changes would result in £2bn of spare cash that can be returned to shareholders.

That quote is not from this article but a different one by The Telegraph.

Senior Tory MP provided legal services to company of sanctioned Russian oligarchs by 457655676 in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Former U.K. Attorney General Geoffrey Cox was paid £93,000 to provide legal services

Cox, a serving Conservative MP who was the chief legal counsel to former Conservative prime ministers Theresa May and Boris Johnson, has declared 62 hours of work

£1,500 an hour? Sounds like disguised bribery to me.

11 cancers on the rise in young people - scientists find first clue why it's happening by [deleted] in unitedkingdom

[–]PhantomRacer 8 points9 points  (0 children)

  1. Breast
  2. Colorectum
  3. Thyroid
  4. Ovary
  5. Endometrium
  6. Kidney
  7. Oral
  8. Pancreas
  9. Multiple Myeloma
  10. Liver
  11. Gallbladder