What happened on 11th July 2023 - With your comments in the Web

On Tuesday, the Daily Mail informed us that Charles believes small farmers are the 'backbone of Britain'. And he will not desert them now that he is King.

There was a faintly wistful edge to the celebrations a few days ago as the King was welcomed back to what is, in one sense, his home town. After all, if it wasn’t for him, this place wouldn’t exist.

Up until the 1990s, Poundbury, in Dorset, was a patch of farmland, owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.

The then Prince of Wales set about turning it into his vision of a modern town built on traditional lines. Modernist architects and town planners scoffed that it was twee, outdated and doomed to failure. 

Nearly 30 years later, it is thriving and expanding for the simple reason that people love living in a tidy, pretty town which looks like a Georgian film set, has more than 200 businesses, 2,500 jobs, 5,000 residents, a good school and neither a yellow line nor a traffic warden.

Yet, the comments under that sugary article are far from rosy ones.

"Gotta keep top of the range food for the elite of course - while we get synthetic meat, Mrna injected meat, plant food and insects. It's only the large farms being shut down, burnt down and run down."

"His politicians will though. The surfs are eating beef and that is to be stopped."

Others, though, thanked the edition for that content:

"English story at last DM not your usual rubbish thank you"

On Tuesday as well, the Independent informed Brits that the UK wages rise at record rate as unemployment jumps unexpectedly.

Wages have increased at a record rate amid fears that inflation could remain stubbornly high and result in further interest rate rises by the Bank of England.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that average regular pay, not including bonuses, was 7.3 per cent higher in the three months to May compared with the same period last year.

It was the same as the revised figure for the previous three months and the joint highest since records began in 2001.

It comes as workers have sought pay rises in order to help keep up with the increased cost of living, with annual inflation recorded at 8.7 per cent for May amid higher food prices.

 

"Its a misleading metric, it doesn't mean everyone's getting pay rises it means the labour market has shifted and higher earners are pulling the averages up"

"I feel like using average is misleading. Seems like rich people getting richer drives up the average. While everyone else gets shafted"

"minimum wage increase gets basically obliterated by inflation"

"It's a bit of a kick in the teeth having news like this chucked in your face when myself & almost everyone I know is hanging on by a thread.

I can genuinely only think of one or two people in my circle who aren't skint by the third week of each month & most are working full time in what would have been quite well paid jobs 15 years ago."

This day either, Rishi Sunak asserted that small boats plan is 'working' - despite record number of crossings at weekend.

The prime minister said he has always acknowledged that crossings "will increase over the summer" but that his "overall strategy is the right one".

Figures released by the Home Office show that 686 migrants were found crossing the Channel on 13 boats on Friday - the highest number in a single day so far this year - and 384 migrants made the crossing on Saturday.

It means that on Friday and Saturday, 1,070 people were detected making the crossing.

A further 269 people were detected on Sunday, taking the total number of people crossing so far this year to more than 12,000.

The prime minister first claimed in June that his plan to stop the boats was "starting to work", citing a 20% drop in arrivals this year compared to the same period in 2022.

The common conclusion by users was:

"Either he's stupid or more likely thinks everyone who votes is. He clearly thinks if he keeps saying it, somehow it will become true, or at least we'll think it is."

"The plan is working. Its just that the plan isn't what they're making it out to be. The small boats plan is to distract people with this self-inflicted peice of political side theatre (the small boats) so people forget to focus on the governments total and utter failure which only seems to be surpassed by their sleaze."

"Another day of Sunak's gaslighting.

He either believes in that, which means he is delusional and should seek psychiatric help or he is purposefully lying, in which case he should be forced out and face sanctions."

On Tuesday too, Jeremy Hunt told ministers that there will be no extra money to give millions of public sector workers an average 6% pay rise, potentially leaving departments facing a difficult choice between raising salaries or cutting frontline services.

the chancellor has ruled out providing a further cash injection beyond what is already budgeted if Rishi Sunak decides to implement the recommendations of independent pay review bodies, which are expected as soon as Thursday.

Government sources said the decision over whether to back the proposal for no more funding would only be made once the prime minister was back from the Nato summit in Vilnius on Wednesday night and had gone over the figures. “There’s definitely still contention in this,” one said.

"They always seem to find the cash to fund MP pay rises."

"No money for public sector pay rises since the traitory party took office. This is one of the reasons this inflation event is having such an impact 13 years of pay cuts for public sector workers."

"Probably because we are paying for 8 prime ministers, good chance we might have another soon to add to the pile of £150k each a year they can claim, also all the ministers that have been in head of state roles that can claim additional funds."