Latest news with #MaggieThatcher
South Wales Argus
20 hours ago
- Politics
- South Wales Argus
'Seems to me Reform is the new Conservative party'
When the police, probation and prison service struggled under Tory cuts. While the justice system collapsed and no new prisons were built. To top that, they voted for Liz Truss and Maggie Thatcher. Seems to me Reform is the new Conservative party - the party of millionaires and a million miles with any socialist beliefs, working classes and those on benefits. 'The vast majority of small boat arrivals have their claims approved. Just 3.6% have actually been deported.' Here's what the data shows: A total of 154,354 people arrived on small boats between January 2018 and March 2025 and the vast majority - 94% - applied for asylum. So far, the Home Office has made initial decisions in 86,646 of those cases, with 56,605 people granted asylum or another form of protection. That's 65% of all cases considered so far. Andrew Nutt, Bargoed
The Citizen
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
Why Joburg's roadblock outrage misses the point
Complaints about JMPD's unplanned roadblocks overlook the truth: follow the rules and there's nothing to fear. There was a fascinating report in The Citizen last week about complaints that unscheduled JMPD roadblocks were being used as a cash cow to generate revenue for the cash-strapped City of Joburg. For once, it's difficult to not come down on the side of our traffic cops. It's their job to enforce bylaws and issuing fines is one of the key income creators for any municipality and has been since apartheid days. There were many smaller municipalities where it was almost impossible to get from A to B without being stopped by a zealous traffic cop. Back in the '70s and '80s, there were boetebessies in the Free State, meter maids to use another antediluvian expression, who – much like Maggie Thatcher – were ladies not for turning or even negotiating with once the top of their ballpoint pens were off. There's no doubt that roadblocks, especially the unplanned ones – which the disinterested observer might have thought was the point – are disruptive. ALSO READ: No place to hide: JMPD employs smart tech to stop criminals [VIDEO] As always, Joburgers don't do well when things don't go their way. Rain makes us drive faster and more recklessly, amber traffic arrows are just an excuse to turn on red, when it's green for the oncoming vehicles. As for roadblocks, you're lucky not to get crushed in the rush of taxis and other miscreants doing U-turns to go the other way. A DA councillor complained that these roadblocks 'foster abuse, selective enforcement and an erosion of public trust'. It's very ambitious of him to assume there was any trust to erode in the first place. ALSO READ: Police ahead! What to do at a roadblock As for selective enforcement, it's a step up from no enforcement. The elephant in the room, of course, is that if your vehicle is licensed, if your driver's licence is up-to-date and you have no outstanding fines against your name (a simple thing to check on www. there should be nothing to worry about. It's a very different thing when you are arbitrarily pulled over to be told you jumped a red traffic light or were bust speeding by a manually set up speed camera. Full-scale roadblocks shouldn't be a hill for opposition politicians to die on. There are far worse issues in our city – like the swathes of darkness at night that make it perilous for drivers navigating invisible potholes – and even worse for pedestrians trying to get to work or get home. It's a counter-productive dog whistle. NOW READ: EMPD and Saps officers to appear in court for corruption and theft
Business Insider
26-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Walmart Stock (WMT) Gets the Wrong Answer from the Crowd
Anyone who has watched the television quiz show 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' will be familiar with one of the lifeline options given to contestants striving to win a life-changing sum of cash. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. 'Ask the Audience' allows those stuck on a question – say: 'Who was the only U.K. Prime Minister to ever be assassinated?' – to ask the good men and women in their seats under the TV lights to help them get the right answer. Some may say Maggie Thatcher, others William Gladstone, perhaps one under the influence of free wine may say James Bond. The hope is for the power and wisdom of the crowd to come up with the correct answer – the unfortunate Spencer Perceval, of course. Let's see what it shows for those investors deliberating the prospects of retail giant Walmart (WMT) Walmart Wisdom We base this data on sentiment and activity around the stock in nearly 810,000 investor portfolios. It shows that over the last 30 days the number of portfolios holding Walmart stock is down 3.1%. Over the last 7 days it is down only 0.5%. During that period one of the main announcements made by Walmart was its intention to develop new super AI agents to help improve the shopper and employee experience. There has also been better news around tariffs given the slow, but increasing number of trade deals signed between the U.S. and other nations such as Japan. However, concerns over inflation and consumer sentiment remain. Concerningly, investor sentiment in the recent quarter is described as being very negative. Some of the most pessimistic have been people in the 35 to 55 age bracket with a 1.7% drop and over 55 with a 0.3% fall. Those under 35, who represent a fifth of all WMT investors, were more optimistic with a 2.3% rise. TipRanks data also shows what WMT investors bought over the last 7 and 30 days. It appears that financial stocks are in vogue with Morgan Stanley (MS) and Citigroup (C) being among the stocks being added to portfolios. How Do Rivals Measure Up? Target (TGT) has seen a 4.8% drop in the last 30 days and also has a very negative investor sentiment. Amazon (AMZN) has fared better with a 1.9% drop in the last 30 days and a negative sentiment. Interestingly with Amazon it is the older investor – those aged 55 – who have been more positive on the stock. Is WMT a Good Stock to Buy Now? On TipRanks, WMT has a Strong Buy consensus based on 28 Buy ratings. Its highest price target is $120. WMT stock's consensus price target is $111.33, implying a 14.17% upside.
Daily Mail
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The harrowing truth about The Vivienne's final hours, the moment his lifeless body was found... and tragic reason star may have turned back to ketamine shortly before dying from the drug: FRED KELLY
In an explosion of sequins, tight-fitting jumpsuits and outlandish blonde wigs, The Vivienne burst onto the nation's television screens in 2019 winning the first season of hit BBC reality show RuPaul 's Drag Race UK. The cheeky Liverpudlian drag queen – whose stage name derived from his love of Vivienne Westwood clothes – instantly won over viewers with his camp wit and larger-than-life impersonations of Donald Trump, and Maggie Thatcher.
The National
27-05-2025
- Politics
- The National
Thatcherism's toxic legacy lives on in Reform UK
These towns carry a rich history on their shoulders, but one of startling contrasts. The accumulation of fabulous wealth for the few on the backs of grinding labour by the many. A proud working class, but with many nowadays turning to despair and seething rage at betrayals by modern politicians. An area that suffered heavily at the hands of Maggie Thatcher's red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalism 40 years ago, now in desperate need of a vision of hope, of change, of radical socialist change. The constituency is built on the Lanarkshire coalfield where the country's richest peers, the Dukes of Hamilton, stole thousands of acres of land from the people in Eddlewood, Cadzow and beyond, with the help of kings, and built unimaginable fortunes on the backs of miners hewing coal from the bowels of the earth, suffering not just starvation, and loss of limbs but frequent deaths. READ MORE: SNP figures believe Nigel Farage's Reform UK will come second in key by-election Ancient history, you might protest, but don't the brutal class exploitation and dirty methods echo down the ages? Forty years ago, Thatcher's Tory government, representing parasitic finance capitalism, deployed police to impose her industrial vandalism on the mining communities of this area. The legacy remains to this day, with savagely reduced wages as a share of national wealth; rampant job insecurity with zero-hours contracts; and the manacles of anti-trade union laws which Thatcher introduced but Labour governments have refused to repeal. That's why the SSP's call for an immediate £15-an-hour minimum wage for all – and abolition of all zero-hours contracts – has gained such resonance. Thatcher's infamous 'right to buy' council houses obliterated access to quality, affordable housing for young people and families. It transformed housing into a cash machine for slum landlords, bankers, and property speculators, instead of social provision of the basic human right to shelter. READ MORE: Why is Labour's Hamilton by-election campaign so bad? Behind the curtains of many decent-looking houses, with lovingly kept gardens, lurks fuel poverty. Pensioners, low-paid families, even middle-income workers, watching every penny as they juggle the cost of food, household energy bills and public transport. This entirely avoidable, morally repugnant poverty was created by the profiteering of big energy companies, giant supermarkets and privatised bus firms – who rip profit out of passengers through exorbitant fares, but additionally grabbed £440 million in Scottish Government subsidies last year. The SSP's advocacy of free travel for all on publicly-owned buses, trains, subways and ferries – saving the average worker £1400 a year, and combating pollution – and our call for democratic public ownership of all forms of energy, have been well received. People are visibly shocked when we explain every household could have been £1800 better off in 2022 if the profit element had been removed through nationalisation of energy. Lifelong Labour voters shake with anger at how their bills have risen three times in nine months, after Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar promised a Labour government would cut heating bills by £300. Privatisation of services initiated by Thatcher was escalated by Tony Blair's Labour government, including local schools and hospitals. Labour's infamous private finance initiative (PFI) means Hairmyres and Wishaw hospitals were built for a combined total of £168 but public funds have been plundered to the tune of £1.5 billion in repayments of PFI fees. This glut of money siphoned off to capitalist moneylenders could instead pay the salaries of 4000 nurses for 10 years. That's why the SSP have been advocating immediate cancellation of all PFI schemes, to invest the savings in hospital staff and equipment; upgrade school buildings; and cut class sizes to a maximum of 20, creating teachers' jobs. This by-election occurs against the background of escalating austerity by a Labour Government which stubbornly refuses to tackle wealth inequality, upholds the rule of the millionaire class, and thereby feeds the flames of fury which arch-Thatcherite Reform UK divert into vicious hate-filled scapegoating. To make matters worse, Starmer has reinforced the momentum of Nigel Farage by spewing out bilious Farage-like talk of 'living in an island of strangers'. The only real strangers to working-class people in Hamilton, Larkhall or Stonehouse are the gang of multimillionaires – overwhelmingly former Tories – who lead Reform UK. Theirs is an exercise in monumental political distraction. Turning the gaze of some desperate people towards even more desperate people fleeing wars and persecution, away from the real causes of their poverty, poor housing, and collapsing public services: capitalist parties who pamper the millionaires and punish the millions. With the help of the broadcast media, who refuse a platform to the SSP but for years have promoted Farage, the real arch-Thatcherite aims of Reform UK are hidden from many people who in despair are tempted to vote for them as a way of lashing out at years of betrayal by Labour and growing discontent with the SNP. READ MORE: Reform UK are a real and present danger in Scotland Thatcher is long dead but Thatcherism is alive in the form of Reform UK – and stalking the former coalfields of Lanarkshire. Former Tory Party member Farage once said: 'I'm the only politician keeping the flame of Thatcherism alive.' Reform UK MPs voted to keep zero-hours contracts and retain capitalist bosses' right to fire and rehire workers on lower wages. They want to rip up the NHS and replace it with private, profit-driven health insurance schemes, akin to that of the US, where medics don't so much feel your pulse as feel your wallet to see if you can afford treatment. They want to slash public services by £150bn a year and drastically reduce taxation of big business and the very rich – which includes the entire Reform leadership. Far from being anti-establishment, this is an outfit of and for the millionaires. Farage admitted to having claimed £2m in expenses from the European Parliament, which he proclaims not to even believe in; a multi-millionaire former stockbroker who coined in an additional £572,000 in the recent six months, on top of his £94,000 MP's salary. Hardly a man of the people. You can't defeat Farageism by imitating their poisonous policies. The SSP have confronted Reform with a battery of policies against their extreme Tory agenda of devastation. Instead of perpetuating rule and ruin by the millionaire class – as Reform, Labour and others do – the SSP stand for a massive redistribution of wealth away from the millionaires who hoard it to the millions who need it. We've advocated a 5% wealth tax on all millionaires – to raise in one year the equivalent of four years' worth of the entire Scottish budget. Even if you narrowed that policy down to the richest 10 people in Scotland – yes, 10 individuals – it would raise £1.24bn in one year for investments in housing renovation, community and youth centres, leisure facilities and other improvements to life. The SSP's by-election candidate Collette Bradley has pledged if elected she'll lodge a bill in the Scottish Parliament to immediately abolish the unfair Council Tax and replace it with the SSP's income-based Scottish Service Tax, which would mean eight out of 10 people in the constituency paying less, but would double national funds for local jobs and services from £2.7bn to £5.3bn. The money is there, but it's in the wrong – and far too few – hands. None of the parties currently in power have any intention of tackling grotesque wealth inequality by taxing the rich or pursuing democratic public ownership of all services and major industries. But that's precisely what's required to combat the boil of seething discontent from spilling over into a vote for Reform UK. It's a daunting struggle to combat the far-right, but the SSP are determined to offer hope, not despair. To champion genuine socialist change, not a continuation of rule and ruin by the millionaire class and all their multi-coloured political mouthpieces.
