General News Thread

[MPH]

1 hour ago, Jattdogg said:

Fuk sakes this is ultimate cringe. As if bone spurs pussy bwoy would go to battle.  He should be holding a flag which was bone spurs deferment written  on it.

 

feels all very North Korea-ish… 

[Jon the Hat]

9 hours ago, FoxesDeb said:

Surely nobody with even an ounce of decency will vote for this? Citizens of the UK don't want this for people do they, locking them up? 

I think we have to be careful about saying people wouldn't vote reform if they are decent people.  See Hillary and her deplorables comments.  Talking down to people never helps open the conversation.

 

Plenty of people would consider it reasonable to detain people who have been denied the right to stay in the UK until they are deported.  Some of that is from nonsense scaremongering bullshit stories of course.  Some of it though is from valid concerns about people disappearing, working illegally, being exploited and resorting to crime if they cannot work legally.

 

The whole if you vote green we will put a immigrant centre near you because you obviously love immigrants is nonsense appealing to a small part of their base.

[Sampson]

3 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I think we have to be careful about saying people wouldn't vote reform if they are decent people.  See Hillary and her deplorables comments.  Talking down to people never helps open the conversation.

 

 

I’m sorry but I can’t get behind this argument in 2026,. I see only the opposite pretty much every day - that calling the other side stupid either gains voter or makes people on the other side get disillusioned and then either not want to vote or vote for another party and split the vote. 

 

Trump was far more deplorable to Democrat voters in 2016 and used to do silly impressions of how disabled they were and got people chanting Hillary was a criminal who should be locked up.
 

And there’s a constant  air of pseudo intellectual superiority from populist right, Trump, JD Vance, Musk 3 or 4 times a week go one about how stupid or unAmerican or non decent the other side is and how low their IQs are and how smart they are and have aced all these tests. I never remember any left or centrists or even centre-right politicians ever doing that kind of thing.

 

We heard all this with Brexit - “people only voted Brexit because you called them stupid” but whenever people did make economic, practical or cultural arguments they just got Boris, Farage or Jacob Rees-Mogg shouting “PROJECT FEAR!” as a come back.
 

Its the populist right setting up a total trap where you can neither call them names nor argue with them logically nor morally - and so many centrists fall for it with this “now now let’s not call them names” whilst the populist right call everyone from the populist left, centre left, centrists and centre right every name under the sun 50 times a day 

 

I would think the past 10 years has shown quite conclusively that calling the opposition stupid, not decent or scaremongers does win votes or at least disillusions people and splits the opposition . 

Edited 5 May by Sampson

[leicsmac]

7 hours ago, MPH said:

Well, this something exactly like the public relations department for the Galactic Empire would come up with tbf.

 

"Peace through Strength for a safe and secure society..."

 

 

58 minutes ago, Sampson said:

I’m sorry but I can’t get behind this argument in 2026,. I see only the opposite pretty much every day - that calling the other side stupid either gains voter or makes people on the other side get disillusioned and then either not want to vote or vote for another party and split the vote. 

 

Trump was far more deplorable to Democrat voters in 2016 and used to do silly impressions of how disabled they were and got people chanting Hillary was a criminal who should be locked up.
 

And there’s a constant  air of pseudo intellectual superiority from populist right, Trump, JD Vance, Musk 3 or 4 times a week go one about how stupid or unAmerican or non decent the other side is and how low their IQs are and how smart they are and have aced all these tests. I never remember any left or centrists or even centre-right politicians ever doing that kind of thing.

 

We heard all this with Brexit - “people only voted Brexit because you called them stupid” but whenever people did make economic, practical or cultural arguments they just got Boris, Farage or Jacob Rees-Mogg shouting “PROJECT FEAR!” as a come back.
 

Its the populist right setting up a total trap where you can neither call them names nor argue with them logically nor morally - and so many centrists fall for it with this “now now let’s not call them names” whilst the populist right call everyone from the populist left, centre left, centrists and centre right every name under the sun 50 times a day 

 

I would think the past 10 years has shown quite conclusively that calling the opposition stupid, not decent or scaremongers does win votes or at least disillusions people and splits the opposition . 

It's such an obvious Kafka-trap and it's deeply annoying that a lot of people still fall for it. 

 

Being civil has gotten that part of society that actually cares about things beyond themselves and the next ten minutes to this stage. It seems reasonably obvious that it hasn't worked. 

[Jon the Hat]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

I’m sorry but I can’t get behind this argument in 2026,. I see only the opposite pretty much every day - that calling the other side stupid either gains voter or makes people on the other side get disillusioned and then either not want to vote or vote for another party and split the vote. 

 

Trump was far more deplorable to Democrat voters in 2016 and used to do silly impressions of how disabled they were and got people chanting Hillary was a criminal who should be locked up.
 

And there’s a constant  air of pseudo intellectual superiority from populist right, Trump, JD Vance, Musk 3 or 4 times a week go one about how stupid or unAmerican or non decent the other side is and how low their IQs are and how smart they are and have aced all these tests. I never remember any left or centrists or even centre-right politicians ever doing that kind of thing.

 

We heard all this with Brexit - “people only voted Brexit because you called them stupid” but whenever people did make economic, practical or cultural arguments they just got Boris, Farage or Jacob Rees-Mogg shouting “PROJECT FEAR!” as a come back.
 

Its the populist right setting up a total trap where you can neither call them names nor argue with them logically nor morally - and so many centrists fall for it with this “now now let’s not call them names” whilst the populist right call everyone from the populist left, centre left, centrists and centre right every name under the sun 50 times a day 

 

I would think the past 10 years has shown quite conclusively that calling the opposition stupid, not decent or scaremongers does win votes or at least disillusions people and splits the opposition . 

Call the politicians / public figures stupid as much as you like, and their arguments.  I mean calling the voters stupid is counterproductive.  They get told they are stupid for believing massively well-funded and well produced propaganda, by people who spend a lot more time understanding what is going on than they do.

[Jon the Hat]

20 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

It's such an obvious Kafka-trap and it's deeply annoying that a lot of people still fall for it. 

 

Being civil has gotten that part of society that actually cares about things beyond themselves and the next ten minutes to this stage. It seems reasonably obvious that it hasn't worked. 

I agree being civil to stupid twats is not helpful, but I don't believe the majority of people being convinced Reform are the answer are stupid twats.  They are just busy people not all that interested in politics, who see real situations not being dealt with and are attracted to seemingly simple answers.

[leicsmac]

Just now, Jon the Hat said:

I agree being civil to stupid twats is not helpful, but I don't believe the majority of people being convinced Reform are the answer are stupid twats.  They are just busy people not all that interested in politics, who see real situations not being dealt with and are attracted to seemingly simple answers.

No disagreement with that assessment. 

 

The problem then becomes dealing with policymaking with a population that (through mostly no fault of their own) is open to manipulation in that way in a democratic framework where increasingly simple (and wrong) answers to complex problems are being floated and are popular. 

 

Answers on a postcard there.

[Lionator]

Surely every political party thinks the voters are stupid?

 

Most people that engage in these conversations on this thread are at least politically engaged which means you’re taking well thought out, rational perspectives towards who you’d vote for. We also represent about less than 5% of the population. Most people will not know what inflation is, will not understand the reasons why immigration has to exist in a modern western economy and why we have become a country in decline. They see politics as an annoyance, politicians as people that are actively making their lives worse. The brilliance of reform is that their PR and marketing is great. They’ll only worry about the consequences once they’re in power and even then they’ll still blame the system for why their insane policies will fail and people will lap it up.

[leicsmac]

39 minutes ago, Lionator said:

Surely every political party thinks the voters are stupid?

 

Most people that engage in these conversations on this thread are at least politically engaged which means you’re taking well thought out, rational perspectives towards who you’d vote for. We also represent about less than 5% of the population. Most people will not know what inflation is, will not understand the reasons why immigration has to exist in a modern western economy and why we have become a country in decline. They see politics as an annoyance, politicians as people that are actively making their lives worse. The brilliance of reform is that their PR and marketing is great. They’ll only worry about the consequences once they’re in power and even then they’ll still blame the system for why their insane policies will fail and people will lap it up.

With this being a descriptor of the problem, anyone have any idea about what the solution is?

 

Because we (as in humans) could do with one rather fast.

[Sampson]

Btw semi related but watched this interesting video on rural Japan the other day travelling through the villages that are becoming ghost towns due to the low birth rate and population ageing. As Japan and South Korea are interesting examples of modern ageing economies that have resisted immigration but are still having the same arguments of their culture dying out and nostalgia for rural Japan of the past

 

 

[MPH]

20 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Btw semi related but watched this interesting video on rural Japan the other day travelling through the villages that are becoming ghost towns due to the low birth rate and population ageing. As Japan and South Korea are interesting examples of modern ageing economies that have resisted immigration but are still having the same arguments of their culture dying out and nostalgia for rural Japan of the past

 

 

 

saw this last night. I’m  A big fan of Yes theory.  Are we in the UK an aging population?  Also, I don’t think we have the rural issue that Japan has and the escape to the ‘ bright lights’ of a big city  that the rural young people of Japan are doing.  I suppose to some degree with all the advancements in science and medicine, most nations will see a noticeable increase in elderly people, it’s just in Britain, I think, we will continue to live side by side for the most part..

[Lionator]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

Btw semi related but watched this interesting video on rural Japan the other day travelling through the villages that are becoming ghost towns due to the low birth rate and population ageing. As Japan and South Korea are interesting examples of modern ageing economies that have resisted immigration but are still having the same arguments of their culture dying out and nostalgia for rural Japan of the past

 

 

They just seem like miserable places where capitalism has sucked all the living out of life. They have insanely high suicide rates for example. Would be interesting to rate happiness levels of North Koreans in comparison and see what happens. Yes they’re oppressed by the state but I also bet on the whole they’re less miserable. 

[Md9]

14 hours ago, MPH said:

He can’t help himself can he. Should be concentrating more on fixing things he has broken instead of posting stupid pictures of himself and getting his maga social media people going this hits hard the left can’t cope , no just looks like a tw@

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, MPH said:

 

saw this last night. I’m  A big fan of Yes theory.  Are we in the UK an aging population?  Also, I don’t think we have the rural issue that Japan has and the escape to the ‘ bright lights’ of a big city  that the rural young people of Japan are doing.  I suppose to some degree with all the advancements in science and medicine, most nations will see a noticeable increase in elderly people, it’s just in Britain, I think, we will continue to live side by side for the most part..

Very much the case in the UK.

[leicsmac]

9 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Very much the case in the UK.

I'm not sure it's as pressing an issue in the UK as it is in both Korea and Japan at the moment, but that's just an anecdotal thought on my part. 

[Sampson]

3 hours ago, MPH said:

 

saw this last night. I’m  A big fan of Yes theory.  Are we in the UK an aging population?  Also, I don’t think we have the rural issue that Japan has and the escape to the ‘ bright lights’ of a big city  that the rural young people of Japan are doing.  I suppose to some degree with all the advancements in science and medicine, most nations will see a noticeable increase in elderly people, it’s just in Britain, I think, we will continue to live side by side for the most part..

Well, the point is that the reason why population ageing hasn’t been as pronounced in Europe, the US, Canada etc. despite being still a huge issue is because of a semi-regular flow of working age immigrants throughout the 90s, 00s and 10s, which has now become politically unviable in the 20s.

 

Like Europe and North America, Japan and South Korea’s birth rates started to drop below 2 children per women during the late 1970s, and now that birth cohort where the population dropped below replacement rate are in their 50s - population ageing is of course something that takes decades to actually affect society, but will exponentially only get worse as the years go by with women having less than 2 children on average - no country has managed to reverse it either - plenty have tried different things - Sweden tried more benefits for having more children and lengthy parental leave, Poland tried higher benefits, France has tried “semi-retirement” schemes with part time work and reduced pension, Austria has tried hiking up retirement age, Orban offered that any woman having 3 or more children would be excempt from income tax for the rest of their lives, but none of them have managed to really successfully raise the birth rate.

 

Worth saying that China and South East Asia all started dropping below replacement rate in the 00s and South America had dropped below it within the past decade or so.

 

Africa, India and the Middle East hasn’t yet which is why so much immigration comes from those areas - but it appears to be a constant of advanced, industrialised capitalism - that once economies reach a certain level of comfort people kind of stop having children and no one knows how to reverse it.

Edited 5 May by Sampson

[Trav Le Bleu]

The forgotten problem?

 

'If we sleep, they bite': Rats and weasels infest camps for displaced Gazans - BBC News

 

https://share.google/o0BKNTxbdmSkvqraD

 

[Sampson]

Kurzgesagt also just published a video on population ageing today in Germany, but you could easily just do this on the UK and it’d be the same 

 

 

[CornwallFox]

7 hours ago, Jon the Hat said:

I agree being civil to stupid twats is not helpful, but I don't believe the majority of people being convinced Reform are the answer are stupid twats.  They are just busy people not all that interested in politics, who see real situations not being dealt with and are attracted to seemingly simple answers.

They see situations blown up by the media who then lie about what's being done. 

You might be right about calling out the electorate but something needs to be done regarding misinformation on social media and the actual media. I don't mean random shouting about bias, I mean things like Nigel farage owning a share of GB news, who then gone him his own platform and spread actual lies about what's happening. 

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, Sampson said:

Well, the point is that the reason why population ageing hasn’t been as pronounced in Europe, the US, Canada etc. despite being still a huge issue is because of a semi-regular flow of working age immigrants throughout the 90s, 00s and 10s, which has now become politically unviable in the 20s.

 

Like Europe and North America, Japan and South Korea’s birth rates started to drop below 2 children per women during the late 1970s, and now that birth cohort where the population dropped below replacement rate are in their 50s - population ageing is of course something that takes decades to actually affect society, but will exponentially only get worse as the years go by with women having less than 2 children on average - no country has managed to reverse it either - plenty have tried different things - Sweden tried more benefits for having more children and lengthy parental leave, Poland tried higher benefits, France has tried “semi-retirement” schemes with part time work and reduced pension, Austria has tried hiking up retirement age, Orban offered that any woman having 3 or more children would be excempt from income tax for the rest of their lives, but none of them have managed to really successfully raise the birth rate.

 

Worth saying that China and South East Asia all started dropping below replacement rate in the 00s and South America had dropped below it within the past decade or so.

 

Africa, India and the Middle East hasn’t yet which is why so much immigration comes from those areas - but it appears to be a constant of advanced, industrialised capitalism - that once economies reach a certain level of comfort people kind of stop having children and no one knows how to reverse it.

And to add to the salient points made here, while the population growth slowdown and then stability as depicted here will cause problems, it's very likely the best possible option because all the others relying on constant growth will in all likelihood result in critical resource shortages and a rather nasty population crash.

[StanSP]

So sad hearing about the Bristol explosion incident. 

 

Especially when there's neighbours saying the woman killed there was only a few days ago saying how relieved she was that she was free from her ex

 

Then he turns up with a grenade and sets it off. 

[st albans fox]

3 minutes ago, StanSP said:

So sad hearing about the Bristol explosion incident. 

 

Especially when there's neighbours saying the woman killed there was only a few days ago saying how relieved she was that she was free from her ex

 

Then he turns up with a grenade and sets it off. 

Crazy (and sad) 

[Parafox]

22 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Only if they're dirty, thieving foreigners.

 

All English people wash regularly and would never steal or exploit the benefit system.

I don't steal or exploit the benefits system...

[davieG]

Didn't China fairly recently had a one child only law?

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, StanSP said:

So sad hearing about the Bristol explosion incident. 

 

Especially when there's neighbours saying the woman killed there was only a few days ago saying how relieved she was that she was free from her ex

 

Then he turns up with a grenade and sets it off. 

Just seen that, it's nuts.

 

Clearly insane.