General News Thread

[Trav Le Bleu]

5 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

 

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. 

Which flags should we fly, dammit!

 

Very important!

[Trav Le Bleu]

15 minutes ago, Sampson said:

I think it’s more that, as has been the case over the past decade, that political crisis and events take over.
 

I think Farage has got his base now and I don’t see those voters changing their mind regardless of what Labour do with the immigration and economy (and tbh I think a big problem is I think a lot of the issues people care about are opposed to how you grow an economy - I don’t see how you can fix an ageing population’s economy where the labour supply is buckling under those who need care and state support without immigration and/or making politically  unpopular opinions like the cutting fuel allowance or raising the retirement age - but we saw the backlash Labour got for cutting winter fuel allowance on pensioners).

 

In that way I think Farage is on course to win the election regardless of what Labour do because it’s a catch 22. However, the mitigation here is that the world over the past decade has swung violently from one political crisis to another and these end up taking control of the narrative so things like escalations/ending of the war in Ukraine, a natural disaster, another pandemic or war or such like can completely swing the public’s view. The world feels a very different place to me than it did 4 years ago and will no doubt do in another 4 years. But a lot of that is really out of the government’s control. 

Should make it that all carers have to be born in the UK, see how long old people carry on moaning about immigrants.

 

The thing about the 'immigration vite' is that for a sizable portion, they don't particularly differentiate between legal and illegal immigration.

[leicsmac]

14 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

Just listened to PMQ's. What a waste of time. We got the 14 years of Conservatives and £22b 'black hole' in the very first sentence. At what point do they start taking responsibility? Just the same old speech about breakfast clubs. Pathetic.

 

We have a PM that refuses to answer a question. Does he not know the answer or just incompetent? The Speaker should call him out on it. The public deserve better.

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. 

 

11 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Which flags should we fly, dammit!

 

Very important!

Indeed. 

 

The Earth doesn't give us enough problems as a species, so we have to keep making up our own for amusement, right?

[Foxdiamond]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Should make it that all carers have to be born in the UK, see how long old people carry on moaning about immigrants.

 

The thing about the 'immigration vite' is that for a sizable portion, they don't particularly differentiate between legal and illegal immigration.

Old people receiving personal care are very vulnerable. Communication is vital so being able to speak English is a basic requirement rather than being UK born. Also being able to understand instructions in training etc. 

[Lionator]

Israeli’s have gone rogue in Syria now. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

10 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Old people receiving personal care are very vulnerable. Communication is vital so being able to speak English is a basic requirement rather than being UK born. Also being able to understand instructions in training etc. 

I agree. The fact remains that it's mainly done by immigrants because British people wouldn't entertain doing such work for the money paid.

[Foxdiamond]

5 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I agree. The fact remains that it's mainly done by immigrants because British people wouldn't entertain doing such work for the money paid.

Yes. For too long carers have been undervalued. My wife worked as a care assistant looking after the elderly for 27 years 

[st albans fox]

42 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Israeli’s have gone rogue in Syria now. 

Good that someone is prepared to protect the minorities there.  No one intervened to help the alawites and Christians recently which saw at least 1300 massacred.

 

the isr have domestic reasons to try and make sure the Druze don’t suffer the same fate 

 

I asked earlier today what jolani’s motives are and if he can be trusted. 
 

EDIT: this has been framed as an internal Bedouin/druze dispute

there was something in this to begin with but it’s now very much the Syrian armed forces involved and much of it very ‘distasteful’.

Edited 16 July 2025 by st albans fox

[Trav Le Bleu]

46 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Good that someone is prepared to protect the minorities there.  No one intervened to help the alawites and Christians recently which saw at least 1300 massacred.

 

the isr have domestic reasons to try and make sure the Druze don’t suffer the same fate 

 

I asked earlier today what jolani’s motives are and if he can be trusted. 
 

EDIT: this has been framed as an internal Bedouin/druze dispute

there was something in this to begin with but it’s now very much the Syrian armed forces involved and much of it very ‘distasteful’.

All war is distasteful.

 

But I get what you mean.

[urban.spaceman]

22 hours ago, Lionator said:

Is Trump known for saying outlandish stuff then rowing it back? Or does he tend to follow through?

Apparently he does have to wear a nappy. 

[Tommy G]

4 hours ago, Spudulike said:

Just listened to PMQ's. What a waste of time. We got the 14 years of Conservatives and £22b 'black hole' in the very first sentence. At what point do they start taking responsibility? Just the same old speech about breakfast clubs. Pathetic.

 

We have a PM that refuses to answer a question. Does he not know the answer or just incompetent? The Speaker should call him out on it. The public deserve better.

You won’t get much agreement on here mate - it’s all gone very quiet since last summer….and it’s only going to get worse. 

[Bellend Sebastian]

I'm intrigued and excited by Trump's new strategy for dealing with the Epstein Files issue which is basically: why are you making such a fuss you twats

[leicsmac]

22 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

You won’t get much agreement on here mate - it’s all gone very quiet since last summer….and it’s only going to get worse. 

 

 

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

Edited 16 July 2025 by leicsmac

[Super_horns]

Starmer cracking the whip literally.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y7zqdwzqyo

[Md9]

31 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I'm intrigued and excited by Trump's new strategy for dealing with the Epstein Files issue which is basically: why are you making such a fuss you twats

He has gone from he will release them when he is president to bondi has them on her desk to them not being real and it’s all made up by Biden and Obama to then telling every one no body cares about them and who ever wants to know about them are crazy. I think he is one step away from being caught out scooby doo style and them unmasking him as Epstein, and that probably wouldn’t even be that crazy after all the bat sh** crazy stuff he says .

[Bellend Sebastian]

12 minutes ago, Md9 said:

He has gone from he will release them when he is president to bondi has them on her desk to them not being real and it’s all made up by Biden and Obama to then telling every one no body cares about them and who ever wants to know about them are crazy. I think he is one step away from being caught out scooby doo style and them unmasking him as Epstein, and that probably wouldn’t even be that crazy after all the bat sh** crazy stuff he says .

I mean it looks like gaslighting on a massive scale but although some of his supporters seem cross I gave up long ago trying to work out where the lines were that you could cross and actually be damaged as a politician

[Parafox]

3 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

Yes. For too long carers have been undervalued. My wife worked as a care assistant looking after the elderly for 27 years 

 

It's genuinely a tough job. Most of the carers I came across when I was working were dedicated and their role was vital to their clients. Despite the time pressures they were under, many went over and above for the people they cared for.

 

She deserves a good pension and a medal. 

 

I doubt she got either.

[Md9]

47 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

I mean it looks like gaslighting on a massive scale but although some of his supporters seem cross I gave up long ago trying to work out where the lines were that you could cross and actually be damaged as a politician

I don’t think there is any line he wouldn’t cross even more so if he feels like he is losing his grip on things . 

[Foxdiamond]

29 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

It's genuinely a tough job. Most of the carers I came across when I was working were dedicated and their role was vital to their clients. Despite the time pressures they were under, many went over and above for the people they cared for.

 

She deserves a good pension and a medal. 

 

I doubt she got either.

Genuinely moved by your reply. You are right about the pension and medal. I used to say I wouldn't have done her job for a grand a week. I couldn't have done it anyway. I was lucky enough to meet some of her clients and colleagues. The wonderful things they said about her made me so proud.

[Dr The Singh]

1 hour ago, Super_horns said:

Starmer cracking the whip literally.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5y7zqdwzqyo

Doesn't say what the breaches were?

[Wymsey]

42 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

It's genuinely a tough job. Most of the carers I came across when I was working were dedicated and their role was vital to their clients. Despite the time pressures they were under, many went over and above for the people they cared for.

 

She deserves a good pension and a medal. 

 

I doubt she got either.

I had read about an incident at the Bradgate Unit in Glenfield the other day and thought of your Daughter being there (despite not knowing yourselves personally).

 

Hope she's OK.

[Tommy G]

8 minutes ago, Dr The Singh said:

Doesn't say what the breaches were?

Disagreeing with him basically, along with 47 others - against the welfare bill which he couldn’t pass - which will now not save any money and we will need to raise taxes to cover it, coupled with the negative economic growth. that wasn’t forecast. 

BUT delivering change remember 
 

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

59 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 

It's genuinely a tough job. Most of the carers I came across when I was working were dedicated and their role was vital to their clients. Despite the time pressures they were under, many went over and above for the people they cared for.

 

She deserves a good pension and a medal. 

 

I doubt she got either.

We throw money at people who do jobs that have relatively little value (footballers spring to mind, other sports, TV personalites, film stars, models, even people who are famous for being famous); whilst we pay people who provide essential services and who graft much harder physically, relatively little.

 

So wrong.

[Parafox]

10 minutes ago, Wymsey said:

I had read about an incident at the Bradgate Unit in Glenfield the other day and thought of your Daughter being there (despite not knowing yourselves personally).

 

Hope she's OK.

 

Thanks Wymsey.

 

She was discharged home under the care of a CPN and a SW and has been for a couple of months now.

 

We were worried that the hostility and hatred towards us would carry on, and it did, but we were advised by the SW and the CPN to inform the police and log all the offensive messages and death threats we have been receiving so that, if anything bad should happen, there's a record on the police system that can be recalled if necessary.

 

The SW told us to block her on our phones as they were now "looking after" her and we didn't need to be so involved. So we did and life for us has been less fraught since.

 

Mrs Para did text her a few days ago to ask if she was OK and she got a short reply saying "no" as her meds hadn't been delivered which is something we would have had to resolve before. Then the line of communication was open and we got several unpleasant texts so she is blocked again.

 

It's a sort of relief that we don't have as much involvement although it doesn't stop the concerns we have for her long term.

 

As far as we know she is managing with the support she now has in place.

 

The fact that it's taken almost 10 years to finally get something there to help and support her is a poor indictment on the MH services.

 

 

[Dr The Singh]

15 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Disagreeing with him basically, along with 47 others - against the welfare bill which he couldn’t pass - which will now not save any money and we will need to raise taxes to cover it, coupled with the negative economic growth. that wasn’t forecast. 

BUT delivering change remember 
 

 

Is Hitler in charge?