Knowgum's avatar

Knowgum

@uknogum.bsky.social

1514 followers 2362 following 390 posts

Unremarkable, sociable & with no edge.
On 🦣 Mastodon (@UKnoGum@mastodon.social), 🐦 X/Twitter (twitter.com/uknogum) & 🧵Threads (threads.net/@uknogum).
Make #TaxParasites pay their taxes | #NHSLove | #FBPA | Will block Trolls.

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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All debt was wiped out at privatisation - Tories made taxpayers pay it off to increase the 'value' of the water companies - & then sold the WCs cheaply to help shareholders. Then companies ran up huge debts & charged us more. Privatisation was a Tory scam & has been robbing us all ever since.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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When Tories privatised water, they said it was to increase investment. WCs borrowed & raised prices, but the money went to shareholders, not investment, & Ofwat protected their profits, not the consumer. Now Ofwat say WCs can increase prices to pay for investment... Same old sh*t.

1 replies 3 reposts 15 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Love the analogy, but I'd have thought Fartage to be closer to being the haemorrhoid on the backside of British politics than just an unsightly blemish.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Reform are UKIP rebadged, peddling the worst of Tory policies in a nicotine stained Farage wrapper.
#NeverTrustReform

1 replies 1 reposts 12 likes

Reposted by Knowgum

Climate News's avatar Climate News @climatenews.bsky.social
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A brief history of self-regulation

6 replies 256 reposts 619 likes

Reposted by Knowgum

RedDwarf 🔶 🇺🇦 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 #RejoinEU #Bercow4HoL's avatar RedDwarf 🔶 🇺🇦 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 #RejoinEU #Bercow4HoL @reddwarf.bsky.social
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How Fartage, the Tories and the rich conned the working class into voting against their own best interests.

youtu.be/tnR-j7D7Rwg?...

2 replies 7 reposts 19 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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You can't vote in the UK without valid ID to prove you are you, & if you pretend to be someone else when you vote, you risk prison.

Meanwhile, candidates can be virtual, invented ghosts, fake their identity & lie about their policies to con voters & steal power.
#NeverTrustReform

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Reform... A party that uses AI images to mislead voters & hide the truth.

There's a warning in there somewhere.
#NeverTrustReform

0 replies 1 reposts 2 likes

Reposted by Knowgum

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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It's worrying that the Tories are edging closer to trying their own version of Trump's insurrection on parliament.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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That fact is, the media, parties & candidates all ignore inconvenient facts unless it suits their narrative. That vague allusion to democracy which Tories seem adept at exploiting has let them use a non-binding advisory vote that broke electoral law to justify Brexit & pretend Sunak wasn't imposed.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Tories questioning Labour's 172 seat majority, won under the UK's FPTP electoral system, should remember:

Brexit was advisory & happened on a 52-48 majority.

Only 81, 326 Tory members, about 0.3% of all voters, picked Truss as PM.

Sunak was appointed: There was no vote at all.
#NeverTrustATory

4 replies 22 reposts 56 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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He'll be in the arms of Nanny, who'll fetch him a hot milk & change his nappy before reading him a story about a ghastly parasite who got his comeuppance when those it fed upon finally voted for a cure...

...& like all good stories, this one actually happened...🤣🤣🤣
#ByeByeGreasy

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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News that Steve Baker & Liz Truss have lost their seats... ...Whatever happens today, we're off to a good start!

4 replies 0 reposts 17 likes

Reposted by Knowgum

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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...after you've voted 😉

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Reposted by Knowgum

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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The rise of the right-wing in the UK has nothing to do with a groundswell of demand...

...& everything to do with right-wing billionaire media owners telling their readers/viewers they should support the right-wing parties that right-wing billionaires control.
#NeverVoteReform

1 replies 4 reposts 13 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Hold your nose if you have to, but vote tactically to destroy the Tories...

Do to them what they've done to us & the country for the last 14 years.

Post your vote asap, or if voting in person, remember your photo ID.

July 4th is payback time.
#NeverVoteConservative

4 replies 16 reposts 29 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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For those that say their vote makes no difference...

...Vote tactically to wipe out the Tories!

Let's do to the Tories what they've done to us & the country for the past 14 years.
#VoteTactically
#NeverVoteConservative

1 replies 1 reposts 3 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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In 2010, Tories came to power.

Since then, prices, taxes, waiting lists, national debt, environment, standards, NHS, education, crime, the economy... everything is worse: Much, much worse.

It's only millionaires, Tory cronies, & racists that've gained in the last 14 years...
#NeverVoteConservative

0 replies 6 reposts 16 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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UK Government Borrowing...

Combined total: 0000-2010: £1tn.
Tories only: 2010-2024: £1.7tn.

In 14 years, the Tories have borrowed more than every government in history, combined, for 2000 years...

...& we'll be paying for it for decades to come.
#NeverVoteConservative

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Foreign, as in not one the Tories & their right-wing cronies control.

0 replies 1 reposts 1 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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The problem is there are more billionaires who don't want to share but who are more than willing to donate to get what they want.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Blair made a difference for the poor .. them the wealthy made his government an offer & Labour lost their way... Starmer needs to be sure he doesn't fall for the same trap. But the signs aren't good.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Agree. The vote isn't a blank cheque.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Hope the Elphicke episode was to p*ss Sunak off. As for reform... They're Tories without a moderate wing, so much more dangerous to the country & the population.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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A bigger landslide is very likely... as is, unfortunately, a bigger disappointment. If Labour, or indeed any elected politician of any party, are to have any credibility in future, they need to come clean about the corruption during 14 years of Tory rule & create laws to prevent it happening again.

1 replies 1 reposts 4 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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The ECHR was created to protect ordinary people, like you & I, from greedy, power-hungry politicians that seek to abuse & exploit their own population.

It defends our rights, enshrines democracy & protects the lives of the poor, sick & elderly...

Tories want it abolished.
#NeverVoteConservative

5 replies 33 reposts 79 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Sunak has spoken out against Tories betting on the ekection. Sunak was a hedge fund banker which means he bet on the share price value of companies. His bets in 2008 caused 3 banks to collapse, triggered a global banking crisis & screwed the economy... Then he became a Tory MP to finish that job.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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2010. Tories conned the gullible to get elected.

2015. Tories conned the gullible to get elected.

2017. Tories conned the gullible to get elected.

2019. Tories conned the gullible to get elected.

2024. Tories are trying to con the gullible again...
#NeverVoteConservative

1 replies 1 reposts 6 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Tying the hands of future Governments isn't legal. But contract law is powerful & costly to challenge...& for a Government that inherits a dire financial position, that cost is likely to be a significant barrier to challenging legal contracts with prohibitive early termination compensation clauses.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Then once the Tories are removed from power, pressure must be brought to bear on Starmer to change his position. The vote isn't a blank cheque.

2 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Agree. The more evidence of the corrupt actions by Tories that Labour can expose, the more people will realise just how utterly untrustworthy the Tories are. & the louder will become the clamour for their prosecution.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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The processes for normal tendering are probably fine. If they were dodgy, others that lost our during tendering would take action over unfairness. The problem is Tories add unnecessary penalty clauses which guarantee compensation to the crony if the contract is ended early by a future Government.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Rejoining the Single Market will be an improvement on now, & maybe that is the middle ground /first step to fixing / reversing Brexit the country needs.

1 replies 0 reposts 0 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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As for the Covid contracts... That's a different ball game & the rules are yet to be written. Those involved in awarding them should face whatever the law can throw at them... ...but even if crimes are proven, there's no guarantee any money will ever be recovered. But I hope they try!

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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In order to prove that the contracts break the rules, you need to go to court... & that's a very expensive (& risky) business. & where no rules were broken, or there are only minor infringemens, a dreadful contract that's hugely expensive is too costly to terminate due to the clauses Tories add.

2 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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More likely, many gullible voters will think Fartage in a blue rosette isn't the same grifter Fartage they believed when he wore a purple rosette. They'll forget that they were misled over Brexit, ignore the fact Brexit is a disaster & Fartage won't discuss it, & then swallow Fartage's new grift.

2 replies 1 reposts 2 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Tories don't/won't make that mistake... They simply write clauses into contracts which make if virtually impossible for the Government to terminate a contract without incurring a prohibitive penalty.

It's the same process by which #CharterCities will be created if the Tories ever return to power.

1 replies 0 reposts 1 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Tories may be appealing at managing the country, but they know how to stitch up a country. Many of the contracts that are draining the economy have been created so they cannot be cancelled without incurring even greater losses. It's how Tory cronies are guaranteed to be paid no matter what.

3 replies 1 reposts 3 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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The numbers around taxation are so vast, & the losses through fraud & loopholes, so colossal that they've become impossible to comprehend... Hidden beneath the complexity of mismanaged taxation is the devastating impact it has on public services, society & our Iives... & therin lies the problem.

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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The UK has a vast economic black hole that will affect us all.

Tories increased taxes, borrowed more than anyone in history & cut services.

But Brexit destroyed our trade income, & they squandered our revenue & gave contracts to their cronies.

All that's left is debt & despair.
#NeverVoteTory

3 replies 10 reposts 21 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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National Insurance was increased by the Tories to fix Social Care...

...but they spent nothing on Social Care.

...then didn't fix Social Care

...& scrapped their NI increase to con the gullible by pretending they'd cut taxes.
#NeverTrustAToryPolitician
#NeverVoteConservative

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Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Taxes... A handy guide to the truth from the Tory party.

Ironically, they've accidentally revealed the facts while pushing their propaganda & lies about Labour.

Like lettering in a stick of rock, incompetence runs through the Tory party.
#NeverVoteConservative

1 replies 1 reposts 3 likes

Knowgum's avatar Knowgum @uknogum.bsky.social
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Today, Tories launch their pamphlet of false promises, more gaslighting & preposterous claims.

Here’s what they've announced so far 👇

Distractions to hide a £3k tax hike.
Misleading propaganda to disguise planned cuts.
Excuses for 14 years of failure.
#NeverVoteConservative

1 replies 1 reposts 8 likes