General News Thread

[Trav Le Bleu]

6 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

The War of 1812 ended before the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815 against Napoleon. As for being isolationist there are some that think we should have stood aside and let Germany march through Belgium in 1914. 

Like Belgium did?

[leicsmac]

6 hours ago, Foxdiamond said:

The War of 1812 ended before the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June 1815 against Napoleon. As for being isolationist there are some that think we should have stood aside and let Germany march through Belgium in 1914. 

I'm not sure that difference of a few months really explains the difference in animus that some decide to show, though. 

[Sampson]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg36pknpl5o

 

UK Police framed man for murder, new evidence suggests

 

Imagine sitting in prison for 23 years after being framed by the police, jeez

Edited 16 February by Sampson

[leicsmac]

7 minutes ago, Sampson said:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg36pknpl5o

 

UK Police framed man for murder, new evidence suggests

 

Imagine sitting in prison for 23 years after being framed by the police, jeez

And, as bad as this is, imagine if the punishment had instead been absolute and the police/legal establishment would have had the blood of an entirely innocent man directly on their hands. 

[leicsmac]

In other news, one Kaja Kallis making a point about current EU/US relations:

 

"Coming from a country that ranks second in the freedom of speech index (Estonia), and for me to hear lectures about free speech from a country that ranks 58th in that same index (the US) is interesting".

 

Quite. 

[Foxdiamond]

2 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Like Belgium did?

They fought like hell against an enormous German army

[Foxdiamond]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

I'm not sure that difference of a few months really explains the difference in animus that some decide to show, though. 

Don't let a fact get in way eh

[leicsmac]

5 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

Don't let a fact get in way eh

Oh, no doubt about the fact, just interesting to see the difference in opinion some folks have about those places in spite of those last wars ending within a few months of each other.

[Foxdiamond]

21 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Oh, no doubt about the fact, just interesting to see the difference in opinion some folks have about those places in spite of those last wars ending within a few months of each other.

Actually I agree with you I was just being a bit pedantic but wanted to be correct. A bit like if someone said we beat Chelsea 2-1 rather than 1-0 to win the cup in 2021. I suppose our historical relationship of the public view of the US would be so different if English was not our shared language. Only have to think of music, film and tv. I've certainly enjoyed some French things too but of course unless a French speaker you have to put in a bit more effort. As for alliance with France I wonder if many of our people know we were on the same side when involved the the Crimean War. Of course the Entente of later in 1904 improved relations further though not sure Germany enjoyed the prospect.

[Sampson]

I was just listening to latest Rest is Politics podcast and they made a good point - at what point does Starmer need to start telling the public this rift in the world order is something different and the biggest we’ve faced since 1945? And at what point does he need to stop reassuring the British public and actually be honest and say “actually, we should be a little frightened?” and at what point does he need to say this is the age of the biggest radical shifts in thinking about our core philosophy of how we fundamentally want to be governed, or what it fundamentally even means to be a country since 1945 rather than dicking around the edges with tax and immigration policy? 

 

I don’t know. It’s an age of grand ambitious foreign policy and fundamental shifts in society like we haven’t seen in 80 years and I don’t know if Starmer is the right man for these times, because it’s so hard to know whether he’s buying himself time or whether he’s even woken up to the seriousness of America’s radical shift towards us yet. Love them or hate them, I can’t have seen big personalities like Churchill, Thatcher or Blair dithering around like this at a time like this. 

Edited 16 February by Sampson

[foxes1988]

33 minutes ago, Sampson said:

I was just listening to latest Rest is Politics podcast and they made a good point - at what point does Starmer need to start telling the public this rift in the world order is something different and the biggest we’ve faced since 1945? And at what point does he need to stop reassuring the British public and actually be honest and say “actually, we should be a little frightened?” and at what point does he need to say this is the age of the biggest radical shifts in thinking about our core philosophy of how we fundamentally want to be governed, or what it fundamentally even means to be a country since 1945 rather than dicking around the edges with tax and immigration policy? 

 

I don’t know. It’s an age of grand ambitious foreign policy and fundamental shifts in society like we haven’t seen in 80 years and I don’t know if Starmer is the right man for these times, because it’s so hard to know whether he’s buying himself time or whether he’s even woken up to the seriousness of America’s radical shift towards us yet. Love them or hate them, I can’t have seen big personalities like Churchill, Thatcher or Blair dithering around like this at a time like this. 

I'm not sure if any of the political parties are ready do what's necessary in terms of defence tbh.

 

More coop with Europe.

Less integration with USA. 

Spend much more on defence 

Cut back on welfare spending (pensions & universal credits/pip)

 

BBC News - UK government considering increase in defence spending - BBC News
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpqwl10lvr2o

 

Hopefully they do go ahead with this and get us upto 3% by 2026 although there's so many issues with defence armies ATM.

[bovril]

Is "out and into the world", "empire 2.0" in 2016 to "shit we need to start developing closer defence ties to Europe and fast" in 2026 a more or less dramatic reversal than Leicester City in the same period? 

 

Going to start blaming UKs issues on happy clappers with flasks of coffee who thought we'd made it

Edited 16 February by bovril

[CornwallFox]

2 hours ago, Sampson said:

I was just listening to latest Rest is Politics podcast and they made a good point - at what point does Starmer need to start telling the public this rift in the world order is something different and the biggest we’ve faced since 1945? And at what point does he need to stop reassuring the British public and actually be honest and say “actually, we should be a little frightened?” and at what point does he need to say this is the age of the biggest radical shifts in thinking about our core philosophy of how we fundamentally want to be governed, or what it fundamentally even means to be a country since 1945 rather than dicking around the edges with tax and immigration policy? 

 

I don’t know. It’s an age of grand ambitious foreign policy and fundamental shifts in society like we haven’t seen in 80 years and I don’t know if Starmer is the right man for these times, because it’s so hard to know whether he’s buying himself time or whether he’s even woken up to the seriousness of America’s radical shift towards us yet. Love them or hate them, I can’t have seen big personalities like Churchill, Thatcher or Blair dithering around like this at a time like this. 

He's probably the right person given the other options are Ed Davey, Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage, the latter who will have limited appeal to Europe at a point in time when we need to move closer to them militarily. 

[danny.]

6 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

He's probably the right person given the other options are Ed Davey, Kemi Badenoch or Nigel Farage, the latter who will have limited appeal to Europe at a point in time when we need to move closer to them militarily. 

What about magic boobs Dave?

[leicsmac]

3 hours ago, Sampson said:

I was just listening to latest Rest is Politics podcast and they made a good point - at what point does Starmer need to start telling the public this rift in the world order is something different and the biggest we’ve faced since 1945? And at what point does he need to stop reassuring the British public and actually be honest and say “actually, we should be a little frightened?” and at what point does he need to say this is the age of the biggest radical shifts in thinking about our core philosophy of how we fundamentally want to be governed, or what it fundamentally even means to be a country since 1945 rather than dicking around the edges with tax and immigration policy? 

 

I don’t know. It’s an age of grand ambitious foreign policy and fundamental shifts in society like we haven’t seen in 80 years and I don’t know if Starmer is the right man for these times, because it’s so hard to know whether he’s buying himself time or whether he’s even woken up to the seriousness of America’s radical shift towards us yet. Love them or hate them, I can’t have seen big personalities like Churchill, Thatcher or Blair dithering around like this at a time like this. 

I think the sad truth is that no one at the top table at the moment has both the nous to know what the right pathway to take is, and the strength and charisma to get enough people to follow.

 

There isn't a Carney or a Merz about, sadly. 

[CornwallFox]

1 hour ago, danny. said:

What about magic boobs Dave?

As much as I quite like him and he's a good antidote to reform style division and unpleasantness, he's unlikely to be PM. Admittedly nor is Badenoch or Davey 😅

[danny.]

1 hour ago, CornwallFox said:

As much as I quite like him and he's a good antidote to reform style division and unpleasantness, he's unlikely to be PM. Admittedly nor is Badenoch or Davey 😅

I think the Greens might have a better chance than Labour at the next GE

[Sampson]

Definitely more feeling Reform are running out of steam

 

 

[danny.]

23 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Definitely more feeling Reform are running out of steam

 

 

Restore will take a lot of their votes and with FPTP that is bad for both of those parties. Can see a similar split with Greens and Labour. 

[Sampson]

22 minutes ago, danny. said:

Restore will take a lot of their votes and with FPTP that is bad for both of those parties. Can see a similar split with Greens and Labour. 

Elon Musk seems to have a weird fascination with Rupert Lowe so you can imagine everyone in the UK is going to get bashed over the head with pro-Restore Britain stuff on twitter for the next 3 years.

Edited 17 February by Sampson

[leicsmac]

And there's still over three years before a GE has to be called. 

 

So much could happen. 

[Zear0]

Just need an even more far right party now to split the Restore vote. 

[Foxdiamond]

23 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

And there's still over three years before a GE has to be called. 

 

So much could happen. 

Agreed. Some people want to change government's or PM quicker than football managers. Absolutely potty.

[Tommy G]

https://news.sky.com/story/unemployment-hits-highest-rate-in-nearly-5-years-13508415

 

Great success!

[CornwallFox]

18 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

https://news.sky.com/story/unemployment-hits-highest-rate-in-nearly-5-years-13508415

 

Great success!

They don't seem to have ever got their head around how to create jobs and growth so far. 

 

Given the two numbers causing the biggest issues for the government are small boat numbers and employment figures, you'd have thought it will be a focus over the next 3 years, together with general cost of living.