leicsmac

That was like monsoon season in the Far East again. Spectacular.

Well, I was thinking more about your theory of compliance in the face of a far deadlier threat actually being put to the test, but point taken.

I'm sure he will, but likely international T20 first. Out on 97 going for the fastest IPL ton of all time, shame!

As expected, having clowns run the show turns the whole thing into a three ring circus. Only with a lot less humour and a lot more consequences.

Nearly two years later... "You know, it's funny that you should mention that..." (Here's hoping that the news coming out of the Congo isn't as bad as that, though.)

Good examples. Would also suggest Lord Palmerston in there as well now that I think about it - what he advocated for outside the borders of the UK was certainly... interesting.

Right now, we're on course for a global average temperature increase of between 3 to 4 degrees Celsius inside of 250 years - an increase matched historically by only the "big 5" extinction events in terms of change over time. Now, what changes that will bring we cannot be certain of, but given the changes in weather patterns and resource availability so far from "just" a 1.5 degree increase, it is likely they won't be pretty.

Again, I have to repeat that the current systems on this matter may represent the best of a series of really bad choices that it's going to be necessary to take as the world changes (in various different ways). Though I guess that depends on how much people view "others" as expendable in order to safeguard their own "tribe".

You would think that they know what they're talking about, but unfortunately it is very easy in this day and age for perception to supercede facts and drive decision making anyway.

All of this ties into general ideas of demographic change and birth rate changes, too. Thing is though, going the Korean or Japanese route to "preserve culture" by putting legislative (and literal) walls up doesn't seem to help with social and economic matters there either. The really scary thing is that what you speak of here about "losing culture" may be the best of a set of really bad choices, because all of the rest lead to increased conflict and/or a catastrophic population crash in many places due to declining resources. I don't envy anyone with power at the moment who is actually looking ahead at the big picture and is trying to make a decision based on it.

He clearly had appeal at the time - he remains the most recent PM to win more than one GE (and one of the few to win three), but yes, his alignment seemed and seems to be all over the place. Or perhaps the idea of UK citizens heading out and seeing a bit of the wider world, and learning about it, isn't a bad thing? Enclaved walled districts based on demographic with little coming and going doesn't lead anywhere good in the future. It leads to ignorance, which leads to mistrust, which leads to opposition, which leads to conflict, which leads to screwed.

Tony Blair weighing in on current matters again. Is there a single other UK leader who managed such a difference in good between domestic and foreign policy that they're only (and rightly) remembered for the latter rather than the work they did for the former?

Pardon me, but I got pinged earlier on in this thread for being off topic about things, so that last part was directed generally, not at you personally. Apologies for any confusion there, should have clarified that. Unfortunately, simply not building any more urban spaces is not the answer to the increasingly extreme conditions the UK is facing and will face.

Green spaces have lower temperatures than urban ones. The average temperature of both is going up, to the detriment of crops in those green areas as well as more uncomfortable urban spaces, with an obvious cause for that increase. I hope this clarifies matters and doesn't detract from the general subject of the thread.

Yep, @The Doctor had it right about that earlier.

The forecast puts it between 20 and 50% for the Leicester area right now. That's not as much as places like the Southern US and Asia (which often get 60-90% in summer with high temperatures too) but it is higher than a lot of Mediterranean nations as a rule, which is where we tend to mostly associate experience with 30+ degrees C temperatures. UK folks (and infrastructure) aren't really used to the combination of temperatures like this and the higher comparative level of humidity with it.

Yeah, there's something in that, too.

Think that has something to do with the humidity, most places Brits go on holiday for sun tend to have a drier heat. Also mentality - when you're abroad, you're normally on holiday so all you have to do is enjoy things, while when you're here you're having to do stuff (or think of doing stuff) in spite of the heat.

Humidity is high (for this time and place) out there too.

In terms of economic decision-making that is fulfilling for all, or even most people resulting in comfort for that mentioned majority? No, self-evidently not at the present time. In terms of being just about competent enough in other policy areas to avoid demographic conflict up to and including ethnic cleansing and working on at least some of the areas that might drive that conflict in the future (some of which are rather horrible)...well, that's fairly self-evident too. And yes, that described in the second paragraph are the stakes and it's a little frustrating to see so many people either willfully or unwillfully overlook just how bad things could get. Or worse, actually want them to go that way because it allows them to indulge their lust for power and abusing that power.

There are, unfortunately, several different reasons for that. All of them are based on either short term self interest, prejudice, being misled or a combination of those, but they are all also magnified by very astute use of social and other media to subvert the democratic process by Reform and those that share their ideology. For me, it doesn't necessarily blow my mind (the reasons are obvious imo), but it does worry me that so many people are either so self-centered or are being talked into being that self-centered that it could well affect policy decisions which will guide the fate of all of us.

Straight out of the Trump USA playbook of worker welfare. Is anyone really surprised? Or also surprised that they intend to mirror that government on various other ideas that will only lead to divisive misery, as well?

They'd both be disastrous for anyone but their favoured demographic because they'd both still be beholden to the Trump cult of personality. There wouldn't be much difference between them in terms of policy decisions.

Still a fair bit of time to go in that regard, though given how long the campaigning process is in the US I'm not surprised people are starting to jockey for position. The midterms should tell us a fair bit about what direction things are going (that is, if the gerrymandering attempts don't render them unfair).