Current Affairs The General Election

[NilSatisOptimum]

Also, how is “ideological fervour” behind this? The taxpayer is going to have to heavily get behind a full rollout of full fibre broadband anyway.

We (Taxpayer) have already with Openreach part fibre rollout and again with full fibre rollout , it would appear it's just case partisan fandom on which party has old of the purse strings...

 

[zzr45]

Astonished that you can find an equivalence between a fundamentally racist policy and one about to making high speed broadband accessible for all.

It's stuff like that that gets you 5p charge on carrier bags in exchange for welfare cuts.

Not really, it’s equivalence between policies where the funding is coming from some other link in the chain.

In this case it’s BT shareholders being told what they will accept as an acceptable price for their shares (ropey from the off) creating more government debt in the process, although apparently it will be funded by taxing Amazon, Google and Facebook more. (They’ve not actually said how they’re going to do that, I assume using a similar model to the French.) Is it actually going to make that much difference? Not sure.

One would assume it would actually be cheaper and easier for the government to pay these companies for giving people a standard ‘regular’ broadband connection, either in the guise of tax relief or some other such scheme. If people want ‘better’ broadband they pay for it.

 

[neil999]

It didn’t take long for them to realise they are getting battered...bring out the freebies, bring out the freebies....

i like this one...if libraries didnt exist now and they were suggested as being free it would be thought of as being ridiculous

 

[abelard]

i like this one...if libraries didnt exist now and they were suggested as being free it would be thought of as being ridiculous

or health care

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Both major parties are guilty of the "vote for free stuff!" strategy at the moment.

And both will be paid for by gargantuan amounts of borrowing and we'll all be right back where we started in 2008. I think I mentioned it earlier in the thread but this will be passed off as Keynesian economics whilst conveniently ignoring 50% of his rather (small c, people, relax!) conservative approach which was to run a surplus in the growth part of a cycle. We've just skipped (yet again) to the "borrow to invest in infrastructure in a recession" part, albeit permanantly.

The last British government to run a surplus was Blair for a brief moment in 2001. Before that it was Heath.

It also makes the mistake of assuming that there are thousands of infrastructure projects that are shovel ready, when the reality is largely nonsense. The house building initiative for instance seems to assume not only is planning permission guaranteed for the thousands of homes they want to build, but also that an industry with widely reported skills shortages have the manpower to ramp up construction at the drop of a hat. They're treating people like mugs.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

No, I was happy for Plusnet to go bust because of my experience with them as a customer. I am more than happy with my current ISP, and have no wish to see them go under.

Also, how is “ideological fervour” behind this? The taxpayer is going to have to heavily get behind a full rollout of full fibre broadband anyway.

It is ideological because there's this assumption that the state (or the Labour-run state) are the best people to do literally everything. What's more, there's this overwhelming sense that they are the ones capable of being fair and just, and righting the wrongs imposed by rotters who have distorted society to date. It's akin to religious mania.

 

[Disgruntledgoat]

It also makes the mistake of assuming that there are thousands of infrastructure projects that are shovel ready, when the reality is largely nonsense. The house building initiative for instance seems to assume not only is planning permission guaranteed for the thousands of homes they want to build, but also that an industry with widely reported skills shortages have the manpower to ramp up construction at the drop of a hat. They're treating people like mugs.

Three decades of assuming everybody needs to go to university will do that, yes.

 

[Chewbacca]

It didn’t take long for them to realise they are getting battered...bring out the freebies, bring out the freebies....

Awaiting the Tory comeback of free broadband AND deporting one Muslim per connection

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Astonished that you can find an equivalence between a fundamentally racist policy and one about to making high speed broadband accessible for all.

It's stuff like that that gets you 5p charge on carrier bags in exchange for welfare cuts.

The broadband is one policy of many all with the same narrative: Labour will save the country by running this service for you, and we'll get the meanies to pay for it. It's exactly the same 'we're the good guys, and we'll do something you like whilst getting the 'enemy' to pay for it' shtick that Trump is using with the border wall.

 

[abelard]

It also makes the mistake of assuming that there are thousands of infrastructure projects that are shovel ready, when the reality is largely nonsense. The house building initiative for instance seems to assume not only is planning permission guaranteed for the thousands of homes they want to build, but also that an industry with widely reported skills shortages have the manpower to ramp up construction at the drop of a hat. They're treating people like mugs.

Three different already-costed intracity mass transit plans in the queue where I live (the largest city in Europe without mass transit).

Each one scrapped on successive occasions when the Tories and/or Liberal Democrats got back into power.

 

[peteblue]

i like this one...if libraries didnt exist now and they were suggested as being free it would be thought of as being ridiculous

Anything that is free is good. But let’s say that they spend the £100bn and buy BT, what then ? They give free broadband to everyone hurrah. But with much reduced income who pays the wages of the BT staff, who develops the future systems, who maintains the infrastructure ?. All of this has to be paid for each and every year...I expect Abbott did the sums behind this......

 

[peteblue]

It also makes the mistake of assuming that there are thousands of infrastructure projects that are shovel ready, when the reality is largely nonsense. The house building initiative for instance seems to assume not only is planning permission guaranteed for the thousands of homes they want to build, but also that an industry with widely reported skills shortages have the manpower to ramp up construction at the drop of a hat. They're treating people like mugs.

tbf, there’s quite a few of them in here......

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Three different already-costed intracity mass transit plans in the queue where I live (the largest city in Europe without mass transit).

Each one scrapped on successive occasions when the Tories and/or Liberal Democrats got back into power.

I can't think of many large infrastructure projects that have come in on time and on budget. That's kind of my point. I'm not saying these things aren't possible, or even that Labour's idea of raising borrowing to invest in infrastructure doesn't have a degree of merit. What I object to is both the scale of things they want to do, the absurdity of some of them, and the ease with which they believe they'll achieve them.

The manifesto in 2017 was ridiculous enough with Brexit on the agenda, but they're outdoing themselves thus far (with Brexit still on the agenda). I mean I can't think of any government in the world that wants to change society to the extent Labour are proposing, and certainly not in peace time. It's bonkers.

 

[neil999]

Anything that is free is good. But let’s say that they spend the £100bn and buy BT, what then ? They give free broadband to everyone hurrah. But with much reduced income who pays the wages of the BT staff, who develops the future systems, who maintains the infrastructure ?. All of this has to be paid for each and every year...I expect Abbott did the sums behind this......

i literally have no idea mate lol

i wouldnt dismiss it out of hand, its a forward thinking policy..broadband is going to be as important as electricity eventually, i wouldnt worry as this will never happen as labour wont get a majority but at least it will start a conversation..i fully expect tories to come out with a broadband policy now

 

[peteblue]

I think those that really want Labour to win will love all this giveaway stuff. Many Labour supporters probably don’t believe any of it anyway, and supporters of other parties will just laugh it off. Politicians tell lies to gain power, they all do it, it’s just that it’s now being taken to absurd levels....