danny.

Don’t really feel old, in that I use the latest tech and listen to new music etc. but my knees don’t work and if I drink more than two beers I wake up at 4am with random alcohol induced anxiety, so maybe I do feel old actually.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/horror-moment-killer-walks-back-36422047 3 and a half years for killing someone who called him out for queue jumping. About the same as writing a naughty social media post.

I genuinely don’t know how it can compete with online. Fosse park at least you just park up for free and you’re there and even then I’d probably just buy online over going there 9/10 times.

I missed the word “inherently” so yes that changes what you were saying to be fair. I’m not sure how we got there from the previous discussions but of course I’d agree with that and I’d imagine any reasonable person would. Ideologies aren’t inherent human traits though and are often chosen, or at least followed from parents and other influential members of society.

Doesn’t everyone think that at a level though? No doubt you think you’re superior over Trump and US Republicans and actively seek to draw a dividing line between you and them. Not sure how pragmatic it is to think every belief and ideology is equivalent.

What factors would cause a monoculture to U-turn in terms of culture, why would that happen without any external factors? Any precedent for that?

Really? You don't think huge progress in gender equality has been made in the recent past in social terms? Women have parity in terms of wages and democratic rights now, which is a relatively modern achievement.

Well women are definitely socially inequality to men in some cultures. Not so much in Western cultures in the recent past but demographics have and are changing and with that brings different cultural views of women.

That makes no sense at all to me, so you are saying rapists rape women and girls they perceive as being economically unequal to them?

I don't think the issue is inequality, but we no doubt have different worldviews on this.

Not without a massive cultural shift. I hope it gets better, I think it will get worse.

I'd agree with that.

Literally no point looking at the medieval ages - we have evolved as a society and are now going backwards. You might as well argue that modern day slavery in Africa is not that bad because of the transatlantic and Barbary slave trades.

The data disagrees with you. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/sexualoffencesprevalenceandtrendsenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2025

Eastern European countries (especially some like like Poland and Bulgaria) have much lower rates than Western: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20241125-3 I believe the UK is around the same level as Sweden. We also have multiple cases of rapists being let off from punishment from raping girls https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-39305042 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/apr/04/outrage-as-man-walks-free-after-of-13-year-old-girl-in-scotland https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268395/Adil-Rashid-Paedophile-claimed-Muslim-upbringing-meant-didnt-know-illegal-sex-girl-13.html the latter being an adult at the time so even more insane - "Rashid claimed he had been taught in his Islamic faith school that ‘women are no more worthy than a lollipop that has been dropped on the ground’". And obviously we have known grooming gangs covered up over decades which has caused immeasurable damage to women and girls, for example over 1400 girls in Rotherham alone between '97 and 2013.

Cultural shifts towards misogynistic ideologies.

Yea, that should sort it. We’re so cooked in the U.K./Western Europe. It’s a bleak future for women and girls.

Guilty fancies amnesty - I've got loads of weird ones, get it started @Tommy G

I thought I'd managed to cope, but people spelling "have" as "of" and "our" as "are" is driving me mad again today

surely you aren't trying to spin that that in a positive light for Mears and tax payer value keeping asylum seekers in hotels?!

I think most business owners are responding to real world factors like actual increased tax liabilities and minimum wage increases, rather than being driven by "entirely false budget reporting"

Surely it was a joke?!

Spot on, not sure why people keep believing this nonsense that the jobs will just shift like they did in the Industrial Revolution. AI will just replace millions of jobs, the job openings it creates will be insignificant in comparison. Zero joined up thinking from our politicians.

Good luck with that