Mastodawn

CitiZenSane Jan 12, 2023

So, Tories, this legislation of yours. People go on strike because of the way you treat them. So you sack them. Then you can’t staff the institutions they worked in. Where you already can’t fill vacancies. Remind me, how’s this meant to work again?

Ben Evans Jan 11, 2023

Tory government response is one of their all time classics:

"We hope it's not necessary to use these powers".

So the whole thing is just vice signalling nonsense. They want to look like they're doing something, without actually doing anything.

They'll enforce minimum service standards, which aren't met now, which is why nurses and ambulance staff are on strike.

So what do you do if minimum service standards aren't met when there is no strike? Sack everyone including the govnt??

Ben Evans Jan 11, 2023

It's just so infuriating to have a govnt unwilling to fix their own problems.

2 more years of this BS.

brewdog1950 Jan 11, 2023

Tory logic - they obviously don’t do critical thinking at public schools.

Piers Beckley Jan 11, 2023

@ferryoons If the end goal is Privatisation, the methods make sense.

Ferryoons Jan 11, 2023

@piersb Agreed. And it is. Even more urgency to be independent.

bazzalisk Jan 11, 2023

@ferryoons It means they can then privatise them because they have failed in the public sector!

Ferryoons Jan 11, 2023

@bazzalisk Everything? We know they’re aiming to flog off the NHS. But all the schools? All the roads, buses, railways (oh, yes, flogged off already), binmen, and … and … yeah, the civil service?

Thorne Lawler Jan 11, 2023

@ferryoons @cstross that’s it: It’s not meant to work.
It was more obvious with Trump, but that’s the bottom line either way: this is genocide capitalism.

Justin D-Z Jan 11, 2023

@thorne @ferryoons @cstross Sounds a lot like the GOP playbook. Break government, then run on it being broken. Privatization is the answer to everything. Markets are perfect! And even if they aren't, the blame points elsewhere. Nihilistic, but also effective.

Thorne Lawler Jan 11, 2023

@cstross @ferryoons @justindz it’s simpler than that.
Genocide-capitalism:
If you already have enough resources to replicate whatever aspects of civil society you currently need, why not just trash civil society and steal as much as you can in the process?
You get rich and the dangerous, unappealing poor get dead, without you needing to actually kill anyone.
Win-win.

Ferryoons Jan 11, 2023

@thorne @cstross @justindz And they get rid of what the Nazis called useless eaters. Well bugger that for a game of soldiers.

yunchtime Jan 11, 2023

@thorne @cstross @ferryoons @justindz

sort of like Brunner's "The Sheep Look Up." seems like we've reached the third book of the trilogy, then.

Ferryoons Jan 11, 2023

@yunchtime @thorne @cstross @justindz I had to look him up. Seems worth a read.

yunchtime Jan 11, 2023

@ferryoons @thorne @cstross @justindz

ah, well, I grew up on that trilogy. the first book, Stand on Zanzibar is also famous for his technique based on John Dos Passos novels, incorporating news tidbits and lots of jump cuts. In that book, Mulligan's "Hip Crime Vocab" is stand-out. The trilogy can be depressing, but Sheep Look Up is a classic all on it's own. The environmental guerillas, the Trainists, are a good thread.

cheers!

Alexx Kay Jan 12, 2023

@thorne @cstross @ferryoons @justindz "Currently" is a crucial word there. It's not a viable long-term strategy, but capitalism can't perceive the long-term.

Thorne Lawler Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons @AlexxKay @justindz @cstross oh absolutely. The fantasies about retiring to a bunker or going to live on Mars come from an underlying awareness that they aren’t actually capable of surviving without the human race, but the threshold where they could still fully accept their own humanity is probably back around the age of language acquisition for these people.

Billy Smith Jan 11, 2023

@justindz @thorne @ferryoons @cstross

One reason that Sunak was not in the Parliament before he became PM, was because he was meeting with the heads of USA private healthcare companies.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@BillySmith @justindz @thorne @cstross yes, a lot of us noticed that.

GeofCox Jan 12, 2023

@thorne @ferryoons @cstross

Good discussion:
Is the current UK Tory, US Republican, etc, apparent incompetence simply the result of them abandoning reason and evidence in favour of a stupid free-market-free-for-all ideology?
Or is it the result of a deliberate strategy to undermine good government and public services, so that mega-corporations can swoop in and pick up whatever pieces are left?

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@GeofCox @thorne @cstross A mixture of both, I think.

Charlie Stross Jan 12, 2023

@GeofCox @thorne @ferryoons You seem to assume they believe in the free market ideology, rather than using it as an excuse for policies that enable them to pickpocket from the public purse. (It isn't even a pro-megacorporation ideology: the Confederation of British Industry, Chambers of Commerce, and Institute of Directors are all solidly anti-brexit and want more infrastructure spending.) The only real beneficiaries are thieves in expensive suits.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@cstross @GeofCox @thorne I agree wholeheartedly. They use corporate structures because they have to have a framework to run things, or procure things. But it’s all about corporations they previously invested in, or direct bribes.

Alan 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇪🇺🏳️‍🌈Jan 11, 2023

@ferryoons Privatisation. Followed by a relaxation of immigration in "targeted fields".

This is a softening up exercise, nothing more or less.

Indy Richard 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Jan 11, 2023

@ferryoons I think you are perhaps making an assumption that this Tory Government have a single clue what they are doing.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@IndyRichard Ye-e-s, well …

William Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons it's not meant to work. It's meant to collapse those institutions (that the senior Tories don't rely on anyway; only little people use the NHS) so that they can be eventually privatized.

Very Human Robot Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons
It's supposed to break down so they can sell the assets cheap to private contractors, that then have a monopoly.
Working exactly as intended.

Naomi Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons I don't think they want to staff the NHS.

They already set the minimum salary to qualify for working visas higher than what nurses & junior doctors earn.

They've got to maximize the return on their investments in all those private healthcare companies they keep bunging lucrative government contracts to.

And then when the NHS is no more, they'll be able to practice eugenics like the US does, killing off anyone who can't work, because they won't be able to afford private healthcare.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@NaomiElizabeth Definitely the last point. Here, the support for Scottish independence grows steadily, in pursuit of a wiser, kinder society.

The Doctor Is In Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons Tories: "It's meant to make easily-fooled voters think we're protecting them from having their lives disrupted. And, if it makes things worse, we'll just blame somebody else..."

AngharadHafod Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons I think it works like this:

Scenario 1. People don't go on strike, but the pay is so low that fewer people are attracted into the service. Result: service fails over time, and so "needs to be privatised".

Scenario 2: people go on strike and get fired for it. Result: service fails rapidly, and so "needs to be privatised".

Either way the Tories win, if they stay in power, but with this new law they are more likely to achieve it before the next election.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@AngharadHafod That’s certainly part of it. I’m sure it applies to the NHS. But it’s interesting when they do the same thing to services already privatised, like rail, which are already demonstrably failing. Here it smacks of an arrogant, keep the peasants down attitude. To which the response has to be either rapid democratic change, or rapidly increased civil disorder.

Yaseen, Yaseen of Yaseen 🏳️‍⚧️Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons @AngharadHafod
The Tory gameplan is proto-fascist in nature. Give powerful business interests their due, or have friendly friends control business. The economy is fragile, but businesses love stability of politics. That's why Truss was so damming. It's not cos she was bad, but cos she changed policy so drastically. That's why political change is bad for business - because it changes policy. A Tory dictatorship would be amenable for businesses, if it happened.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@yassie_j @AngharadHafod When the Truss-Kwarteng budget fiasco occurred, her defence was “we’ve only got two years to get this done [subtext, before we’re thrown out]”.

At the time I read that as, we only have a short window to tear everything down and privatise beyond rescue.

And that includes human rights, of course.

DavidSE11 🏳️‍🌈Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons they are trying to shift the blame when the services eventually collapse

Kevin Davidson Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons It doesn’t have to “work”. Performative cruelty is the point, with a side helping of attempted scapegoating. Probably with half an eye on being able to sell off any remaining wreckage to their pals at fire sale prices.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@MetalSamurai Agreed, with the inclusion of their own profit from that. Same as kleptocracies everywhere.

Phil Thane ✅Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons Its not intended to work like that. This legislation has 2 aims. 1 short term, distract from current shit storm. 2 long term frighten workers so much they daren't strike in future.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@pthane I agree that’s their aim, but I don’t think they’re reading the room.

Lennie Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons they benefit if the system fails and they just don't care who they harm.

Ferryoons Jan 12, 2023

@drgs100 No, they really don’t give a toss who they harm.

JanPV Jan 12, 2023

@ferryoons Sell cheap=> asset strip=> keep afloat with state subsidy. Just like all the other national assets they've given away to their mates.