Our system detected that your browser is blocking advertisements on our site. Please help support FoxesTalk by disabling any kind of ad blocker while browsing this site. Thank you.
Jump to content
 Share
Lionator

General News Thread

By Lionator, in General Chat

Recommended Posts

leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted

Absolute softball interview with the shadow energy secretary on the Beeb this morning. Zero challenge about how their North Sea ideas will not only contribute to a problem that is already affecting UK farmers (and a lot of others), but play its part in making it worse. 

  • Like 1
Bellend Sebastian

Bellend Sebastian

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

I think this will be making news over the next few days 


https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002d2kp

 

Horrible, horrible abuse of trust.  All the more bleak in that if they'd just done regular financial planning they could easily have been set up for life AND those advising them still earned a perfectly good living out of it.

 

Beware of fear of missing out and always try to have at least a basic understanding of where you're putting your money, even if you're taking advice, ladies and gentlemen

  • Like 1
leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Horrible, horrible abuse of trust.  All the more bleak in that if they'd just done regular financial planning they could easily have been set up for life AND those advising them still earned a perfectly good living out of it.

 

Beware of fear of missing out and always try to have at least a basic understanding of where you're putting your money, even if you're taking advice, ladies and gentlemen

There's a reason the Clay Davis-style corrupt "advisor" is a staple of fiction involving people that come into money quickly. 

 

Sad thing is that given the usual complexity of such cases, they normally can tie things up in court for long enough that they don't really suffer consequences for it. 

 

4 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

In other news I've been quite entertained by the (I'm sure extremely wishful) social media speculation over the last few days that Trump has died

He's just a figurehead to the malaise that needs to be neutralised, anyway. 

st albans fox

st albans fox

Posted
Posted
28 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

In other news I've been quite entertained by the (I'm sure extremely wishful) social media speculation over the last few days that Trump has died

Photographed leaving the whitehouse yesterday 

didn’t look as orange as usual 

st albans fox

st albans fox

Posted
Posted (edited)
32 minutes ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

Horrible, horrible abuse of trust.  All the more bleak in that if they'd just done regular financial planning they could easily have been set up for life AND those advising them still earned a perfectly good living out of it.

 

Beware of fear of missing out and always try to have at least a basic understanding of where you're putting your money, even if you're taking advice, ladies and gentlemen

Clubs can claim they’ve done their bit once they’ve paid their staff.  I suppose this is one part of agents now being involved which helps.  I do wonder where the PFA were back in the nineties when this was going on - surely this is exactly the kind of thing they should have been getting involved with ???

Edited by st albans fox
urban.spaceman

urban.spaceman

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, Bellend Sebastian said:

In other news I've been quite entertained by the (I'm sure extremely wishful) social media speculation over the last few days that Trump has died

Rumours (unsubstantiated of course) that he's been having TIAs and recently suffered a major one. 

 

If he hadn't spent his entire life mocking people with disabilities or illnesses I'd have some sympathy. 

st albans fox

st albans fox

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

There's a reason the Clay Davis-style corrupt "advisor" is a staple of fiction involving people that come into money quickly. 

 

Sad thing is that given the usual complexity of such cases, they normally can tie things up in court for long enough that they don't really suffer consequences for it. 

. 

This doc has been 7 years in the making. Up until the police decided in 2020 that they wouldn’t proceed with the case there was an obvious reason why it couldn’t be shown. 
 

it hasn’t been broadcast since then because some people weren’t happy about it being made and shown.  Since 20221, it basically shows how the group has progressed with hmrc and govt lobbying.  So yes, if it’s taken this long for the lawyers to allow it to air, then you can imagine how easily a jury  would have been tied up in knots, 

 

imo, hmrc cannot wrote off the taxes unless the perpetrators of the fraud are charged and prosecuted in court.  I would have thought that a jury would be more likely to find these guys guilty based on the status of these footballing heroes who were shafted.   Surprised that it was shelved - wonder if back then in the midst of Covid, that expensive looking trials were done away with on the basis that the country would be broke for years and the risk not worth taking.  

leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted (edited)

WRT current matters on flags, roundabouts etc: everyone with any kind of input on demographic relations policy should be made to read a hardback copy of "Thud" by Terry Pratchett and then, if they don't get the metaphor for different demographics that actually exist, be beaten around the head with it until they do. 

 

"For the enemy is not Troll, nor it is Dwarf, but it is the baleful, the malign, the cowardly, the vessels of hatred, those who do a bad thing and call it good."

 

Edited by leicsmac
  • Like 1
Trav Le Bleu

Trav Le Bleu

Posted
Posted

Sam Vimes would sort things out.

 

"It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be, I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things."

 

Jingo is one of my favourites.

  • Like 1
leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
12 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Sam Vimes would sort things out.

 

"It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was Us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be, I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things."

 

Jingo is one of my favourites.

Particularly in the later books, Pratchett absolutely nailed down social commentary on such a variety of topics. 

Alf Bentley

Alf Bentley

Posted
Posted

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0d0d08jnjo

"Zack Polanski has been elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales by a landslide, signalling a clear shift to the left for the party.

The London Assembly member beat Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, who were standing on a joint ticket, by 20,411 votes to 3,705.

In his victory speech, Polanski promised to build a "green left" to take on Labour, telling Sir Keir Starmer's party: "We are here to replace you." "

 

Will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months - and potentially through to the next election. I'd welcome the environment and social inequality rising up the political agenda, if they achieve that.....but I'm dubious that they'll win widespread support for a populist Green/Left agenda or that this is the way to go about it.

 

It will doubtless be very popular with Green Party members (as the landslide vote suggests) and will probably attract more active support from others who already share their views. I can imagine it boosting party membership....but it could risk damaging both the Greens and the Left/Centre-Left electorally, as it'll be largely preaching to the converted. Imaginative populist campaigning could win over some metropolitan Lab/LD voters who are disgruntled with the Govt. But they'll lose support among environmentally-minded small-C conservative moderates - and won't attract much support from Red Wall/working-class Lab or Reform-minded voters. 

 

For a start, the Greens & the Corbyn-Sultana crew will surely have to form some sort of alliance or non-aggression pact? Because otherwise they'll be largely fishing for votes in the same pool - and damaging one another - unless one or other quickly comes to dominate the Left/radical Green vote?

 

There are too many unpredictable variables to seriously start predicting the outcome of the 2029 election. But, unless the Govt has the sense to introduce electoral reform (unlikely) or the state of the nation becomes even more volatile than it already is, I can't see either the new eco-populist Greens or the Corbyn crew winning more than perhaps a dozen seats under FPTP. But they certainly could win enough support to split the centre-left vote - and potentially pave the way to a Farage Govt, if Reform wins most of the right-wing vote plus support from voters alienated with all the trad parties. Maybe not. I'd like to think that a lot of people who might express a protest vote in local elections or to pollsters will think more seriously about who they want in power at a general election - and I'd expect a lot of anti-Reform tactical voting. Or Reform might discredit themselves while running local councils or during the election campaign. Or the Tories might bounce back under new leadership (Badenoch will be gone in months, surely?)

 

Even so, a scenario is quite feasible where a Green/Corbyn alliance of some sort wins 15% of the vote in 2029 - enough only to win a dozen seats in areas dominated by young / left / Green-minded folk (Brighton, Bristol, parts of London, a few university towns), but enough to hand a large number of marginal Lab & LD seats to Reform and/or a rejuvenated Jenrick-led populist Tory party.

 

The following 2029 FPTP general election scenario in England (ignoring Scotland & Wales as too complex) could be imagined:

Reform 28%, Lab 24%, Con 15%, LD 15%, Green/Corbyn Alliance 15%.....giving Farage an overall majority on 28%, despite centre-left/Left parties taking 54% of the vote.

 

 

Blarmy

Blarmy

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0d0d08jnjo

"Zack Polanski has been elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales by a landslide, signalling a clear shift to the left for the party.

The London Assembly member beat Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, who were standing on a joint ticket, by 20,411 votes to 3,705.

In his victory speech, Polanski promised to build a "green left" to take on Labour, telling Sir Keir Starmer's party: "We are here to replace you." "

 

Will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months - and potentially through to the next election. I'd welcome the environment and social inequality rising up the political agenda, if they achieve that.....but I'm dubious that they'll win widespread support for a populist Green/Left agenda or that this is the way to go about it.

 

It will doubtless be very popular with Green Party members (as the landslide vote suggests) and will probably attract more active support from others who already share their views. I can imagine it boosting party membership....but it could risk damaging both the Greens and the Left/Centre-Left electorally, as it'll be largely preaching to the converted. Imaginative populist campaigning could win over some metropolitan Lab/LD voters who are disgruntled with the Govt. But they'll lose support among environmentally-minded small-C conservative moderates - and won't attract much support from Red Wall/working-class Lab or Reform-minded voters. 

 

For a start, the Greens & the Corbyn-Sultana crew will surely have to form some sort of alliance or non-aggression pact? Because otherwise they'll be largely fishing for votes in the same pool - and damaging one another - unless one or other quickly comes to dominate the Left/radical Green vote?

 

There are too many unpredictable variables to seriously start predicting the outcome of the 2029 election. But, unless the Govt has the sense to introduce electoral reform (unlikely) or the state of the nation becomes even more volatile than it already is, I can't see either the new eco-populist Greens or the Corbyn crew winning more than perhaps a dozen seats under FPTP. But they certainly could win enough support to split the centre-left vote - and potentially pave the way to a Farage Govt, if Reform wins most of the right-wing vote plus support from voters alienated with all the trad parties. Maybe not. I'd like to think that a lot of people who might express a protest vote in local elections or to pollsters will think more seriously about who they want in power at a general election - and I'd expect a lot of anti-Reform tactical voting. Or Reform might discredit themselves while running local councils or during the election campaign. Or the Tories might bounce back under new leadership (Badenoch will be gone in months, surely?)

 

Even so, a scenario is quite feasible where a Green/Corbyn alliance of some sort wins 15% of the vote in 2029 - enough only to win a dozen seats in areas dominated by young / left / Green-minded folk (Brighton, Bristol, parts of London, a few university towns), but enough to hand a large number of marginal Lab & LD seats to Reform and/or a rejuvenated Jenrick-led populist Tory party.

 

The following 2029 FPTP general election scenario in England (ignoring Scotland & Wales as too complex) could be imagined:

Reform 28%, Lab 24%, Con 15%, LD 15%, Green/Corbyn Alliance 15%.....giving Farage an overall majority on 28%, despite centre-left/Left parties taking 54% of the vote.

 

 

“By a landslide” 🤣

CornwallFox

CornwallFox

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, Alf Bentley said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd0d0d08jnjo

"Zack Polanski has been elected leader of the Green Party of England and Wales by a landslide, signalling a clear shift to the left for the party.

The London Assembly member beat Green MPs Adrian Ramsay and Ellie Chowns, who were standing on a joint ticket, by 20,411 votes to 3,705.

In his victory speech, Polanski promised to build a "green left" to take on Labour, telling Sir Keir Starmer's party: "We are here to replace you." "

 

Will be interesting to see how this plays out in the coming months - and potentially through to the next election. I'd welcome the environment and social inequality rising up the political agenda, if they achieve that.....but I'm dubious that they'll win widespread support for a populist Green/Left agenda or that this is the way to go about it.

 

It will doubtless be very popular with Green Party members (as the landslide vote suggests) and will probably attract more active support from others who already share their views. I can imagine it boosting party membership....but it could risk damaging both the Greens and the Left/Centre-Left electorally, as it'll be largely preaching to the converted. Imaginative populist campaigning could win over some metropolitan Lab/LD voters who are disgruntled with the Govt. But they'll lose support among environmentally-minded small-C conservative moderates - and won't attract much support from Red Wall/working-class Lab or Reform-minded voters. 

 

For a start, the Greens & the Corbyn-Sultana crew will surely have to form some sort of alliance or non-aggression pact? Because otherwise they'll be largely fishing for votes in the same pool - and damaging one another - unless one or other quickly comes to dominate the Left/radical Green vote?

 

There are too many unpredictable variables to seriously start predicting the outcome of the 2029 election. But, unless the Govt has the sense to introduce electoral reform (unlikely) or the state of the nation becomes even more volatile than it already is, I can't see either the new eco-populist Greens or the Corbyn crew winning more than perhaps a dozen seats under FPTP. But they certainly could win enough support to split the centre-left vote - and potentially pave the way to a Farage Govt, if Reform wins most of the right-wing vote plus support from voters alienated with all the trad parties. Maybe not. I'd like to think that a lot of people who might express a protest vote in local elections or to pollsters will think more seriously about who they want in power at a general election - and I'd expect a lot of anti-Reform tactical voting. Or Reform might discredit themselves while running local councils or during the election campaign. Or the Tories might bounce back under new leadership (Badenoch will be gone in months, surely?)

 

Even so, a scenario is quite feasible where a Green/Corbyn alliance of some sort wins 15% of the vote in 2029 - enough only to win a dozen seats in areas dominated by young / left / Green-minded folk (Brighton, Bristol, parts of London, a few university towns), but enough to hand a large number of marginal Lab & LD seats to Reform and/or a rejuvenated Jenrick-led populist Tory party.

 

The following 2029 FPTP general election scenario in England (ignoring Scotland & Wales as too complex) could be imagined:

Reform 28%, Lab 24%, Con 15%, LD 15%, Green/Corbyn Alliance 15%.....giving Farage an overall majority on 28%, despite centre-left/Left parties taking 54% of the vote.

 

 

I'd rather the greens were more centrist so they garnered greater support. Think they miss out on many votes because of their left wing sensibilities (and I say that as a left wing voter myself). The green issue is too big a deal to attach it to politics that don't appeal as wisely as possible. 

 

That said, they'd only damage the chances of Farage's defeat, as you say. Unfortunately on the left we all like perfection so split ourselves into small factions that can't win a FPTP election.

  • Like 1
leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted (edited)
5 minutes ago, CornwallFox said:

I'd rather the greens were more centrist so they garnered greater support. Think they miss out on many votes because of their left wing sensibilities (and I say that as a left wing voter myself). The green issue is too big a deal to attach it to politics that don't appeal as wisely as possible. 

 

That said, they'd only damage the chances of Farage's defeat, as you say. Unfortunately on the left we all like perfection so split ourselves into small factions that can't win a FPTP election.

It's darkly remarkable that the future of countless millions of people and possibly civilisation itself is a partisan or really political issue in the first place. 

 

The state of the Earth that gives us all the resources that every single human relies upon really should be everyone's problem. 

Edited by leicsmac
  • Like 1

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...