leicsmac

Quite frankly, I'm not going to argue with you about that (because quite frankly I don't feel capable of advocating for any one viewpoint with certainty) and just repeat my previous regarding the smart bugger and a solution, because if you're right the need is more urgent than many people know.

I beg to differ regarding the "large extent", but so it goes.

...I wasn't aware that a few figureheads represented the entirety of the women's game and their stance on the matter, as was inferred in the OP.

If imminent resource scarcity issues aren't addressed then that fascism will arrive with it, both inevitably and devastatingly absolutely. You know that at least as well as I do. Of course though I can see why you would have little faith in this particular government to address that problem (and seemingly even less to safeguard the rights of vulnerable people), but I'm struggling to see what kind of changes would help with both of those things beyond the drastic revolution-type which I myself have little faith in happening in enough places and even less in it happening in the way needed to work. Edit: I do hope that some smart bugger can figure out a workable way forward though. The stakes are pretty high.

Their general scientific policy decisions says yes, it would. I mean, yes, the current government are hardly endearing themselves towards themost vulnerable with their choices, but what they are not doing is not looking to choose a course of action that will see the world burn because they think they alone deserve to be king of the ashes. We have been going down the same dark path for the last decade or more, and we're still on it now. People just didn't want to see it, for their own reasons.

The broad strokes here being pertinent, you know enough about science and general science policy to know how much worse it can get. Probably more so than me.

(Though I rather suspect our descriptions of how it will "get worse" differ somewhat.)

Don't let the truth get in the way of a good strawman.

It is true that people do expect rapid change in this era of instant gratification. How well that works in practice... that's rather a debate. Indeed. The Earth doesn't give us enough problems as a species, so we have to keep making up our own for amusement, right?

Yes, there's certainly issues on which time is very short. And a big part of why those issues exist is because people are spending far too much of that valuable time disputing that there is an issue and which ones are time sensitive. That's about right, really. There is absolutely zero guarantees about the way the world will look in four years time. 'Nother edit: beyond the creeping effects of thermodynamics and their consequences, that is.

One thing that the current UK government does have on its side is time. Edit: from a political power point of view, anyway.

Bloody difficult. It's darkly humorous that those of the Millenial generation have now had, consistently, pretty much every negative social event possible happen to them (multiple financial meltdowns, pandemic, increasing climate instability, among others) apart from - thankfully - a world war. And then (possibly because of the above), some earlier generations have the temerity to criticise them for complaining about the shite hand they've been dealt globally.

There will be problems that not even the privileged can hide from. Not for long and in spite of their belief to the contrary, anyway. (One of the big ones hopefully being those working people actually figuring out how much real power they have to leverage, considering the mechanics of civilisation still runs on people.)

The good news is that when we come through it all, the party can, will and should be huge!

It's likely going to be a rather difficult next decade. Or more.

He thinks he's an elected representative of somewhere in the Southern/Midwestern US where this kind of Trumpian soundbite actually works.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79q42y07wpo Air quality alerts are in place across Canada and the northern United States due to smoke from wildfires, with officials warning residents to "limit time outdoors". Environment Canada issued alerts for much of Ontario, warning that wildfire smoke had significantly degraded air quality. On Monday, Toronto's air quality ranked among the worst in the world. In the US, officials issued similar alerts for Chicago through Tuesday evening, with additional precautions advised for babies and the elderly. Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet emergency responders to assess the situation in Ottawa, as fires burning in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and northern Ontario have forced thousands out of their homes. Grim.

The very thorny ethical issue surrounding that whole matter aside (which I'm not going to touch with a bargepole here), I would certainly agree the UK should be helping those who help them in that way.

In an era where the very idea of truth is being ever more subverted, I'm not sure that continuing to open up alleys to further that subversion of truth by making it more subject to the highest bidder is a good idea.

No disagreement whatsoever there.

Uncertain, but what is certain is that any of them left there would have died the kind of deaths that haunt ones dreams. I wonder what the "cost" of that is.

Sadly, however, I'm not sure how many of the instigators of those "modernising" actions through history have remained uncorrupt when they won and gained a measure of power. It's a difficult circle to square, I know, because a corollary of this is that there doesn't seem to be many other ways to destroy an imperialist power that is abusing that power without the mindset that ends up abusing power itself. No idea how we deal with that, but it clearly does need to be dealt with.

There's something in that. That being said, if history doesn't show very clearly just how damaging a supremacist belief can be - regardless whether it's written across demographic, national or whatever line - then I'm not sure how much clear it can be.

Quite. For a variety of reasons.

Perception trumping (and I use that phrase very deliberately) yet again.