Alberto Balsam

A toxic combination of low wages and high bills is crushing this country. Today is Starmer's last chance to set out a plan that will end Rip-Off Britain: rent controls, nationalising water, freezing energy prices, and taxing wealth. No more half measures.

Starmer just announced 'full national ownership' of British Steel. Labour are bringing emergency legislation, because 'public ownership is in the public interest' So this government CAN nationalise. And they can do it quickly. Why, then, are we not announcing emergency legislation to bring our water into public ownership? 🧐

@AngelaRayner You had a leader a few years ago who pledged to sort out all those things and you stabbed him in the back. *shrug

Our party has suffered a historic defeat. Many good Labour colleagues have lost their seats despite working hard for those they represented. We have lost good Labour administrations and lost the chance for more. What we are doing isn’t working, and it needs to change. This may be our last chance. The Labour Party must now live up to our name: we must be the party of working people. We’ve heard the same on the doorstep as we’ve seen in the polls - the cost of living is the top issue for voters of all parties. People have turned to populists and nationalists because we have not done enough to fix it. Living standards are barely higher than they were a decade and a half ago. People feel hopeless - that the cost of living crisis will never end, and now they see oil and gas companies use global instability to post record profits. Once again, ordinary people are paying the price for decisions they didn’t make. It’s no wonder that across the UK, working people feel the system is rigged against them. Things can be so much better than this. Countries including Spain and Canada have shown that economies can grow and people can thrive when governments stay true to labour and social democratic values and put people first. We need to learn from that. In London, we lost young people who fear they will never afford a home. In my patch and across the north, we lost working people whose wages are too low and costs too high. In Scotland and Wales, people do not currently see Labour as the answer.  We are in danger of becoming a party of the well-off, not working people. The Peter Mandelson scandal showed a toxic culture of cronyism.  Decisions like cutting winter fuel allowance just weren’t what people expected from a Labour government. For too long, successive governments have allowed wealth and power to concentrate at the top without a plan to ensure the benefits of economic growth are shared fairly. The result is an economy that does not work for the majority, with wealth concentrated in too few hands. This level of inequality, alongside squeezed living standards, is the outcome of a model built on deregulation, privatisation, and trickle-down economics. But we have the chance to fix this.  1/2

@techtoby__ Force to sell it to local council at the standard market rate - will help replenish council housing stock. Landlordism has to end.

If a landlord has no mortgage left they’ll always make profit off of rent. Now what

.@ZackPolanski is spot on here, the Greens aren't splitting the left vote because this Labour party isn't left wing.

@robprogressive You're a clown. And only other clowns will sign up to your silly little zoom classes

Warning, do not pay off your mortgage (yet)* 
 Now, I have this on good authority from the ex-chancellor of the UK 
 He said to me that the government ‘are pushing up inflation as a strategy’
 This means the value of your money is going down, but also: 
 1. The value of your debt is going down 2. The value of the asset will (over time) go up
 There's more reasons to not pay off your mortgage yet*, but right now the main one is because the government are going to pay your mortgage off for you
 The government have nearly 3 trillion in debt
 They're not going to pay it back anytime soon it seems, so inflation increases and it pays off their debt through the back door, but it also pays off your mortgage

And when you add war and energy and oil and food and, importantly, higher interest rates, your actual REAL lifestyle inflation is significantly more And you reduce your monthly repayments, which you can reinvest into assets that appreciate AND assets like property are much cheaper now the crash has already started  See next comment below 👇🏻

@PremierFPLTools @FPLuke97 @FPL_Harry Cool. How far, out of interest? I have been playing the game since the start...I don't think even the FPL site has records for the very first season (which annoyingly was probably my best ever season)

@FPLuke97 @FPL_Harry We go back further than 10 years

📊 Best FPL Managers – May Rankings Update The latest all-time FPL manager rankings are live! 🏆 See who sits among the best managers in the world based on multi-season performance. 🆕Introducing the new 6-year rank tier! Cheers to @FPL_Harry for initiating this 🤝 🎖 What is your All-time FPL rank? ⭐ 🔍 premierfantasytools.com/whats-my-all-t… #FPL #FPLCommunity

@PremierFPLTools @FPL_Harry Where are the all time rankings? Whoever is top of that is the true all time number 1. There was a time before content creators told everyone what to do!

@Shery_cricket But your Dad humiliated your cousin

My cousin loves embarrassing people at family dinners. Especially me. Ever since I hit puberty, she’s had something to say about my skin, my weight, my clothes. Always disguised as a “joke.” Last weekend at a family BBQ, I grabbed a burger and she laughed, “Wow… going for seconds already? That confidence needs to be studied.” A couple people chuckled. I smiled like it didn’t bother me. But honestly, it did. Before I could say anything, my dad looked up from his plate and said, “Funny hearing confidence advice from someone who deletes every photo if it gets less than 20 likes.” Dead silence. My cousin’s face dropped instantly. Nobody laughed this time. My dad handed me the ketchup and said, “Eat in peace. People who are happy with themselves don’t try to humiliate others.”

@cristo_radio Sure, happy to help..tax 'revenue' is a misnomer and taxes don't actually fund anything. You're welcome.

Can someone explain what it is about the below which makes any sense?! Increase the minimum wage? Employers reduce hours, tax revenue gets reduced. Increase National Insurance? Employers don’t hire, unemployment goes up, tax revenue gets reduced. Bring in regressive renters rights? Landlords stop buying. Stamp duty tax revenue gets reduced… or Landlords sell, so stop paying tax on rents, tax revenue gets reduced. Increase capital gains tax? People don’t sell assets, tax revenue gets reduced. Increase income tax? High earners or mobile younger people leave the UK, tax revenue gets reduced. Make benefits too high? Too easy to obtain? People don’t work as much, tax revenue gets reduced. Bring in a mansion tax? People don’t buy properties in the more expensive category, tax revenue gets reduced.

@LeeHurstComic 'The govt takes taxes from private sector employees, uses it to pay public sector employee' No it doesn't

Can anyone explain to me why public sector workers pay tax? The govt takes taxes from private sector employees, uses it to pay public sector employees and then taxes them too. So they give them money and take some back. Why not just give them less money? They end up with the same amount anyway.

@martin_sim11700 @54JohnBull Aah the old reply and then blocks routine when you've been well and truly owned. Heh heh heh

@martin_sim11700 @54JohnBull Well if you're so confident then why are you complaining? Sounds like you still get to be a cunt and rip hard working people off just like you've always done

There's been a lot of discussion about the renters rights bill, and a resulting lack of available properties to rent. I have a property becoming available that's in good condition, near excellent schools and perfect for a small family. I will rent it out, but the rent will be adjusted to the additional cost of cast iron guaranteed rent insurance. It will also only go to someone with a monthly income 3 times the rent, or with someone else guaranteeing payment. People requiring council rent support won't get a look in. It's all blow back from stupid government legislation.

@jim8oy66 @LUFCFan01 The landlords are the 'indolent' ones in this game. Nobody else.

@LUFCFan01 It’s called “investment” and last time I checked it was still legal to invest your money in this country, but hey, let’s just give all the housing to street shitters and the indolent eh🙄

A friend of mine had a portfolio of 11 rental properties, a mixture of 2,3 bedroom flats and houses, he only actually owned one of them outright and the rest are mortgages. When labour set out plans for renters rights he immediately told his tenants he was NOT renewing their tenancies and has decided to sell the lot. He did this because he has come very close to “going under” with troublesome tenants trashing his properties and not paying rent, one tenant he told me was not paying rent for over a year while he fought to have her removed at huge cost, he told me he’s operating a Ponzi scheme, using money from one property to pay mortgage on another and it’s now blatantly unsustainable. He wasn’t rich, worked 7 days a week all hours all for nothing.

@FestAKINBUSOYE @Paulwheeldon9 Absolute bollocks. Most people are renting because they've been priced out of buying by greedy landlords who have had everything their own way for far too long. These measures are long overdue and still do not go far enough.

No. There's a reason why they're renting in the first place even though they are clearly able to pay the monthly mortgage. The deposit, credit reference checks, affordability etc are why many end up renting. If some have not been up to date with rent payments, that's another red flag to mortgage lenders. So as you can see, this is not the dream you think it is.

I've just got a panicked message from a dear friend who's been served an eviction notice by their landlord. He wants to sell. They have three children, always paid rent on time. They even offered to pay more rent as they love the property, + never had issues with the landlord, but he's not interested. He told them to go to their MP (she's Labour) This is a disaster. Are local authorities ready for what is coming as a result of this?

@kathrynhall_ Get your head out of your arse you daft bint

@LiveFPLnet 11.5 points is quite a lot

Free Hit average ends up at 60.22 points. No Chip average is 48.75, only 11.5 points below FH

@Essex_Patriot Lol. I'm almost embarrassed for you, you dumbass

YOU KNOW WHAT'S INSANE? If you're on a 40% tax rate, you're handing over 40p of every £1 you earn. That means. JANUARY. FEBRUARY. MARCH. APRIL. You're working 4+ months a year just to pay the government. But that's just income tax. Now add: VAT on almost everything you buy Vehicle tax & licence fees - Council tax & land tax - Fuel duty & road tolls - Stamp duty, insurance taxes, "luxury" levies. When you add it all up, if you earn £100k, you're likely working 5-6+ months a year just to cover taxes. That's half your year gone before you even see a pound for yourself.