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What would you _actually_ change?
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I would love to hear what policy solutions people would want to implement in REAL life if they were actually in charge of the country and you had to defend its implementation in public. Keep it focussed and real - no abstract ideas, signalling or wishes. |
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By *otMe66Man
over a year ago
Terra Firma |
This may not seem a big hitter but it does have many touch points.
Introduction of a fully metric system in the UK.
The UK has far too many crossovers, such as, distance in miles and purchasing fuel in litres.
The cost to manufacturing is higher to accommodate for the differences in so many things such as conversions from kilo's to lbs, for weight but not food weight!
I believe we need clarity in our measures and weights and that should be metric. It will also bring us in line with mainland Europe making trade and travel much easier and less costly.
Nothing earth shattering but I think it would begin to remove unnecessary overheads that do nothing other than confuse and have also been ignored by successive governments. |
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"This may not seem a big hitter but it does have many touch points.
Introduction of a fully metric system in the UK.
The UK has far too many crossovers, such as, distance in miles and purchasing fuel in litres.
The cost to manufacturing is higher to accommodate for the differences in so many things such as conversions from kilo's to lbs, for weight but not food weight!
I believe we need clarity in our measures and weights and that should be metric. It will also bring us in line with mainland Europe making trade and travel much easier and less costly.
Nothing earth shattering but I think it would begin to remove unnecessary overheads that do nothing other than confuse and have also been ignored by successive governments. "
I think this is an excellent idea and one that should have relatively little practical negative impact and a lot of actual economic benefits. I can also see it would be emotionally charged. |
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By *otMe66Man
over a year ago
Terra Firma |
"This may not seem a big hitter but it does have many touch points.
Introduction of a fully metric system in the UK.
The UK has far too many crossovers, such as, distance in miles and purchasing fuel in litres.
The cost to manufacturing is higher to accommodate for the differences in so many things such as conversions from kilo's to lbs, for weight but not food weight!
I believe we need clarity in our measures and weights and that should be metric. It will also bring us in line with mainland Europe making trade and travel much easier and less costly.
Nothing earth shattering but I think it would begin to remove unnecessary overheads that do nothing other than confuse and have also been ignored by successive governments.
I think this is an excellent idea and one that should have relatively little practical negative impact and a lot of actual economic benefits. I can also see it would be emotionally charged."
Very emotionally charged I would have thought, by the old guard. However, the removal of overheads and being more inline with mainland Europe will bring benefits to the the younger generations who will eventually be running the country.
This change as light as it might seem, will bring stability and future benefits, in my opinion. |
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Make it illegal for corporations to donate to political parties.
Cap private donations to something sensible.
Remove tax exemptions for oil, gas and coal companies. Redirect the support to renewables so we can have cheap electricity, and energy independence.
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By *ovebjsMan
over a year ago
Bristol |
"Make it illegal for corporations to donate to political parties.
Cap private donations to something sensible.
Remove tax exemptions for oil, gas and coal companies. Redirect the support to renewables so we can have cheap electricity, and energy independence.
"
As long as that goes for the unions supporting the Labour Party  |
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"Make it illegal for corporations to donate to political parties.
Cap private donations to something sensible.
Remove tax exemptions for oil, gas and coal companies. Redirect the support to renewables so we can have cheap electricity, and energy independence.
As long as that goes for the unions supporting the Labour Party "
It goes for anyone who can gain preferential treatment from the government. |
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By *otMe66Man
over a year ago
Terra Firma |
"Make it illegal for corporations to donate to political parties.
Cap private donations to something sensible.
Remove tax exemptions for oil, gas and coal companies. Redirect the support to renewables so we can have cheap electricity, and energy independence.
"
Donations,I'm no expert in finding loopholes, but I can see the above resembling a fishing net.
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By *coptoCouple
over a year ago
Côte d'Azur & Great Yarmouth |
A fixed GBP/EUR exchange rate.
If one thinks about the history of the euro, forget the “philosophical” and “idealogical” blah blah, with the collapse of Bretton Woods, European trade couldn’t have survived without an accounting currency (the German wants to buy an Italian product advertised at 50,000 lira. Wow, that’s cheap, less than 100 DM. But by the time the product arrives, the lira has re-valued and to pay the 50,000 lira the German has to pay by bank transfer, say, 175 DM. Suddenly not so cheap…)
From 1975, European and much international trading was via the European Unit of Account (EUA), so that in the example above, the Italian product would have been ordered by the German, and paid for, in EUA or DM or lira bound to it very tightly. Over the years, and with the interim European Currency Unit (ECU), the fluctuations between most European currencies became so minuscule that having to publish almost identical exchange rates month after month became ridiculous and, as we all know, in 1999 they became fixed and the euro became a physical entity rather than an accounting currency.
Of course, the UK had already withdrawn from the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM) which right from the start had obliged the GBP and other member currencies to not deviate from the accounting currency by more than 6% but the Banks must maintain their profits, mustn’t they?
No question of the UK adopting the euro as its currency (that ship has sailed) but there is absolutely no reason at all why trade between the UK and Europe shouldn’t be at a fixed exchange rate to avoid “surprises” and to “piggy-back” the euro’s leverage (it’s the second international reserve currency after the US dollar and would be first if not for the current crises), and facilitate trade with countries whose local currency is pegged to the euro. Oh, but then the Banks would lose money, wouldn’t they? |
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"Make it illegal for corporations to donate to political parties.
Cap private donations to something sensible.
Remove tax exemptions for oil, gas and coal companies. Redirect the support to renewables so we can have cheap electricity, and energy independence.
Donations,I'm no expert in finding loopholes, but I can see the above resembling a fishing net.
"
Still, worth trying. I'm sure the government and the billionaires are generally hoping we stay divided and hopeless. But it would be good to at least try. |
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By *otMe66Man
over a year ago
Terra Firma |
"RNLI?
You are joking I presume... they do quite alright thank you, and can even themselves send MILLIONS abroad!"
Why would the thought of paying those who volunteer and risks their lives whilst saving others be a joke? What am I missing?
I could see this being supported by the public. |
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"RNLI?
You are joking I presume... they do quite alright thank you, and can even themselves send MILLIONS abroad!
Why would the thought of paying those who volunteer and risks their lives whilst saving others be a joke? What am I missing?
I could see this being supported by the public."
Farage and the brexit voters would be up in arms! |
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"RNLI?
You are joking I presume... they do quite alright thank you, and can even themselves send MILLIONS abroad!
Why would the thought of paying those who volunteer and risks their lives whilst saving others be a joke? What am I missing?
I could see this being supported by the public."
We all admire the brave volunteers and the people at local level. Different at the top though. I friend of mine worked as a consultant on internet security for them and said they are a rotten organisation awash with money. He got quite upset when I wanted to make a donation at a lifeboat station. This was a few years back, not long after there were a couple of stories that made the papers about harsh / poor treatment of station staff from the top. |
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By *otMe66Man
over a year ago
Terra Firma |
"RNLI?
You are joking I presume... they do quite alright thank you, and can even themselves send MILLIONS abroad!
Why would the thought of paying those who volunteer and risks their lives whilst saving others be a joke? What am I missing?
I could see this being supported by the public.
We all admire the brave volunteers and the people at local level. Different at the top though. I friend of mine worked as a consultant on internet security for them and said they are a rotten organisation awash with money. He got quite upset when I wanted to make a donation at a lifeboat station. This was a few years back, not long after there were a couple of stories that made the papers about harsh / poor treatment of station staff from the top. "
That is a simple fix, take the charity status away and make it a gov department / responsibility.
In fact I can't believe the safety of people around our coastline and beaches are not already managed and paid for by the government.
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By *coptoCouple
over a year ago
Côte d'Azur & Great Yarmouth |
“I can't believe the safety of people around our coastline and beaches are not already managed and paid for by the government”
It’s the same throughout Europe, the brave souls who risk their lives are funded entirely by voluntary contributions, an exception being the French Société Nationale de Sauvetage en Mer, where 35% of funding is provided by central government, departments (counties) and even local communes.
Lifeboats have always been independent, dating from when a good living was to be made from “rescuing” persons and property in distress at sea. But none of the European umbrella organisations has as bad a reputation for extravagance and waste as the RNLI. |
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"Double MPs pay and abolish all 2nd Income."
Stop all MPs, Lords and cabinet members (some of whom are totally unelected, not MPs or Lords) salaries, expenses, subsidised restaurants and all other forms of renumeration while ever there are people in regular work who are forced to use food banks to survive (ie. people who will starve without charity, food banks are _not_ paid for by the government regardless of what some tory voters might believe), and while ever there are children in this country who go without food.
Also abolish all second income for MPs. Also make it illegal, punishable by suspending during investigation, and immediate termination without public paid pension if found guilty of, for MPs/cabinet/lords to exert influence or vote on behalf of measures directly benefitting companies or individuals that they have previously/currently/shortly-after-retiring received extraordinary renumeration from.
(Ie. Having worked for minimum wage at a charitable concern would not block from voting that "charities should get better help", but having received hundreds of thousands from an oil company as a non-exec would block from voting that "fossil fuel companies should be given tax cuts"). |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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"RNLI?
You are joking I presume... they do quite alright thank you, and can even themselves send MILLIONS abroad!
Why would the thought of paying those who volunteer and risks their lives whilst saving others be a joke? What am I missing?
I could see this being supported by the public.
Farage and the brexit voters would be up in arms!"
I am a brexit supporter but I'd still pay them |
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All private sector companies stopped final salary schemes around 2005 as they are unaffordable yet many public sector are still on final salary schemes 17 years later.
This is one of the biggest expenditures and needs to be stopped, phased out as soon as possible. |
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By (user no longer on site)
over a year ago
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ENERGY RESOURCES;
as I said in another thread, the UK has or can have vast energy resources from various sources within the UK and UK waters.
Rather than put all our eggs in one basket, I would cover ALL;
1; increase offshore wind farms (wind turbines)... green energy
2; increase R&D of Hydrogen
plants....green energy
3; increase R&D of harnessing wave power again green energy
4; Increase North Sea Oil & Gas Production and Exploration including giving the go ahead for Rosebank and Cambo projects as well as 100 exploration leases. (well done, about time).
5; Go ahead for 8 Nuclear Plants to provide Nuclear energy for future decades although the SNP have put a block on one in Scotland so the whole of Scotland suffers.
I am not a conservative voter and after their recent actions I could not / may not vote for them, But I fully support them covering ALL aspects of Energy and not putting all their eggs in one basket such as the SNP are doing |
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