General News Thread

[urban.spaceman]

12 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

If you've ran out of ideas fair enough - I can keep going as long as you like 

 

(though I am off to the pictures so won’t be online for a bit)

[Tommy G]

7 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

 

(though I am off to the pictures so won’t be online for a bit)

Chicken Run? 

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Tommy G said:

Chicken Run? 

Hey Mr Pot, here's Mr Kettle. 

 

(But in all seriousness, it's been an interesting watch this past day.)

[Tommy G]

8 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Hey Mr Pot, here's Mr Kettle. 

 

(But in all seriousness, it's been an interesting watch this past day.)

Hopefully you picked up on the humour of the film reference 

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Tommy G said:

Hopefully you picked up on the humour of the film reference 

I did, hence my response in kind. 

[urban.spaceman]

8 minutes ago, Tommy G said:

Chicken Run? 

Babe: Pig In The City

[foxile5]

I'm struggling to keep up with it all but is Rayner still labouring under the idea she's a socialist? 

 

Three houses and a dodged tax bill. She's more Tory than a Labour by a full house isn't she? 

[bovril]

1 hour ago, Bilo said:

The sentiment was common, but Brexit legitimised it. In the same way, racism and bigotry definitely existed in the US before Trump but he made it mainstream.

England has always been pretty xenophobic but the 2010s I think was the first time that there was such an attempt to explicitly tie declining living standards with immigration and we apparently needed to accept these viewpoints being shared on the BBC etc for reasons of 'impartiality' 

Edited 4 September 2025 by bovril

[leicsmac]

5 minutes ago, bovril said:

England has always been pretty xenophobic but the 2010s I think was the first time that there was such an attempt to explicitly tie declining living standards with immigration and we apparently needed to accept these viewpoints being shared on the BBC etc for reasons of 'impartiality' 

Tbh I wonder how much of the recent decline is due to this idea of various media outlets either accidentally or deliberately conflating the ideas of all viewpoints deserving a platform, and all viewpoints being equally valid. 

[bovril]

Just now, leicsmac said:

Tbh I wonder how much of the recent decline is due to this idea of various media outlets either accidentally or deliberately conflating the ideas of all viewpoints deserving a platform, and all viewpoints being equally valid. 

A lot I think 

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg0e485wwwo

 

Florida is aiming to become the first US state to cancel all of its vaccine mandates, many of which require children to get jabs against diseases like polio in order to attend public schools.

The state's top health official, Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, likened the mandates to "slavery", in announcing the plans.

"Who am I to tell you what your child should put in your body?" he said. "I don't have that right. Your body is a gift from God."

Florida officials did not give a timeline or details on ending the mandates. Several may only be repealed through a vote by the Republican-led state legislature, while others can be scrapped by the state health department.

Ladapo, though, pledged several times during Wednesday's news conference to end "all of them, every last one of them".

 

MTDDGA - Make Transmissible (and) Debilitating Diseases Great Again. 

Who is he?

 

He's the Surgeon General.

 

Is he not aware that medical practitioners are constantly telling people what to put in their bodies?

[Guest Bilo]

1 hour ago, bovril said:

England has always been pretty xenophobic but the 2010s I think was the first time that there was such an attempt to explicitly tie declining living standards with immigration and we apparently needed to accept these viewpoints being shared on the BBC etc for reasons of 'impartiality' 

 

1 hour ago, leicsmac said:

Tbh I wonder how much of the recent decline is due to this idea of various media outlets either accidentally or deliberately conflating the ideas of all viewpoints deserving a platform, and all viewpoints being equally valid. 

Quite.

 

Our media needs to have the balls to say that racist, ill-informed and divisive views are inferior. Because they are. The racist dickhead down the pub that everyone avoided 20 years ago is now mainstream and listened to. Time that changed.

[Detroit Blues]

11 minutes ago, Bilo said:

 

Quite.

 

Our media needs to have the balls to say that racist, ill-informed and divisive views are inferior. Because they are. The racist dickhead down the pub that everyone avoided 20 years ago is now mainstream and listened to. Time that changed.

I think a lot of the issues in western society come from treating each view as equal, or believing there are "two sides" to any argument.  The media sane washes absolutely insane ideas - climate denial, vaccine skepticism, etc. and it is to the detriment of our society. 

[leicsmac]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Who is he?

 

He's the Surgeon General.

 

Is he not aware that medical practitioners are constantly telling people what to put in their bodies?

See discussion below.

[leicsmac]

42 minutes ago, Bilo said:

 

Quite.

 

Our media needs to have the balls to say that racist, ill-informed and divisive views are inferior. Because they are. The racist dickhead down the pub that everyone avoided 20 years ago is now mainstream and listened to. Time that changed.

The problem with commercial media in that case is that a single point of truth doesn't sell. Oppobrium and controversy do. 

 

Another weakness of such a commercial system.

 

27 minutes ago, Detroit Blues said:

I think a lot of the issues in western society come from treating each view as equal, or believing there are "two sides" to any argument.  The media sane washes absolutely insane ideas - climate denial, vaccine skepticism, etc. and it is to the detriment of our society. 

It's become so much more prevalent recently, and yes, such lies incur a debt to the truth and one day that debt is paid. An agency outside much human control, with the laws of physics and microbiology, will see to that. And the cost will be high.

[Lionator]

2 hours ago, foxile5 said:

I'm struggling to keep up with it all but is Rayner still labouring under the idea she's a socialist? 

 

Three houses and a dodged tax bill. She's more Tory than a Labour by a full house isn't she? 

Shes never been a socialist, she’s always latched onto whichever way the labour winds are blowing 

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 hours ago, StanSP said:

I don't know if it's because I have a young kid now but I'm genuinely worried sometimes for mine and my family's safety when going out on the street or into town or just being out like normal people do! 

 

 

3 hours ago, bovril said:

My partner who's an immigrant and I are going to leave especially as we've just had a kid. Pretty obvious which direction the country is going in. Unfortunately have to get a visa now to live in Europe but better than staying here where we're worried about speaking another language on the street 

Wear a dress, you'll be fine! It's the current hate crime that police have actually got round to dealing with.

 

It's no wonder no police turn upif you've been robbed, or vandalised, or shoplifted - they're too busy dealing with people not liking other people a little too much because they're different.

 

Edit: I have of course made the grave error of assuming you don't usually wear dresses.

 

In my defence, at with Stan, I've seen him on TV and he looked fairly masculine... but who am I to judge? The Surgeon General?

Edited 4 September 2025 by Trav Le Bleu

[Wymsey]

It seems like RFK Jr speaks as much controversy as Trump does.

[Corky]

It is 2065 and Liz Truss is making another speech about how she was right, how Britain still hasn't recovered from the woke brigade ousting her from office and she is coming back to save are country!

[Dahnsouff]

Used to believe that a single point of truth would benefit mankind, but this has been demonstrated as naive by the more right wing aspects of modern society, as the populace often does not want truth, it wants easy or cheap or <insert current concern> and if it can be promised, not even delivered, then it is a rallying point, and truth is thus drowned out. Of course, if you can’t promise it, just point over there, and the problems remain unsolved, but it then belongs to someone else.

 

Different form of accountability required.

 

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Used to believe that a single point of truth would benefit mankind, but this has been demonstrated as naive by the more right wing aspects of modern society, as the populace often does not want truth, it wants easy or cheap or <insert current concern> and if it can be promised, not even delivered, then it is a rallying point, and truth is thus drowned out. Of course, if you can’t promise it, just point over there, and the problems remain unsolved, but it then belongs to someone else.

 

Different form of accountability required.

 

It would benefit humanity - in fact it's a necessity to humanity - but as you say, it needs to be delivered sometimes in spite of people's attitude towards it. 

[Dahnsouff]

12 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

It would benefit humanity - in fact it's a necessity to humanity - but as you say, it needs to be delivered sometimes in spite of people's attitude towards it. 

Disagree. Think of it like the internet, the issue is that systems will only be as true as those who proliferate their existence.

 

Such parochial concepts as open source, public wikis seem to provide a template for independence and freedom, but now they are corrupted by, in this instance, right wing powers, then these seemingly incorruptible forums are now merely tools for the greedy and hubristic to further their own ends.

 

edit :- just so as not to end on a total downer, the answer is hopefully in a humanistic society that will unavoidably evolve from the current version that promotes greed and selfishness amongst the many, delivering only to those who structure it thus.

 

Edited 4 September 2025 by Dahnsouff

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Dahnsouff said:

Disagree. Think of it like the internet, the issue is that systems will only be as true as those who proliferate their existence.

 

Such parochial concepts as open source, public wikis seem to provide a template for independence and freedom, but now they are corrupted by, in this instance, right wing powers, then these seemingly incorruptible forums are now merely tools for the greedy and hubristic to further their own ends.

 

You're absolutely right about the first paragraph. 

 

The fact is though that a world where no one is invalidated but no one is right is a world that ends. Nastily, brutishly, rapidly. 

 

So as a species we'd better come up with a solution to deliver that single point of truth reliably or fold our hands and hope the next sapiens civilisation will be smarter than us right now. 

[Dahnsouff]

1 minute ago, leicsmac said:

You're absolutely right about the first paragraph. 

 

The fact is though that a world where no one is invalidated but no one is right is a world that ends. Nastily, brutishly, rapidly. 

 

So as a species we'd better come up with a solution to deliver that single point of truth reliably or fold our hands and hope the next sapiens civilisation will be smarter than us right now. 

Too quick  Had made an edit to similar effect 

[Tommy G]

Good grief can barely string a sentence together. 
 

WTF