The Labour Party. All discussion here please

[nightrider 13]

49 minutes ago, alchresearch said:

Corbyn's latest zany scheme which is currently being laughed at by everyone:
 

Labour pledges free broadband for all

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2019-50427369

 

"Following Labour's announcement, BT's share price initially fell by 3% before recovering slightly."

 

Great work, Labour.

This is the moment I realised I can never vote for them. Up until now it was a choice for me. But this scheme seems utter insanity. Apparently only one other country has tried this (Australia) and it has been a disaster.

[alchresearch 210]

4 minutes ago, nightrider said:

This is the moment I realised I can never vote for them. Up until now it was a choice for me. But this scheme seems utter insanity. Apparently only one other country has tried this (Australia) and it has been a disaster.

I would have been on board more if they'd said they'd subsidise basic broadband for low or zero income households. 

 

The internet is a great tool and now essential for job hunting, managing your household and its bills, and I wouldn't be against that, as so many people are penalised for not having e-bills or being able to use comparison sites to get better deals and so on.

 

But free. For everyone.  No, I can't see it somehow.

[nightrider 13]

3 minutes ago, alchresearch said:

I would have been on board more if they'd said they'd subsidise basic broadband for low or zero income households. 

 

The internet is a great tool and now essential for job hunting, managing your household and its bills, and I wouldn't be against that, as so many people are penalised for not having e-bills or being able to use comparison sites to get better deals and so on.

 

But free. For everyone.  No, I can't see it somehow.

My worry is also that they are happy to drive all BT's competitors out of business, and then think they can run a major telecoms company themselves to a satisfactory standard.

 

Apparently pensions will be hit by this because many have invested in broadband companies too.

[alchresearch 210]

My basic Sky (BT line) broadband is £19 per month.  If Labour win and my state owned and controlled broadband (sounds like China) is now free, I'll happily give that £19 to a more deserving place, like the NHS for example.

Edited November 15, 2019 by alchresearch

[francypants 441]

Corbyn  ............   Cloud Cuckoo Land.       🥴

[Robin-H 11]

1 hour ago, nightrider said:

This is the moment I realised I can never vote for them. Up until now it was a choice for me. But this scheme seems utter insanity. Apparently only one other country has tried this (Australia) and it has been a disaster.

It's absolute madness - although I'm sure they'll scoop up some votes from some people naive enough to think it's a good idea.

 

So, they want to nationalise Openreach. They would also ' guarantee jobs'  for everyone currently working in broadband. Openreach currently employs 32,000 staff and has a wage bill of about £800,000,000 a year. Openreach's operating costs are more than £2billion a year. Annual maintenance costs are between £1billion and £2billion a year. Openreach is responsible for the rollout of full fibre - which is costing £35billion. 

 

So Labour are going to pay for all that how exactly, when they would be getting no income because they want to give it away for free... 

 

[alchresearch 210]

The reason BT was privatised in the first place is that every time the telephone network needed major investment the Treasury had kittens about public borrowing and the plans were scaled back and shelved.

 

There were waiting lists even to share lines; telephones and calls were expensive. And the government got the blame for it all.

 

Love or hate the current incarnation of BT, they at least brought the phone system up to date and we're not stuck with these hardwired into the wall points:

 

 

 

I think this scheme, which is being widely panned, is Corbyn's "Ed stone" moment

 

Edited November 15, 2019 by alchresearch

[convert 10]

So Labour promise yet more 'free' stuff.

 

What a great idea. Corbyn can't control the free press, which is moving more and more online, so he decides to provide 'free' broadband.

 

Not even looking at the actual cost to the taxpayer, the monopoly it would create, the jobs that would be lost at Sky, Talk Talk, etc.

 

The Government would control the internet provision to most homes. Who's going to pay for it if Labour provide it for free.

 

How much censorship would their be over the state controlled internet?

 

Big brother really would be watching.

 

If nothing else convinces you to not vote Labour, this should.

 

[Anna B 1,401]

5 minutes ago, convert said:

So Labour promise yet more 'free' stuff.

 

What a great idea. Corbyn can't control the free press, which is moving more and more online, so he decides to provide 'free' broadband.

 

Not even looking at the actual cost to the taxpayer, the monopoly it would create, the jobs that would be lost at Sky, Talk Talk, etc.

 

The Government would control the internet provision to most homes. Who's going to pay for it if Labour provide it for free.

 

How much censorship would their be over the state controlled internet?

 

Big brother really would be watching.

 

If nothing else convinces you to not vote Labour, this should.

 

Or on the other hand we can allow the 5 media tycoons like Rupert Murdoch, who own 80% of the media to feed us misinformation to their hearts content

[nightrider 13]

41 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Or on the other hand we can allow the 5 media tycoons like Rupert Murdoch, who own 80% of the media to feed us misinformation to their hearts content

But Murdoch can't censor what I see. The government could if they get control of the internet. This is a complete non-starter for many people. He may have just lost the election.

[alchresearch 210]

If you thought broadband provider call centre staff were bad, wait until they're civil servants!

 

Anyone got any positives to say about the HMRC or DVLA helplines?

[Robin-H 11]

1 hour ago, Anna B said:

Or on the other hand we can allow the 5 media tycoons like Rupert Murdoch, who own 80% of the media to feed us misinformation to their hearts content

That's not comparable at all. 

 

Nobody is forcing you to consume any of that media if you don't want to. If the government nationalise the internet then it would be the only way to receive it. They can then control what you see.