Is Labour Prepared for Government?

raduv1

Beer and sandwiches surely?

EarthRod

A nice ham cheese and tom washed down with a nice cold La Chouffe. Throw in a packet of prawn cocktail and I'll pledge my allegiance to Labour forever.

Cliff

For myself the government we have now is not prepared for government, and yet just the thought of a JC led government scares me to sh*te . Easy to build a following ( momentum) when not in power , once in that following will build folly upon folly.

Toko Black

It might surprise a few people (or it might not) that the Daily Mail is UK's most right-wing newspaper.

With that in mind, the article can be toned down, stripped of the emotive wording and confusion of what is said by Labour politicians and what is said in the report.

So you are quite right in refraining from commenting on an extreme right wing article you have linked to.

rustybin

Oh dear.

Maybe one of these might be more to your taste?

There's a new idea that might be even better than universal basic income

UK state should pay for housing, food, transport and internet, says report

But if the Independent and Guardian are too right wing to report on this, then perhaps you might accept this from those well known right wingers, the labour party.

John McDonnell response to the Institute for Global Prosperity’s report on Universal Basic Services

rustybin

What about a British Rail cheese sandwich with the corners turning up? Labour will be bringing those back. Ah, the memories of nationalised rail.

mij

My personal take/opinion:

That is about potential ideas for dealing with the future probability that many of the UK's jobs will be replaced by automation.
If there simply aren't jobs for a significant amount of the population because technological advances mean it is more cost effective and efficient to replace those people with software and hardware what do we do ?
Consider the rate of change of technological advancement, what was automated 100yrs ago and how fast the increase in automation has become.

I know some people will be convinced that humans can't be replaced by automation in the work place in significant enough numbers because technology isn't clever or practical enough to replace us and won't be for a long time.
However, that is contrary to all the evidence and serious investment in automation technology both in practice and in development.
Not too long ago, quite a few people were arguing about the fact that we will not see self driving cars on the roads for a very long time, because computers are no where near intelligent enough to replace a driver in the real world and won't be for at least 20yrs if ever.
We argued that field testing was already underway and that it would come a lot sooner then they thought.
How wrong they were, with self driving systems already in operation and the majority of the motoring giants testing and getting ready to put consumer cars on the road in the next few years should they get the permission.

Look back at the industrial revolution and how that dramatically changed the social and working population/culture of the UK.
People had to retrain and move on mass - when the industrial revolution started, the UK population was around 10.5million according to the very first census in 1801.
Consider the population size now, the number of people that would have to retrain and the types of roles that will be still needed.
We have already seen a massive change in the way we shop, bank and socialise, consider how much of that is now done online and/or via automated services.
Even advice on money, insurance, health care, travel etc is significantly automated and requires far fewer human staff to operate.

We as human beings will no doubt adapt and evolve skill and career wise to future demands, however, it is going to be those currently working and those about to start that will face a massive issue of not being prepared and expected to adapt faster than most people are capable of.
Those in their 40's and 50's may get though their careers before a change is significant enough to demand any drastic action, but certainly those in their 20's and 30's need to be prepared for radical changes both in their future work and the structure of society as a whole.

Goooner

And my take.

Labour love this as it gives them cover to raise taxes, increase the size of the state, and create a new subclass of citizens wholly dependent on the state as parent.

Given the choice, who would vote for the parent that expects you to work for a living rather than one who will give you literally almost everything.

Enki

Not sure if you're a fan, but sounds just like this.:

Basic Assistance

IronGiant

I think a universal basic income is an interesting idea. I've got an open mind on that and don't dismiss it out of hand.

I think more than that where we are expecting the state to provide things as a matter of course that individuals should source for themselves is wrong.

There are exceptions of course. The disabled need more support. Children in care need support. And I support the NHS continuing to be free at the point of use (it needs reform though).

But the proposal in the article I linked to is just bonkers.

Will have to read your link later.