Sampson

Pretty sure that was Corbyn not Starmer tbf but may be wrong.

nm

The issue isn’t the population numbers per se, it’s the population distribution - I.e. that it’s going to be a population of mostly older people who require a lot more help from the state in terms of pension, healthcare costs, disability benefits etc. mixed with much less workers to generate income for the state. South Korea is already past the point where it can’t reverse the fact it will be a country of majority over 65s in the future. Many of whom end up it cramped old people’s homes which are already well over capacity. Then there’s the issues of democracy. How can you change these things when the majority of voters are all over 65 and crammed in retirement home. They have a right to vote for their own interests in terms of pension, state funded healthcare etc. But you can’t realistically provide these things without large scale immigration from Africa and the Middle East, which is where the majority of young people will come from (which itself is becoming politically impossible because immigration has become so politically weaponsised) or making people work 60+ hour weeks. “The natural ebb and flow” also usually means brutal world wars, pandemics or inhumane governments trying to change a populations distribution through force I.e. forced deportation or worse of certain demographics. But lots of suffering regardless.

Plenty of countries have tried these things. Sweden has tried giving generous benefits to parents. Poland increases benefits per child, sort of the reverse to what UK does - so you get more benefits for your 3rd child than you do for your 1st child. They help maybe a little, but nowhere near enough and still no western country has got close to getting birth rates back up to replacement level of 2.1 children per woman again. As leicsmac says I think the only way can really solve it is by becoming an African or Middle East style country with higher death rates and where people depend on children as the breadwinners. Even most of South America and India have got to the point that it has followed North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania with birthrates dropping below 2.1 children per women now. The world population is basically only propped up by Africa, the Middle East and some of the poorer countries of Asia (I believe the statistic is that within 25 years over 50% of babies born in the world will be in Sub-Sahara Africa) Having children just idoesn't seem to be very compatible with western modern life. List of countries by total fertility rate - Wikipedia

Sounds about right. If he is Christian I’d guarantee its just because he was told he was as a kid. I doubt he gives any second thought about the bible or to the actual substance and morality behind Christianity.

I don’t think he loves the bible at all. I doubt he even thinks about religion, it’s so engrained in American culture people are just brought up to be told their Christian and they barely give it a second thought

The biggest concern with Reform though is the same thing with Trump - a lot of their rhetoric is thinly disguised (and sometimes not even disguised at all) radical rhetoric about smashing the institutions, checks and balances and separations of powers that have helped hold up democracy in the west since WW2. A lot of it when you read between the lines is about giving the PM more and more powers and the civil service and different offices of government less and less as well as constantly demonising “the mainstream media”, lawyers, education institutions etc.

You can see what happens in Japan and South Korea trying to deal with population ageing while maintaining low migration figures - people end up working 60+ hour weeks or crazy hours and a lot is in unpaid overtime. South Korea officially has a 40 hour work week but many people work a lot more than that and the government is currently trying to increase maximum work hours to 69 hours per week.

I feel like virtue signalling has been replaced by vice signaling where people try to outdo each other by being crueler and crueler to other human beings in order to show how bona fide they are.

nm

Good overview.

Starmer has to hold his nerve and not sell out our values to these lunatics in Washington.

You realise criminal convictions apply to all though right? Not just the “complacent” ones. So you think parents who try their best, but as you say can’t be sure 24/7 should have their lives ruined with criminal convictions? Because there 14 year old has sex with another 14 year old? If you’re a parent, if you thought your 14 year old was going round their friends house to do homework but then they ended up having sex together, you should have to go through the years long anxiety of being arrested, have your life on hold for a year or two, go to court, likely lose your job, have a criminal record etc. because of that.

Not being funny, but you really think parents should control everything a 14 year old does in their entire life? And more so be criminally liable for it? There’s no way as a parent you can genuinely stop this without caging them up in their room. No wonder no one has kids anymore. The expectations and pressures on parents are insane. Giving parents the threat of criminal liability of 2 14 year olds have sex with each other strikes me as not feasible in the least and only going to increase pressure on parents who already are held up to often ridiculous expectations.

There’s an Elon Musk joke in there somewhere.

Maybe they all read their own versions of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and play their own version of Cosmic Encounter where the humans are their version of the Vogon or the Loser.

One good thing is seeing what a proper hard right government that wants to smash the institutions looks like in practice has caused massive turnarounds in polling in Australia and Canada as plenty of people are realising what “country first” actually means in practice.

Yeah was just reading that. It looks genuinely possible from what I’m reading, which like an incredible milestone in our existence if true.

Fair enough. I should’ve said that there was a reason many were outside of Germany outside of public view.

Re: sending randomers to that El Salvador prison without trial where people are allegedly locked up without chance of release and never even allowed to see daylight. And where Trump openly said he wants to send US citizens. There’s a reason all the German concentration camps were outside of Germany.

Plenty of moderates still say “don’t call Trump/Farage/Musk the f word” even when it’s slapping them in the face.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c045qg9xr30o US judge says he could hold Trump administration in contempt of court Let’s hope the check and balance holds. I fear this just gives Trump fire and something more he’ll use as a motivation to invoke the Insurrection Act though.

I think the MAGAs want there to be. That’s the goal of Project 2025. It allows them to send in the military and declare martial law/national emergency. It’s the tried and tested authoritarian handbook.

We’ll see whether Trump is imposing the Insurrection Act on Easter Sunday. Could be a huge moment.