General News Thread

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, kenny said:

My amusement with this is that businesses have been under attack by this government since they got in. Now they want them to do more to help neets. Unless it's free labour, then it will be the middle finger from the majority I suspect.

 

How about making it easy for businesses to do well then forcing them to help instead.

You see the bit where it said £1 billion profit?

[kenny]

3 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

You see the bit where it said £1 billion profit?

Pre-tax profits are 3% margin, its nothing to get very excited about.

 

The £1bn was the operating profit, not their actual which was £762m or 2.3%.

 

Profit after tax was £242m or 0.74%.

 

 

 

 

[ramboacdc]

5 hours ago, Innovindil said:

From what I've seen it's more like the work experience you'd get at school than free labour. Could be decent since a supermarket is a pretty good environment for a first job. 

 

The devil will undoubtedly be in the detail. If they are actually going to teach young folk a few skills then great, if they will just be stacking shelves like you suggest then awful. 

It could be, but I was working at Morrisons at 16 and getting paid for it. Not sure why we are celebrating making folks do stuff for free that the older generations got paid for. 

I won't be that old man and say it's a generational thing. My daughter is 16 and finding her a weekend job has been a chore in itself for a myriad of reasons and issues we didn't face when you walked around with a pile of CV's and just handed them in in places. 

[LCFCJohn]

Turns out that ‘the 5’ and those connected to them are society dregs. Who knew!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdj43zkjweyo

[Foxdiamond]

10 minutes ago, LCFCJohn said:

Turns out that ‘the 5’ and those connected to them are society dregs. Who knew!

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdj43zkjweyo

I feel sorry for decent people in the area blighted by the scum. I don't blame over stretched police but as soon as any anti social behaviour raises its ugly head even at minor levels it needs stamping on immediately. Of course we also need the carrot as well as the stick

[Trav Le Bleu]

4 hours ago, kenny said:

Pre-tax profits are 3% margin, its nothing to get very excited about.

 

The £1bn was the operating profit, not their actual which was £762m or 2.3%.

 

Profit after tax was £242m or 0.74%.

 

 

 

 

A mere ¼ of a billion, how will they ever survive?

 

If you're trying to make me sympathise with big business, it's not working.

[kenny]

3 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

A mere ¼ of a billion, how will they ever survive?

 

If you're trying to make me sympathise with big business, it's not working.

If we were running those margins we wouldn't be open.

[Jon the Hat]

11 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

A mere ¼ of a billion, how will they ever survive?

 

If you're trying to make me sympathise with big business, it's not working.

A big business owned mostly by…. Pension funds.  You are saying those who saved for their retirement their whole lives don’t deserve a return on their savings.

[Jon the Hat]

11 hours ago, kenny said:

If we were running those margins we wouldn't be open.

Return on capital employed is a much better measure, and the retailers do better there.

[leicsmac]

On 27/02/2026 at 07:24, leicsmac said:

At this point, I would be most interested in hearing from any contributors to the US Election thread back in 2024 who said that people were "overreacting" and Trump "wouldn't be that bad", and see if they feel the same way after all that's happened so far. 

Still waiting, funnily enough. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

On 28/08/2026 at 10:33, kenny said:

Pre-tax profits are 3% margin, its nothing to get very excited about.

 

The £1bn was the operating profit, not their actual which was £762m or 2.3%.

 

Profit after tax was £242m or 0.74%.

 

 

 

 

I think you'll find this is one reason big businesses don't make so much profit.

 

CEOs earn 614 times more than workers at US’s 100 lowest-paying corporations | US income inequality | The Guardian

 

https://share.google/2yNWH8qrDcCkhUDIN

[Bellend Sebastian]

Is this news? It's in a newspaper. Stewart Lee interview in The Guardian, which he doesn't write to anymore but still talks to: 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/aug/30/stewart-lee-comedian-interview-divorce-adoption-retelling-owl-and-the-pussycat

[The Bear]

I still love that Paul Nutalls routine. You can basically update it to any Reform leader and it's still relevant. 

[leicsmac]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crr4wd81pdpo

 

Burnham comes across well here IMO, though there is legit criticism regarding this idea having traction in the first place and I'm sure there will be those who criticise unduly no matter what he does.

[st albans fox]

Iceland votes not to join eu
53/47 

 

[orangecity23]

45 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Iceland votes not to join eu
53/47 

 

They've already got Aldi and Lidl, they probably didn't need a third discount supermarket in the EU tbf.

[Sampson]

7 minutes ago, orangecity23 said:

They've already got Aldi and Lidl, they probably didn't need a third discount supermarket in the EU tbf.

Don't forget Netto. There was briefly one of those in Lutterworth after Lidl and Aldi first got popular and the European budget supermarkets were in vogue.

Edited 30 August by Sampson

[Foxdiamond]

2 hours ago, Sampson said:

Don't forget Netto. There was briefly one of those in Lutterworth after Lidl and Aldi first got popular and the European budget supermarkets were in vogue.

Don't need a Netto in Leicester. We don't score 

[Tuna]

11 hours ago, The Bear said:

I still love that Paul Nutalls routine. You can basically update it to any Reform leader and it's still relevant. 

GET BACK IN THE SEA YOU FINNED ****

[bovril]

3 hours ago, st albans fox said:

Iceland votes not to join eu
53/47 

 

well they're in the single market and schengen which are the best bits anyway...

[Trav Le Bleu]

17 minutes ago, Tuna said:

GET BACK IN THE SEA YOU FINNED ****

Tuna?

[Lionator]

 Trump cutting deals with Russians 

 

 

 

who’d have guessed 

[leicsmac]

Three days of deliberation from the Lindsey Clancy trial jury so far. 

 

Either there's some holdouts either way, or it could be a proper hung jury. 

[st albans fox]

Can Starmer play left CB ??

surely no co incidence he steps down as MP on deadline day 

[kenny]

Just now, st albans fox said:

Can Starmer play left CB ??

surely no co incidence he steps down as MP on deadline day 

Proper middle finger to Burnham.