IMO these commentators got addicted to swashbuckling, revolutionary language during Brexit and now can’t switch it off.
Labour party can’t call them out because the real politik is that it would be spun as them minimizing concerns about immigration.
My dad’s family used to have a dairy farm. There was one point in time, like 100 years ago, where they rivalled Wiseman’s for distribution in Scotland. However my uncle took it over in the late 70s and gradually made bad decisions with regards to running it. I think it was ok for a while because the long standing managers were on top of everything but when they retired everything became more chaotic. My poor uncle probably should have gone into academia as opposed to business since he’s neurodivergent* and not particularly practically minded but his brothers had left to start careers in other professions, so I think he felt the mantle had fallen to him.
From what I can tell it was kind of inertia that completely killed the business. With supermarkets charging less and less for milk, the old way of operating a dairy farm as a regular business is not really viable. Successful farmers these days don’t just do produce; they do open days and sell “country experiences” to punters who crave some kind of rural nostalgia. You pretty much have to be half farm and half events agency providing organised fun to school/office groups or families.
*From what I understand, they didn’t really have the vocabulary to recognise this in the 70s. Family thought he was bright but eccentric.
Ok, I understand where you’re coming from now!
Corruption at the highest levels of government!!
I can’t work out your political persuasion from that nickname for Sir Keith. There are reasons a right wing person would use it and there are different reasons for a left wing person.
Edit: But yeah, to your point, I agree that Labour - since New Labour - have had a bad record on civil liberties. Both parties do to be fair, and I think it’s mainly due to the policies being popular amongst the general public and cheap to implement (for the government at least).
Former Economist subscriber, in my opinion this plays into the Economist’s centre-right positioning. They are liberals and might not be the most fiscally right-wing but there is a trope they sometimes use where they remind readers that Labour aren’t always socially liberal; Tories are bon vivants who let people have a little flutter/gander/drink while Labour are hall monitor buzzkills. You actually see the trope a lot more often in the Spectator but it’s present in miniature in the Economist too.
Nice to see we’re keeping up with China! Social credits incoming…
Probably a whole confluence of factors… economists won’t have a settled view and are likely arguing about it rn
Labour have always had a bad track record of civil liberties. Although as the other reply notes this was a Tory policy initially, I’ve not gone over the proposed amendments to see if they’d have implemented it slightly differently (I suspect not). Unfortunately policies like these are both popular and free for the govt to implement so it’s literally a no-brainer for MPs to vote through without thinking about consequences.
This has to be the result of house prices falling due to the interest rates being high. I’d imagine once the BoE descreases the rate again this will return to increasing.
Homelessness minister: I’m doing my part!
I’m doing my part
Guilty of the original set of charges as judged by a jury who had access to way more information than random people online. Now there are new charges being added.
I suspect people who are keen on her innocence are similar to other conspiracy theorists who feel important when they are being contrarian.
This policy sounds dumb, in particular the insultingly small amount of money involved. That said, there is a problem with shoplifting in the UK where the police aren’t treating it as a serious problem and often refuse to get involved. High streets are already dying with predatory retail unit rents and losing stock ontop of that might end up being the nail in the coffin.