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Neither Binface nor Farage have any answers for the problems the UK appears to be facing; this election feels like something specifically designed to create mat

Neither Binface nor Farage have any answers for the problems the UK appears to be facing; this election feels like something specifically designed to create material for viewers of Have I Got News For You[0] to laugh at. From The Atlantic: "The [UK's] output per person is now only just above that of Mississippi, America’s poorest state - and that slight lead is only achieved thanks to London. Outside the capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s"[1] According to the IEA, the UK has the highest industrial electricity prices of the 25 IEA countries reporting data.[2] Hinkley Point C is routinely described as the most expensive nuclear power station ever built, four times the average for South Korean plants. Guaranteed pricing originally £92.50/MWh (2012 prices), now equivalent to around £133/MWh (2025 prices), inflation-linked for 35 years...[3] HS2 is consistently ranked as the most expensive high-speed rail on the planet.[4] [0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mkw3 https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mkw3 [1] How Britain Became as Poor as Mississippi - A case study in self-sabotage https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/07/uk-productivity-economy-reform-party/687303/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/07/uk-productivity... [2] https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68da5e91dadf7616351e4b5e/quarterly-energy-prices-september-2025.pdf https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/68da5e91dadf7... [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_C_nuclear_power_station https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinkley_Point_C_nuclear_power_... [5] https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/hs2-reset https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/hs2-reset

ealexhudson 3mo ago
In what ways do you expect a candidate for MP for Clacton to address the various calamities you mention?
- askvictor 3mo ago
  Same way that any candidate would I guess. It's how the Westminster system works; members advocate for their constituency within a broader parliamentary system.
Barbing 3mo ago
>Outside the [UK’s] capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s That is so sad and even somewhat shocking.
- kcartlidge 3mo ago
  > That is so sad and even somewhat shocking. It would be if it were a meaningful comparison, but it isn't. The comparison shouldn't be about the GDP per capita etc, but the life that gets you in the country you live - and there it fails.
gadders 3mo ago
I think Farage and Reform/Restore have a solution to this: From The Atlantic: "The [UK's] output per person is now only just above that of Mississippi, America’s poorest state - and that slight lead is only achieved thanks to London. Outside the capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s" This is what happens when you import low-skilled migrants (and their extended families) who are a net drain on the economy. I think they're also against Net Zero, which is causing all the high energy costs.
- Nursie 3mo ago
  Net Zero is not the cause of high energy costs in the UK. The cause is international al energy costs, a way of setting the benchmark price per unit against the most expensive power, and tax. Clean, renewable power is a way out of the mess.
  - testfrequency 3mo ago
    You’re not allowed to celebrate how prepared for the future the UK is over nearly every other country in the world. You must get angry about current high energy costs due to the investments and war that are happening, just ignore anything positive.
    - ben_w 3mo ago
      In fairness, it is very difficult to look at the last 16 years of British governments and hold the belief "these people have well prepared the UK for the future".
      - SideburnsOfDoom 3mo ago
        Ed Miliband has been doing really well as Energy Secretary, "overseeing a boom in clean energy investment, driving jobs and growth" (1) But he hasn't been there for very many of the last 16 years. 1) https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/miliband-bids-to-prove-his-no-11-mettle-with-green-light-for-aberdeen-gasfield https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/miliband-bids-t...
lmm 3mo ago
I don't know what specifically is wrong with the US-centric numbers you are citing, but I know they don't match the lived reality of the UK, which compares favourably with not only Mississippi but with the US as a whole.
- darig 3mo ago
  [dead]
Nursie 3mo ago
This election was designed to distract from investigations into Nigel Farage’s funding. The reason Binface is getting a lot of attention is because none of the major parties are standing, as a ‘fuck you’ to Farage, to make his distraction look all the more ludicrous. So no, neither of them has a plan, but that doesn’t really matter because neither of them will be running the country after the election either. It’s a bielection for a single seat. Running the country will be down to the new Labour PM and his team. As such the rest of your post is fairly irrelevant.
testfrequency 3mo ago
Actual rage bait. I don’t even have the energy to get into how cherry-picked this entire post is. Bad and inaccurate comparisons, false tourism claims, lame tropes, ignoring extreme and amazing progress while pointing at why some numbers may appear how they appear.
interstice 3mo ago
While I haven't been to Mississippi I have spent the last 6 months driving around the UK on a working holiday, and this sounds like a massive stretch. Free healthcare might be helping.
benrutter 3mo ago
I think you make some good points, but as a UK citizen, there probably some extra context 'd want people to know. Firstly, the Farage/Binface byelection is a result of Farage being investigated for breaking laws designed to stop political corruption. He's called an early local election to "let the people decide". Even if voted in, if he's found accountable for those charges, he'll have to call another election. So all major parties are staying out of this one, but would likely stand in a second. Essentially what I'm saying is, this isn't a normal local election by any means so I wouldn't use it to talk generally about political parties offering to the UK. I would also urge against using HS2/electricity-prices/Hinkley to make a " therefore the UK is in dire trou me". There all quite different: Hinkely and HS2 are certainly managed and unpopular, but they're individual projects - a lot of the UK issues are caused by much more complex, larger economic problems than government projects being mismanaged. And then on the energy price, the UK has really expensive energy. One reason for that is because there's a huge amount of invesent in renewables right now, and the investment is paid for by the consumer. I'm not arguing this is necessarily good, but it's a political choice to prioritise more expensive electricity today, with the goal of cheaper / more secure energy tomorrow. It's a lot more complex than just "the UK is cooked because it has expensive energy". Sorry for the minor essay! I think the UK's economic situation is serious, but also very interesting (it's possibly the most extreme global example of financialisation backfiring), complex and worth understanding!
phi0 3mo ago
> Outside the capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s The article appears to treat nominal GDP per capita as a measure of living standards, which is obviously nonsense. Rather than looking at things like the Human Development Index or World Happiness Report, in both of which the UK outranks the US (incl. all the non-Mississippi states). Residents consistently reporting higher life satisfaction and happiness likely speaks more to their living standards than non-purchasing power parity adjusted GDP per capita. It is baffling how a sentence this uninformed made it into the article.
pjc50 3mo ago
Why is the life expectancy for Mississippi significantly lower than the UK? https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/compare/mississippi-usa/united-kingdom https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/compare/mississippi-usa/unit...

ealexhudson 3mo ago

In what ways do you expect a candidate for MP for Clacton to address the various calamities you mention?

askvictor 3mo ago
Same way that any candidate would I guess. It's how the Westminster system works; members advocate for their constituency within a broader parliamentary system.

Barbing 3mo ago

>Outside the [UK’s] capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s That is so sad and even somewhat shocking.

kcartlidge 3mo ago
> That is so sad and even somewhat shocking. It would be if it were a meaningful comparison, but it isn't. The comparison shouldn't be about the GDP per capita etc, but the life that gets you in the country you live - and there it fails.

gadders 3mo ago

I think Farage and Reform/Restore have a solution to this: From The Atlantic: "The [UK's] output per person is now only just above that of Mississippi, America’s poorest state - and that slight lead is only achieved thanks to London. Outside the capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s" This is what happens when you import low-skilled migrants (and their extended families) who are a net drain on the economy. I think they're also against Net Zero, which is causing all the high energy costs.

Nursie 3mo ago
Net Zero is not the cause of high energy costs in the UK. The cause is international al energy costs, a way of setting the benchmark price per unit against the most expensive power, and tax. Clean, renewable power is a way out of the mess.
- testfrequency 3mo ago
  You’re not allowed to celebrate how prepared for the future the UK is over nearly every other country in the world. You must get angry about current high energy costs due to the investments and war that are happening, just ignore anything positive.
  - ben_w 3mo ago
    In fairness, it is very difficult to look at the last 16 years of British governments and hold the belief "these people have well prepared the UK for the future".
    - SideburnsOfDoom 3mo ago
      Ed Miliband has been doing really well as Energy Secretary, "overseeing a boom in clean energy investment, driving jobs and growth" (1) But he hasn't been there for very many of the last 16 years. 1) https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/miliband-bids-to-prove-his-no-11-mettle-with-green-light-for-aberdeen-gasfield https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/article/miliband-bids-t...

lmm 3mo ago

I don't know what specifically is wrong with the US-centric numbers you are citing, but I know they don't match the lived reality of the UK, which compares favourably with not only Mississippi but with the US as a whole.

darig 3mo ago
[dead]

Nursie 3mo ago

This election was designed to distract from investigations into Nigel Farage’s funding. The reason Binface is getting a lot of attention is because none of the major parties are standing, as a ‘fuck you’ to Farage, to make his distraction look all the more ludicrous. So no, neither of them has a plan, but that doesn’t really matter because neither of them will be running the country after the election either. It’s a bielection for a single seat. Running the country will be down to the new Labour PM and his team. As such the rest of your post is fairly irrelevant.

testfrequency 3mo ago

Actual rage bait. I don’t even have the energy to get into how cherry-picked this entire post is. Bad and inaccurate comparisons, false tourism claims, lame tropes, ignoring extreme and amazing progress while pointing at why some numbers may appear how they appear.

interstice 3mo ago

While I haven't been to Mississippi I have spent the last 6 months driving around the UK on a working holiday, and this sounds like a massive stretch. Free healthcare might be helping.

benrutter 3mo ago

I think you make some good points, but as a UK citizen, there probably some extra context 'd want people to know. Firstly, the Farage/Binface byelection is a result of Farage being investigated for breaking laws designed to stop political corruption. He's called an early local election to "let the people decide". Even if voted in, if he's found accountable for those charges, he'll have to call another election. So all major parties are staying out of this one, but would likely stand in a second. Essentially what I'm saying is, this isn't a normal local election by any means so I wouldn't use it to talk generally about political parties offering to the UK. I would also urge against using HS2/electricity-prices/Hinkley to make a " therefore the UK is in dire trou me". There all quite different: Hinkely and HS2 are certainly managed and unpopular, but they're individual projects - a lot of the UK issues are caused by much more complex, larger economic problems than government projects being mismanaged. And then on the energy price, the UK has really expensive energy. One reason for that is because there's a huge amount of invesent in renewables right now, and the investment is paid for by the consumer. I'm not arguing this is necessarily good, but it's a political choice to prioritise more expensive electricity today, with the goal of cheaper / more secure energy tomorrow. It's a lot more complex than just "the UK is cooked because it has expensive energy". Sorry for the minor essay! I think the UK's economic situation is serious, but also very interesting (it's possibly the most extreme global example of financialisation backfiring), complex and worth understanding!

phi0 3mo ago

> Outside the capital, in places where tourists do not visit, living standards fall well below Mississippi’s The article appears to treat nominal GDP per capita as a measure of living standards, which is obviously nonsense. Rather than looking at things like the Human Development Index or World Happiness Report, in both of which the UK outranks the US (incl. all the non-Mississippi states). Residents consistently reporting higher life satisfaction and happiness likely speaks more to their living standards than non-purchasing power parity adjusted GDP per capita. It is baffling how a sentence this uninformed made it into the article.

pjc50 3mo ago

Why is the life expectancy for Mississippi significantly lower than the UK? https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/compare/mississippi-usa/united-kingdom https://www.mylifeelsewhere.com/compare/mississippi-usa/unit...