Westminster Politics

BBC News, politics section, top story is inflation holding at 4%. The next 4 stories are all related to Labour and the issue with the Rochdale candidate plus the withdrawal of support for the Graham Jones. This is why Starmer has to be cautious on everything.
Yeah, they're going for Labour now. The vested interests are panicking.
 
I remember when the story about the Camden flats came out. Another reason why I won't buy new shit, it's all built to a price.
I honestly wasn't aware that it was this bad for new builds, especially the lease deals with service charges. One almost assumes everything is expensive these days, but to get shoddy quality built in modern times for premium prices is truly a nightmare. One wonders how many lives have been impacted.
 
I honestly wasn't aware that it was this bad for new builds, especially the lease deals with service charges. One almost assumes everything is expensive these days, but to get shoddy quality built in modern times for premium prices is truly a nightmare. One wonders how many lives have been impacted.
Purely a corporate focus on the margin.

"What if we used this material, it's cheaper and will break in 24 months but we will save £X per unit, meaning a reduction in cost of £XXX.....and the best bit is, the liability is not with us as the developer/builder but with the lease company..."

"trebles all round lads, bravo!"
 
The UK GDP had grown the last 15 years an average of 1.5%-2%. What I can't understand is that the NHS, education, the military and seems like every single meaningful department is underfunded and they can get away without people going to the streets shouting corruption and sharpen the guillotines

And this is not exclusively from UK
Isn't that 2% rise in GDP nullified by the 8% (around 5m people) rise in the population since 2010? It's the fact that the government have done nothing to manage this easily predictable change and its effect on public services that leads them to blaming 100,000 immigrants for all our woes.
 
Nah, everything's fine...

British Gas profits leap from £72m to £751m in a year

Unite union says UK energy supplier’s bumper results ‘come off the back of exorbitant energy bills’

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/15/british-gas-profits-energy-bills-centrica
Serves 12m homes, so about £60 each home, except also 300,000 businesses, some of which would be quite large I imagine (could be wrong) so probably quite a bit less than £60 each.

Obviously I'd rather have that cash in my own pocket but is it unreasonable compared to profits made by the other things we spend money on, supermarkets, internet and media supply, holidays or car dealers? Not sure, but I'm not scandalised by it either.

For the record I would not have privatised, and if I had done I would have invested the proceeds in infrastructure and improving public services, and not spunked them on tax cuts as Thatcher did, even though I gained from them, but I suppose that was a long time ago now.
 
Serves 12m homes, so about £60 each home, except also 300,000 businesses, some of which would be quite large I imagine (could be wrong) so probably quite a bit less than £60 each.

Obviously I'd rather have that cash in my own pocket but is it unreasonable compared to profits made by the other things we spend money on, supermarkets, internet and media supply, holidays or car dealers? Not sure, but I'm not scandalised by it either.

For the record I would not have privatised, and if I had done I would have invested the proceeds in infrastructure and improving public services, and not spunked them on tax cuts as Thatcher did, even though I gained from them, but I suppose that was a long time ago now.

You can't just look at British Gas in isolation. You need to look at its parent company which helps to determine the wholesale price its downstream company (British Gas) pays. Centrica profits - £2.75 Billion. When British Gas profits were lower a year earlier, Centrica's profits were £3.3 Billion. Evidently production costs and scarcity aren't the only reasons for the wholesale gas price.
 
You can't just look at British Gas in isolation. You need to look at its parent company which helps to determine the wholesale price its downstream company (British Gas) pays. Centrica profits - £2.75 Billion. When British Gas profits were lower a year earlier, Centrica's profits were £3.3 Billion. Evidently production costs and scarcity aren't the only reasons for the wholesale gas price.
I wasn't, I was replying to the post and linked article I quoted. If you have the patience to look into Centrica's turnover and profits per customer then go ahead, I might agree with you.
 
I wasn't, I was replying to the post and linked article I quoted. If you have the patience to look into Centrica's turnover and profits per customer then go ahead, I might agree with you.

They have a stake in some renewables and nuclear power, but predominantly they're a gas production and supply firm. As far as I can see their main customers are their own downstream companies: ie British Gas (and Bord Gais in Ireland) so ultimately the same 12 million households and sundry businesses as mentioned in the quoted post. British Gas make the £60 per household profit, but they also pass on the costs associated with the even greater profits of their parent company and main supplier.
 
I honestly wasn't aware that it was this bad for new builds, especially the lease deals with service charges. One almost assumes everything is expensive these days, but to get shoddy quality built in modern times for premium prices is truly a nightmare. One wonders how many lives have been impacted.


I live in a flat in Hither Green that is relatively new build (built in 2011 i think) - one of the ways these geniuses thought of saving money was to not install energy meters to to the flats by default (because the providers would not do it for free for a commercial client), so they left it to the future tenants to do that. So basically my flat is connected straight to the UK Power Network and I have not paid for energy for the past 4 years, same for some of my neighbors. I even contacted UK Power NEtwork and they said there's not a lot they can do, unless I want to shoot myself on the foot and have a supplier install one so that I can finally pay my electricity.
 
They have a stake in some renewables and nuclear power, but predominantly they're a gas production and supply firm. As far as I can see their main customers are their own downstream companies: ie British Gas (and Bord Gais in Ireland) so ultimately the same 12 million households and sundry businesses as mentioned in the quoted post. British Gas make the £60 per household profit, but they also pass on the costs associated with the even greater profits of their parent company and main supplier.
Thanks, just having a look at Centrica's share price, and while it has risen this year it's not that much different to what it was 10 years ago. Annual dividend 2.43%. With a poor attention span I know I have limitations on this stuff though, I very rarely buy individual shares.
https://www.google.com/search?q=cen...EAAYjwIyEwgBEC4YgwEYxwEYsQMY0QMYgAQyDQgCEAAYg
 
I live in a flat in Hither Green that is relatively new build (built in 2011 i think) - one of the ways these geniuses thought of saving money was to not install energy meters to to the flats by default (because the providers would not do it for free for a commercial client), so they left it to the future tenants to do that. So basically my flat is connected straight to the UK Power Network and I have not paid for energy for the past 4 years, same for some of my neighbors. I even contacted UK Power NEtwork and they said there's not a lot they can do, unless I want to shoot myself on the foot and have a supplier install one so that I can finally pay my electricity.
That's going to be a big ouch one day :(

I got free gas in a flat for a year once, the gas board kept sending people round to look for the meter, which was obviously in someone else's flat but they wouldn't believe us. Never did pay, sorry someone else.
 
I honestly wasn't aware that it was this bad for new builds, especially the lease deals with service charges. One almost assumes everything is expensive these days, but to get shoddy quality built in modern times for premium prices is truly a nightmare. One wonders how many lives have been impacted.
This isn't new, it's been going on for decades, think about all the houses/flats that were built in the 1960's in the Manchester area, most of those are/were worse than the "slums" they were built to replace, some were so bad they've been demolished already
 
I live in a flat in Hither Green that is relatively new build (built in 2011 i think) - one of the ways these geniuses thought of saving money was to not install energy meters to to the flats by default (because the providers would not do it for free for a commercial client), so they left it to the future tenants to do that. So basically my flat is connected straight to the UK Power Network and I have not paid for energy for the past 4 years, same for some of my neighbors. I even contacted UK Power NEtwork and they said there's not a lot they can do, unless I want to shoot myself on the foot and have a supplier install one so that I can finally pay my electricity.

We are neighbours. :nervous:
 
I suppose it would give an incoming government a greater pool of talent to find ministers from. God knows there are some feckwits in there at the moment.

We have a by-election tomorrow in what is the Kingswood constituency, which changes at the next GE. Our MP was Chris Skidmore who resigned due to disagreement with Sunak total climb down on green environmental issues.
I am hopeful that it will go to the Labour candidate as the Tory candidate has fought a typically dirty campaign.
 
We have a by-election tomorrow in what is the Kingswood constituency, which changes at the next GE. Our MP was Chris Skidmore who resigned due to disagreement with Sunak total climb down on green environmental issues.
I am hopeful that it will go to the Labour candidate as the Tory candidate has fought a typically dirty campaign.
It’s today mate! I’m off to vote in a little while, make sure you don’t forget!
 
We have a by-election tomorrow in what is the Kingswood constituency, which changes at the next GE. Our MP was Chris Skidmore who resigned due to disagreement with Sunak total climb down on green environmental issues.
I am hopeful that it will go to the Labour candidate as the Tory candidate has fought a typically dirty campaign.
I'm ashamed to say I hadn't realised it was a dual by-election day. I see the other one is because that complete and utter wanker Peter Bone has gone, so who's standing, Mrs complete and utter wanker. The tories really are unbelievable at times, but I guess a 90 year-old selection committee will have picked her.

Also take your id!
 
Looking at the replies one of them says Corbyn should join the Greens. I wonder how they would handle that one?

I would vote Labour personally but I wouldn't be unhappy at more Green MPs either. Would evaluate it at manifesto-time.

Don't think the Greens need that baggage, best if Corbyn is an independent who may vote with them anyway.

I'm still hopeful for a Lab-Green coalition. Very unlikely of course but it's the only way I can see Labour coming close to the policies i'd like.
 
Don't think the Greens need that baggage, best if Corbyn is an independent who may vote with them anyway.

I'm still hopeful for a Lab-Green coalition. Very unlikely of course but it's the only way I can see Labour coming close to the policies i'd like.
At least the Greens have created a political party and are fighting their corner, none of this 'it's impossible because everything is against us' you get from the far left. I wish them well, if not a supporter as it stands I am a potential one.
 


I'm not massively surprised there's been a move away from Labour. I was in Sheffield at the weekend and the centre feels like a total ghost town. It's a weird place considering its size but clearly tons of bad investment has happened.
 
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The next 10 years will be
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Isn't that 2% rise in GDP nullified by the 8% (around 5m people) rise in the population since 2010? It's the fact that the government have done nothing to manage this easily predictable change and its effect on public services that leads them to blaming 100,000 immigrants for all our woes.

The 1.5-2% is yearly. From 2010, the nominal gdp has grown almost 25-30%