General News Thread

[CornwallFox]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Well, to use extreme examples, I'm reasonably sure an asteroid impact event or Yellowstone deciding it's time for another round of letting off steam would be a distraction. There might be other examples, too. 

 

But yes, barring that migration could well be the issue the next election is fought on, and if it is we may well all be looking forward to the outcome of an attempt to turn the UK into an ethnostate, with all the fun and games that entails (whether people actually wanted that when they voted Reform or not). And just at the time when international cooperation and togetherness is needed more than ever.

 

How thrilling. 

I'm not sure. 

General immigration has fallen by about 80%.

It's only may but so far this year small boat crossings have fallen by 42%.

Removals are running at record levels. 

Hotels aren't being used now. 

3 years from now will this still be an issue that can be pushed in the same way? 

Whatever anybody says it's hard to overlook the fact labour have actually made pretty good progress. 

Obviously this could all turn around, but it's clearly something they're very focused on. 

As I've been saying, I think cost of living is everything. They maybe only have a year to get this right, but if they can cut energy bills - they're looking at delinking from gas prices - and do something about wider inflation, that's there only chance.

Otherwise I think cost of living will be the issue. 

 

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

I'm not sure. 

General immigration has fallen by about 80%.

It's only may but so far this year small boat crossings have fallen by 42%.

Removals are running at record levels. 

Hotels aren't being used now. 

3 years from now will this still be an issue that can be pushed in the same way? 

Whatever anybody says it's hard to overlook the fact labour have actually made pretty good progress. 

Obviously this could all turn around, but it's clearly something they're very focused on. 

As I've been saying, I think cost of living is everything. They maybe only have a year to get this right, but if they can cut energy bills - they're looking at delinking from gas prices - and do something about wider inflation, that's there only chance.

Otherwise I think cost of living will be the issue. 

 

Unfortunately, if the past decade is anything to go by, perception matters much more than facts. 

 

And that, when applied to the democratic policymaking process on matters like this, is a real issue. 

[Benji]

2 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Unfortunately, if the past decade is anything to go by, perception matters much more than facts. 

 

And that, when applied to the democratic policymaking process on matters like this, is a real issue. 

 

Yep, and social media fuels perception.  I'm certain now that we've become a ungovernable country.  It's all about gotcha politics and I don't see how we row back from that any time soon.  As a country we're suckers for punishment and come the next election I fear, having already shot ourselves in the foot with Brexit, we'll move up to the forehead. 

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Benji said:

 

Yep, and social media fuels perception.  I'm certain now that we've become a ungovernable country.  It's all about gotcha politics and I don't see how we row back from that any time soon.  As a country we're suckers for punishment and come the next election I fear, having already shot ourselves in the foot with Brexit, we'll move up to the forehead. 

Well, there is still three years for the trajectory to be adjusted somehow. 

 

But the clock is ticking. 

[CosbehFox]

No doubt Reform will (and quite rightly for them) celebrate this. 

 

But interestingly under the numbers so far, their split of the vote has actually fell from last year's local elections. From 41% to 33%. You'd think Reform's strategists will be thinking carefully about this going forward. 

[CosbehFox]

3 hours ago, Asha said:

How can anyone possibly vote Labour or Tory when they’ve proven… PROVEN… to be completely inept, useless, and the opposite of trustworthy. 

No wonder Reform is absolutely smashing it. People want something different. 
 

Starmer has to go tonight. He has to go. The overwhelming majority of British people think he’s a ****. 

 

But they aren't. Most of their PMs are ex-Tories and most of their councillors are too. 

[davieG]

57 minutes ago, foxy tiler said:

Things like NHS procurement need looking at....for example if a fridge breaks the trust cant just go and buy a cheap one for £300 quid ...it goes to procurement and they end up buying the same fridge for double the price. That goes for everything pens up to complex machines......lunacy.

It was like that at the County Council

[Sampson]

We’re all just dungeon crawlers while the US tech bro class are all Scolopendra Club regulars from The Inner Systems’ Enhancement Zone.

[StanSP]

 

Someone make this make sense

 

Votes for a party that wouldn't have let him in(I don't think) and will work against the rights of those hard working people... 

Edited 8 May by StanSP

[OntarioFox]

5 hours ago, Scanchez said:

Farage is actually going to be our PM in a few years, isn't he?

Utterly depressing.

My #1 tip to anyone right now would be, if you don't have it already, to start a savings pot for private healthcare insurance, so you can get on BUPA or something equivalent with full cover by 2029. Not because I agree with it in the slightest, but because by the mid 2030s you might bloody well need it.

 

While I don't believe Reform would be capable of dismantling the NHS entirely in one term before the country gets the mother of all buyer's regret, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's been ground down to the point that it resembles the dental sector, where it's technically still available but you have to get lucky in the postcode lottery then queue around the neighbourhood just to get an NHS GP. And then get charged more than you should anyway.

Edited 8 May by OntarioFox

[Sampson]

8 minutes ago, OntarioFox said:

 

While I don't believe Reform would be capable of dismantling the NHS entirely in one term before the country gets the mother of all buyer's regret, I wouldn't be at all surprised if it's been ground down to the point that it resembles the dental sector, where it's technically still available but you have to get lucky in the postcode lottery then queue around the neighbourhood just to get an NHS GP. And then get charged more than you should anyway.

The polls show the country already had the mother of all buyer regrets after Brexit and their solution was to vote even more Brexity.

 

Voters solution to feeling annoyed at Reform tacking a hatchet to the NHS would probably to vote for Restore Britain because they are saying 3rd generation immigrants on benefits are sponging off the system and we didn’t go far enough on kicking out anyone who has a non-British parent or grandparent.

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Benji said:

 

Yep, and social media fuels perception.  I'm certain now that we've become a ungovernable country.  It's all about gotcha politics and I don't see how we row back from that any time soon.  As a country we're suckers for punishment and come the next election I fear, having already shot ourselves in the foot with Brexit, we'll move up to the forehead. 

Testicles on the way up.

[Trav Le Bleu]

53 minutes ago, StanSP said:

 

Someone make this make sense

 

Votes for a party that wouldn't have let him in(I don't think) and will work against the rights of those hard working people... 

People don't understand politics much beyond who's blowing the loudest trumpet.

 

Create an issue, solve that issue, take the credit. You're a hero.

[ClaphamFox]

43 minutes ago, Sampson said:

The polls show the country already had the mother of all buyer regrets after Brexit and their solution was to vote even more Brexity.

 

Voters solution to feeling annoyed at Reform tacking a hatchet to the NHS would probably to vote for Restore Britain because they are saying 3rd generation immigrants on benefits are sponging off the system and we didn’t go far enough on kicking out anyone who has a non-British parent or grandparent.

I mean I hate Farage with a passion, but I've got to hand it to him: positioning himself as the solution to a problem that he played a major role in creating takes some chutzpah. Astonishingly, people actually seem to be falling for it.

[LCFCJohn]

4 hours ago, Asha said:

How can anyone possibly vote Labour or Tory when they’ve proven… PROVEN… to be completely inept, useless, and the opposite of trustworthy. 

No wonder Reform is absolutely smashing it. People want something different. 
 

Starmer has to go tonight. He has to go. The overwhelming majority of British people think he’s a ****. 

 

Different like how they’d have jumped straight into a war in the Middle East without giving it a second thought?

 

Whatever Starmer’s faults, the best thing he has done is stand up to Trump. Farage would have us cosing up to Russia and probably let us become a US state!

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, OntarioFox said:

6 hours ago, Scanchez said:

Farage is actually going to be our PM in a few years, isn't he?

Utterly depressing.

My #1 tip to anyone right now would be

 

[purpleronnie]

[Sampson]

1 hour ago, purpleronnie said:

This is outdated. They’re trillionaires nowadays, since Covid let them corner the world economy.

Edited 8 May by Sampson

[fox_favourite]

Open the news, saw a saggy smug face. Closed the news. 

 

Can't stand Farage as a person let alone politically 

Edited 8 May by fox_favourite

[foxy tiler]

3 hours ago, davieG said:

It was like that at the County Council

Its disgusting .....thousands of pounds needlessly wasted. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

4 hours ago, davieG said:

It was like that at the County Council

I think you'll find any large organisation is.

 

Royal Mail is too. We can't even change a bulb on a van, it has to go into the workshop and might not be seen again for weeks, to do a 5 min job. It's got to the point that drivers don't report small problems, because you invariably get a reserve van that's in worse condition than yours.

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I think you'll find any large organisation is.

 

Royal Mail is too. We can't even change a bulb on a van, it has to go into the workshop and might not be seen again for weeks, to do a 5 min job. It's got to the point that drivers don't report small problems, because you invariably get a reserve van that's in worse condition than yours.

You do wonder how large bureaucracies in other places appear to mostly work with better end results than in the UK, at least on the surface. How do they deal with this kind of problem, I wonder?

[davieG]

17 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

You do wonder how large bureaucracies in other places appear to mostly work with better end results than in the UK, at least on the surface. How do they deal with this kind of problem, I wonder?

Especially countries like Japan

[leicsmac]

10 minutes ago, davieG said:

Especially countries like Japan

Yeah, exactly - or any of the East Asian nations with high population and population density that centralise things like healthcare, postal service etc.

[Lionator]

1 hour ago, fox_favourite said:

Open the news, saw a saggy smug face. Closed the news. 

 

Can't stand Farage as a person let alone politically 

The way he smokes and drinks, we can hope he won’t make it to 2029.