General News Thread

[Jon the Hat]

On 20/08/2026 at 19:01, ClaphamFox said:

Let him be a royal again and open day centres and visit factories and all that. What harm can it do?

Its costs a lot of money.  We have enough doing this already, for now anyway.  Also the others don't like him very much, including William who will be in charge in the not too distant future.

[FoyleFox]

On 20/08/2026 at 12:01, ClaphamFox said:

Let him be a royal again and open day centres and visit factories and all that. What harm can it do?

He didn't want to do Royal life as he felt trapped by it. Mind you, he didn't want to live in Britain because it was far too dangerous and racist. So....

[foxile5]

1 hour ago, FoyleFox said:

He didn't want to do Royal life as he felt trapped by it. Mind you, he didn't want to live in Britain because it was far too dangerous and racist. So....

Extremely privileged man doesn't want to engage with his own privilege and seeks life of extreme privilege abroad only to find himself crawling back to his initial privilege.

 

Honestly, the French and Robespierre had it right.

 

They contribute nothing and take more than they're entitled to. The death of Elizabeth should have been a changing point for the country and we should have drummed them out.

[Sampson]

Eh. I'm a big fan of Charles and William and must be one of the few who also still has plenty of sympathy for Harry. Got to say in the age of populism that the republics seem to be holding up even worse than the constitutional monarchies and making your symbol of power elected alongside the government isn't working out too well for the French and Robespierre's Republican vision right now.

 

I think we've also seen in recent years how having a diplomatic symbol you can train from birth that Charles has genuinely benefitted the UK diplomatically with his relationships in Saudi Arabia and as much as I hate to admit the US.

 

Also people do look for symbols of order whether we like it or not, and I find the recent very Americanised trend of the British right to want to lionise the flag as the ultimate symbol of "Britishness" over the crown weird as hell. Prioritising a piece of fabric over a (imo very likeable) human being as your symbol of order feels weird as hell to me.

 

Of course people shouldn't be born into genuine power but as a diplomatic symbol and head of state, I think monarchs are showing to be a better choice than presidents right now and certainly a better symbol of national pride and a symbol of order than becoming obsessed with a flag.

Edited 22 August by Sampson

[leicsmac]

28 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Eh. I'm a big fan of Charles and William and muet be one of the few who also still has plenty of sympathy for Harry. Got to say in the age of populism that the republics seem to be holding up even worse than the constitutional monarchies and making your symbol of power elected alongside the government isn't working out too well for the French and Robespierre's Republican vision right now.

 

I think we've also seen in recent years how having a diplomatic symbol you can train from birth that Charles has genuinely benefitted the UK diplomatically with his relationships in Saudi Arabia and as much as I hate to admit the US.

 

Also people do look for symbols of order whether we like it or not, and I find the recent very Americanised trend of the British right to want to lionise the flag as the ultimate symbol of "Britishness" over the crown weird as hell. Prioritising a piece of fabric over a (imo very likeable) human being as your symbol of order feels weird as hell to me.

 

Of course people shouldn't be born into genuine power but as a diplomatic symbol and head of state, I think monarchs are showing to be a better choice than presidents right now and certainly a better symbol of national pride and a symbol of order than becoming obsessed with a flag.

Do agree with this. 

 

While the idea of someone having power through simply being born into it rather than working for it is obviously shite, as the last paragraph shows, it's not exactly going well in many places when the executive head of state is elected by popular vote either, is it?

[leicsmac]

And in other news, Carney having to deal with another hissy fit from Felon#47, then. 

 

Hope the man shows the considerable patience and statesmanship he has so far. 

[MrsJohnMurphy]

On 20/08/2026 at 20:55, Trav Le Bleu said:

Why would you want to drink American beer?

Ok, the Bourbons can be nice, but the beer?

 

Having said that ... Canadian beer ... Not much different.

I could drink this all day......beautiful stuff.....hic 

 

[The Bear]

Anyone had Kiltlifter by Four Peaks? That always looks a decent US beer. 

Edited 22 August by The Bear

[kenny]

33 minutes ago, MrsJohnMurphy said:

I could drink this all day......beautiful stuff.....hic 

 

You can't get Samuel Adams in the UK at the moment, lovely stuff.

[Jattdogg]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

And in other news, Carney having to deal with another hissy fit from Felon#47, then. 

 

Hope the man shows the considerable patience and statesmanship he has so far. 

Proud of Carney. Trump is a bell and so are his voters and bootlicking senators amd congressmen who dont give a shite about their citizens.

[leicsmac]

11 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

Proud of Carney. Trump is a bell and so are his voters and bootlicking senators amd congressmen who dont give a shite about their citizens.

You should be proud. 

 

That's a very accurate summation all round tbh. 

Edited 22 August by leicsmac

[Jattdogg]

7 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

You should be proud. 

 

That's a very accurate summation all round tbh. 

I left out the supreme court by mistake

[LCFCJohn]

7 killed in a collision near Middlesbrough, 2 of them innocent Police Officers going about their business and the other 5 in the other car travelling the wrong way on a dual carriageway…

 

Good riddance to those in the other vehicle but devastating for the officers and their families.

 

There was a similar incident last weekend in Ireland. Seems that it is another TikTok thing (as with setting fires) to drive the wrong way down motorways and dual carriageways. Really scary that this is happening as road users. You can be completely minding your own business and get caught up in this type of shit!

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, LCFCJohn said:

7 killed in a collision near Middlesbrough, 2 of them innocent Police Officers going about their business and the other 5 in the other car travelling the wrong way on a dual carriageway…

 

Good riddance to those in the other vehicle but devastating for the officers and their families.

 

There was a similar incident last weekend in Ireland. Seems that it is another TikTok thing (as with setting fires) to drive the wrong way down motorways and dual carriageways. Really scary that this is happening as road users. You can be completely minding your own business and get caught up in this type of shit!

Well, apparently a free social media is essential for a free society with all the benefits it apparently confers.

 

Apparently. 

[LCFCJohn]

2 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Well, apparently a free social media is essential for a free society with all the benefits it apparently confers.

 

Apparently. 

Social media is absolutely pointless and a cesspit. 
 

Keeping in contact with people is good but you only need the likes of WhatsApp and Messenger, so messaging apps rather than the actual social media for that. The only one I have is Facebook and I only retain that as the one benefit is being aware of what is happening locally, such as the village groups we have and the wider Sheffield area. Other than that, there are no benefits at all. You get stuff like this, political hatred spreading, people getting fame for being completely talentless. The ban for under 16’s is great and I sincerely hope it creates better future generations.

 

As for this incident, you just know the 5 in the other car are going to be males under the age of 20 don’t you….

[Foxdiamond]

If anything like the incident in Ireland I can't comprehend what could possess anyone to take part in madness like that. Whatever social media lunacy there is nobody should be that stupid and criminally irresponsible.  

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

If anything like the incident in Ireland I can't comprehend what could possess anyone to take part in madness like that. Whatever social media lunacy there is nobody should be that stupid and criminally irresponsible.  

Right, but counterpoint: at least 10% of the electorate.

[Foxdiamond]

1 minute ago, leicsmac said:

Right, but counterpoint: at least 10% of the electorate.

Bit like a death cult

[FoxesDeb]

58 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

7 killed in a collision near Middlesbrough, 2 of them innocent Police Officers going about their business and the other 5 in the other car travelling the wrong way on a dual carriageway…

 

Good riddance to those in the other vehicle but devastating for the officers and their families.

 

There was a similar incident last weekend in Ireland. Seems that it is another TikTok thing (as with setting fires) to drive the wrong way down motorways and dual carriageways. Really scary that this is happening as road users. You can be completely minding your own business and get caught up in this type of shit!

It's also devastating for the families of the youngsters in the car. 

[Foxdiamond]

10 minutes ago, FoxesDeb said:

It's also devastating for the families of the youngsters in the car. 

Agree with you. I would imagine anger at their loved one's  reckless action will be part of their emotions at some point. Complete waste of life

[LCFCJohn]

1 hour ago, FoxesDeb said:

It's also devastating for the families of the youngsters in the car. 

Yeah I do agree. I know things like this can go beyond parenting itself and be down to crowds young people get in with and of course social media. 
 

It must be the most awful thing and I’m conscious who I am speaking to in yourself Deb and what you have gone through so it’s not a subject I would want to come across as insensitive about due to the anger about the circumstances behind this incident. As FoxDiamond says above, as with the case in Ireland, the hate that will inevitably be aimed towards the individuals themselves will be more difficult for the families to digest as they will carry the shame that those actions have also taken 2 innocent lives.

[MaidstoneFox]

1 hour ago, LCFCJohn said:

Yeah I do agree. I know things like this can go beyond parenting itself and be down to crowds young people get in with and of course social media. 
 

It must be the most awful thing and I’m conscious who I am speaking to in yourself Deb and what you have gone through so it’s not a subject I would want to come across as insensitive about due to the anger about the circumstances behind this incident. As FoxDiamond says above, as with the case in Ireland, the hate that will inevitably be aimed towards the individuals themselves will be more difficult for the families to digest as they will carry the shame that those actions have also taken 2 innocent lives.

It's a terrible tragedy, even more so if it's similar to the incident in Ireland, last week. My anger is reserved for the social media companies who fail to properly moderate their platforms and have created an environment where risky, illegal behaviour gets celebrated and fetishised by young people. 

[LCFCJohn]

8 hours ago, MaidstoneFox said:

It's a terrible tragedy, even more so if it's similar to the incident in Ireland, last week. My anger is reserved for the social media companies who fail to properly moderate their platforms and have created an environment where risky, illegal behaviour gets celebrated and fetishised by young people. 

It’ll either be the same circumstances (social media) or pure dangerous stupidity driving in a police chase and them just entering the road like that but you’d imagine the TikTok thing.

 

I agree with you. It’s absolutely toxic. I’d love to the government do something radical and completely block at least TikTok from being received here, as this one seems the biggest culprit. It would never happened as there would be economic implications from things like advertising that the government won’t want to risk. But it needs huge reform (and not that joke of a political party we have running round making a noise currently). As you say, for there to be implications for them not moderating properly and allowing this content to be getting through.

 

That said, I still hold anger to those in the other car. Maybe I’m old fashioned but it was only 15 years ago I was that age and learned to drive and I knew not to do anything so stupid as drive at excessive speeds on the wrong side of a road. Maybe it’s unfair of me to hold today’s young people to the same standard….

[st albans fox]

13 hours ago, LCFCJohn said:

7 killed in a collision near Middlesbrough, 2 of them innocent Police Officers going about their business and the other 5 in the other car travelling the wrong way on a dual carriageway…

 

Good riddance to those in the other vehicle but devastating for the officers and their families.

 

There was a similar incident last weekend in Ireland. Seems that it is another TikTok thing (as with setting fires) to drive the wrong way down motorways and dual carriageways. Really scary that this is happening as road users. You can be completely minding your own business and get caught up in this type of shit!

Seems that the car had been pursued by police but that had ended a few minutes before the tragic incident. 

saw that a couple youths had died in Surrey in another car crash yesterday evening 

 

If this is indeed down to a SM fad, the authorities are going to have to get to grips with this and quickly. 

[The Bear]

All SM needs regulating and regulating hard or it's only going to get worse.