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When Reform UK launched, the party styled itself as an alternative to the Tories and Labour. You could see why this would be popular with working class voters, because under the Tory-Labour duopoly many of them have only gotten poorer and poorer.

However, at some point along the way, Reform forgot who it wants to appeal to. This is why Reform’s Scottish leader was bragging about how many houses and boats he has in a televised debate:

I hadn't thought of a yacht tax before now, but it seems Lord Offord's fleet would raise enough to plug that hole in Scotland's finances. https://t.co/MBdjhw91iK

— Ross Greer (@Ross_Greer) April 28, 2026

Reform’s man in Scotland

Of course, it’s unsurprising that lord Malcolm Offord would act and sound like a Tory. As we reported, he’s the former Tory donor Boris Johnson elevated with a peerage:

Malcolm Ian Offord is also known as ‘baron Offord of Garvel’, which is a fun thing to say out loud because it sounds like you’re speaking with a mouth full of toffee. As noted above, Offord isn’t just a peer; he’s also a millionaire and an ex-Tory donor.

Fair play to Reform for convincing anyone they represent the British working class, because it can’t be easy to pull that off when your party is waist deep in wealthy donors.

In the clip at the top, Offal of Garble is debating the Scottish Greens’ Ross Greer. Here’s what the lord had to say:

I went to London 40 years ago with £2,000 in debt. And full of ambition, I worked hard and I was successful. Today, I own six houses, five cars, and six boats. And in a 40-year business career, I’ve employed hundreds of thousands of people and paid £45m in tax. I don’t say that to boast. I ask you this question. Mr Greer, in your Scotland… Do you want more people like me or fewer people like me?

When he says ‘more people like him,’ how many more is he talking about?

10?

100?

1,000?

Because there are 5.5 million people in Scotland, and no one is deluded enough to think every one of them could own six houses. This is the problem — if the wealthy are only ever going to be an ultra-minority, why should the majority of voters care?

The ultra-minority of rich people we’re talking about have obscene levels of power, influence, and spending power, allowing them to create a situation in which they get richer and richer on our hard work. They achieve this by buying the services and properties we rent back from them; they achieve it by buying the politicians we need to represent us; they achieve it by owning the land we need to live on.

What Offord is proposing would benefit no one besides him and the six guys he plays golf with.

Fewer, thanks

Greer wasted no time in responding, hitting back:

Fewer people like you. I’m glad you finally admitted how many homes that you have, Lord Offord. I think it’s worth at this point in the debate pointing out that there are three times as many holiday homes and empty properties in this country as there are homeless children.

You don’t need six homes. You don’t even need two homes. Everybody just needs a home to live in.

Surely, if we’re to tackle the housing crisis, the super-rich, elite individuals like you should be giving up some of those homes so that people who desperately need a roof over their head actually have somewhere to live.

Absolutely right.

Featured image via the Canary

By Willem Moore

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

linky

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/59365658

Trade union Unite is calling on Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) health minister Mike Nesbitt to intervene in the growing childminding crisis in Northern Ireland.

The news comes after a Unite survey found that an eye-watering 95% of registered childminders said their businesses were becoming non-viable due to burdensome tax changes.

As such, the union is calling on Nesbitt to ensure the publication of the Department of Health’s consultation on minimal standards in childminding.

‘Devastating impact on working households’

Stormont’s Health Department launched its consultation on 24 March 2025, before closing it on 20 June of the same year. A callout explained that it was seeking to gather feedback on “two key areas of childcare regulation,” noting that:

The first key area is in relation to vetting — specifically the requirement for all prospective childcare workers to provide a health assessment, countersigned by their GPs, in advance of taking up employment. The second key area concerns the adult:child ratios set out in the Minimum Standards for Childminding and Day Care for Children under 12.

The self-employed registered childminders (RCMs) argue that their incomes have been restricted by Northern Ireland’s low childcare ratios. Currently, one childminder can care for up to six  children under 12. However, only three of these can be under the age of 5, and only one under the age of 1.

For comparison, the Scottish system allows a childminder to care for eight children under the age of 16. Of these, six can be under 12, and three can be under primary school age. Meanwhile, in Wales, a single childminder can watch over ten children up to 12 years of age, including six under-8’s and three under-5’s.

However, in spite of consultation’s conclusion almost a year ago, the Health Department has failed to publish the findings. Unite’s regional women’s and equalities officer, Collette O’Hagan, stated that:

The department of health consulted on proposals to raise childminding ratios in Northern Ireland last June. The results of that consultation have never been published. Registered childminders deserve to know where they stand.

If this sector continues to shrink, it will have a devastating impact on working households. It is already difficult and costly to get a childcare place. Stormont needs to recognise the scale of the crisis in the childminding sector and act.

70% of childminders considering quitting

Unite represents most of Northern Ireland’s RCMs. As such, it recently sent out a survey on the current health of the profession, receiving 306 replies.

Shockingly, the union found that:

• 53% of the RCMs said the were ‘somewhat unlikely’ or ‘unlikely’ to remain in childminding for the coming two years. Worse still, 17% answered ‘very unlikely’ to the same question.
• 17 per cent said they were very unlikely and 53 per cent said they were either ‘unlikely’ or ‘somewhat unlikely’ to remain in the childminding profession over the next two years.
• 98% of the RCMs stated that recent tax changes would have a significant negative impact on their services.
• 95% were currently reconsidering the continuing viability of their business.

Those recent tax changes were part of the wider ‘Making Tax Digital’ transition. The switch removed a crucial 10% ‘wear and tear’ allowance for carers, and added significant administrative responsibilities

This being the case, Northern Ireland is in clear danger of losing up two 70 percent of its childminders in the near future. This could have a further knock-on effect for working parents, who could suddenly find themselves without childcare options.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, said:

The results of this survey are stark. Childminders in Northern Ireland are being squeezed to breaking point. The future of the profession is in doubt – raising concerns for workers with dependent children. Stormont needs to act now to protect childminders.

Featured image via Unsplash

By Alex/Rose Cocker

From Canary via This RSS Feed.

LET ME POST MY MEMES IN BATCHES SO I CAN GET BACK TO WORK

AHHHHHHHHHH

it's not a big deal, I'd post that image of a man behind bars clearly large enough to walk through but I GOT RATE LIMITED SO I CAN'T ACTUALLY

Source

In a statement issued today, the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) condemns “the new piratical attack by the terrorist state of Israel against the international solidarity flotilla for Gaza, which placed the lives of hundreds of people in grave danger.”

The KKE notes that “the Greek government must provide specific answers, as the Israeli assault took place off Crete, in international waters and within Greece’s area of responsibility for search and rescue operations.” 

The Communist Party asks whether the government “was aware of and in coordination with its murderous Israeli allies,” and “what actions it took to protect human lives in the face of such a dangerous act, given that, according to reports, the Israelis deliberately left hundreds of people aboard damaged vessels in the open sea.”

According to the KKE, “it is proven that the government’s repeated invocations of ‘freedom of navigation’ are highly selective, as they concern only the profits of Greek shipowners and not the crimes of its strategic allies, who continue to shed the blood of the peoples of Palestine and Lebanon, while at the same time being given a ‘free hand’ to act as the ‘sheriffs’ of the entire Eastern Mediterranean.”

The statement emphasizes that “what is needed now is to strengthen the expression of solidarity by the Greek people and its organized movement with every people that falls victim to imperialist aggression, to demand the termination of the strategic alliance with Israel, the recognition of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, the closure of US-NATO bases, and the return of Greek troops stationed abroad.”

  IN DEFENSE OF COMMUNISM ©    

From In Defense of Communism via This RSS Feed.

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