General News Thread

[BigGibbo]

14 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Just reading about Yitzhak Rabin who was assassinated 30 years ago today. Seems like we could be living in a completely different world if that event didn’t happen 

Yeah, there are extremists on both sides who keep derailing peace talks. The only way there can ever be peace there is if it is taken out of Israeli hands united nations style, where peacekeeping forces from every army in the world come together to protect both sides of the border (after fairly redrawing it) for long enough that a generation has grown up knowing peace and doesn't want to go back to what it was before a la Northern Ireland.

[leicsmac]

Just now, BigGibbo said:

Is it though? How much help do you expect that to take? Do you think we can provide it all?

 

And what happens when the world goes to hell in a basket through no fault of our own? Do we just accept everybody onto our lifeboat even though we know it will sink it and all go down together?

 

I'm not suggesting we shouldnt do our fair share and we definitely should stop playing any further part in destabilising such places, but there is only so much we can do.

 

Especially at a point when getting onto most people here are already approaching breaking point. Going forward the best of us can no longer afford to have kids and the only ones that will are those that accept a life on benefits and shoulder no/or only partial financial responsibility for raising them at the expense of the rest of us. It's no longer a tenable situation.

 

Apologies, after that performance earlier I had to sojourn to the pub, so hopefully I'm still coherent.

 

We can (and should) supply all the help that we can. That's just being a decent human being. And from a practical standpoint, it's the only way forward that stands even a chance of preserving our civilisation for any significant length of time.

 

If the world does end up going to hell in a handbasket (and it might), then outside of a truly out-of-place occurrence like a meteor strike or supervolcanic eruption, all of our species will be at fault, the UK included - either through action or not doing enough to prevent it. That's the way that it will be seen by anyone left afterwards. Though my thought has been for a while that if something like that occurs, such "lifeboats" will firstly be inevitable (as you infer here, it won't turn out any other way) and secondly not last long at all. It will come down to being the last one to sink. Survive united, or pass on divided.

 

I can understand the need to protect the "self" and the "tribe" in the way described here, especially when times are hard for many right now. But somehow, someway, a balance is going to have to be struck between the "tribe" and the greater world, because all other ways don't end anywhere but badly. And that would be sad, given we know the dilemma and unlike other animals, we have the choice.

 

Can certainly understand the need for a drink after events earlier today.

[BigGibbo]

4 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

We can (and should) supply all the help that we can. That's just being a decent human being. And from a practical standpoint, it's the only way forward that stands even a chance of preserving our civilisation for any significant length of time.

 

If the world does end up going to hell in a handbasket (and it might), then outside of a truly out-of-place occurrence like a meteor strike or supervolcanic eruption, all of our species will be at fault, the UK included - either through action or not doing enough to prevent it. That's the way that it will be seen by anyone left afterwards. Though my thought has been for a while that if something like that occurs, such "lifeboats" will firstly be inevitable (as you infer here, it won't turn out any other way) and secondly not last long at all. It will come down to being the last one to sink. Survive united, or pass on divided.

 

I can understand the need to protect the "self" and the "tribe" in the way described here, especially when times are hard for many right now. But somehow, someway, a balance is going to have to be struck between the "tribe" and the greater world, because all other ways don't end anywhere but badly. And that would be sad, given we know the dilemma and unlike other animals, we have the choice.

 

Can certainly understand the need for a drink after events earlier today.

We should and do provide all the help we can, perhaps more than we can at present. On the current trajectory we are on our way to being an IMF bail-out level basket-case again and what good are we to anyone in that situation? There are times where we need to tend to the crops at home before we can share them.

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, BigGibbo said:

We should and do provide all the help we can, perhaps more than we can at present. On the current trajectory we are on our way to being an IMF bail-out level basket-case again and what good are we to anyone in that situation? There are times where we need to tend to the crops at home before we can share them.

Agreed - as I said, somehow a balance needs to be struck. The stakes are rather high.

[BigGibbo]

2 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Agreed - as I said, somehow a balance needs to be struck. The stakes are rather high.

Indeed.

[Lionator]

Not good news from Cambridgeshire ☹️☹️

[ClaphamFox]

3 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Not good news from Cambridgeshire ☹️☹️

The eye witness accounts emerging are terrifying. Miraculously no fatalities reported yet - hopefully it stays that way…

[Super_horns]

1 hour ago, ClaphamFox said:

The eye witness accounts emerging are terrifying. Miraculously no fatalities reported yet - hopefully it stays that way…

Hopefully all injured are ok .

 

 Horrific situation.

[kingfox]

Ten injured, nine with life-threatening injuries 

 

This country is losing control by the week 

[FoxesTez]

Awful scenes. Can’t even imagine the fear those people on that train felt. Hopefully they all pull through and get the support they need. 

[nnfox]

I'm impressed with the police and ambulance response in Huntingdon.  We're almost used to seeing this kind of thing in a metropolitan area where there are lots of cops in a relatively small area, but Cambridgeshire is essentially a rural county and Huntingdon is a small market town with nothing like the staffing we see in large cities.  To have mustered that level of response on a Saturday evening so quickly is astonishing.

[foxfanazer]

Bit close to home that one. Really terrifying stuff

[Lionator]

26 minutes ago, nnfox said:

I'm impressed with the police and ambulance response in Huntingdon.  We're almost used to seeing this kind of thing in a metropolitan area where there are lots of cops in a relatively small area, but Cambridgeshire is essentially a rural county and Huntingdon is a small market town with nothing like the staffing we see in large cities.  To have mustered that level of response on a Saturday evening so quickly is astonishing.

Apparently there is a police HQ literally next door to the station 

[StanSP]

Terrible news from Huntingdon about the train attack . Fingers crossed everyone survives. 

[nnfox]

11 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Apparently there is a police HQ literally next door to the station 

And how many operational cops work there on a Saturday evening?  It won't have been bursting at the seams with cops sitting around waiting for a major incident.

[st albans fox]

Hopefully just a lone nutter rather than anything more organised (I know two were arrested but doesn’t mean they’re both responsible) 

 

seems likely to have boarded the train at Peterborough  

 

 

[ClaphamFox]

6 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Hopefully just a lone nutter rather than anything more organised (I know two were arrested but doesn’t mean they’re both responsible) 

 

seems likely to have boarded the train at Peterborough  

 

 

I’ve also been wondering about this. Two arrests, but some of the eye witness accounts I’ve read suggest there was just one attacker.

[Zear0]

1 minute ago, ClaphamFox said:

I’ve also been wondering about this. Two arrests, but some of the eye witness accounts I’ve read suggest there was just one attacker.

Guess if the attacker boarded with someone they're likely to get collared too. Sure it'll all come out today. Can't imagine the scene being trapped in a train during an attack like that. 

[Joe90]

22 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Hopefully just a lone nutter rather than anything more organised (I know two were arrested but doesn’t mean they’re both responsible) 

 

seems likely to have boarded the train at Peterborough  

 

 

It’s getting bad though isn’t it!! These isolated incidents are adding up poor victims!! Only last week 3 people were stabbed and an old man lost his life, now this I’m sick of it now!!! Those poor people on that train no escape!! 

[Raj]

More and more of these " lone nutters" in this country committing these cvnts crimes.

Let's see what background this ***** has about him( or her)

[st albans fox]

54 minutes ago, Raj said:

More and more of these " lone nutters" in this country committing these cvnts crimes.

Let's see what background this ***** has about him( or her)

Sadly a statistical certainty 

may not be the case here though 

[whoareyaaa]

Terrible, yet another.

[Tommy G]

Another - this country is a boiling point and has been for some time. 

[leicsmac]

Just to add a little context here...

 

 

[fox_up_north]

While those are knife offences, that will include possession off, threatening to use and stabbings. Those stabbings, as we know from the news - are rarely targeted at strangers. They'll be knife attacks between young men who know each other.