General News Thread

[Robo61]

12 hours ago, CornwallFox said:

You could save a bit by combining HR, payroll etc teams across the NHS, but only a bit. And if you are trying to get the best results you'd end up spending more than you've saved as the system is hopelessly underfunded thanks to austerity. While the budget has gone up, demand has far outstripped it thanks to an aging population.

 

(We an aside, it's almost funny how it's actually old people living longer with more chronic and complex care needs that is really putting the NHS under pressure, yet those same old people think their one shilling a week NI paid for everything they get and it's the immigrants running the NHS that are to blame) 

Thanks for the reply, but I was hoping someone who thinks this could be done has the answer.  Seems not. But then the NHS spends much less on administration than nearly all other HC systems.

 

[Salisbury Fox]

21 hours ago, Robo61 said:

I have no doubt savings could be found, but I'd be interested to know which countries/systems you think do better than the UK on this front

Apologies for the delay in responding. My comment was more about the growing demand on the system, rising use of services, poor population health lifestyles and an ever increasing technological advances rather than suggesting any better alternatives. I do however suspect that if we continue to struggle to achieve meaningful growth then our hand will be forced to implement alternative funding arrangements.

[Trav Le Bleu]

29 minutes ago, Salisbury Fox said:

Apologies for the delay in responding. My comment was more about the growing demand on the system, rising use of services, poor population health lifestyles and an ever increasing technological advances rather than suggesting any better alternatives. I do however suspect that if we continue to struggle to achieve meaningful growth then our hand will be forced to implement alternative funding arrangements.

I think this is a bigger factor than most people appreciate. Increasingly our job roles and to some extent leisure time are becoming sedentary.

 

It's not much of a stretch of the imagination to see the future of humankind as flesh-blobs wired into machinery to do our bidding.

 

AKA Daleks.

[Sampson]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

I think this is a bigger factor than most people appreciate. Increasingly our job roles and to some extent leisure time are becoming sedentary.

 

It's not much of a stretch of the imagination to see the future of humankind as flesh-blobs wired into machinery to do our bidding.

 

AKA Daleks.

I’m thinking more the humans from Wall-E.

 

 

[Jattdogg]

11 hours ago, MPH said:

Trump also said that the US had "totally demolished" Kharg Island - a critical hub for Iranian oil exports - but added that "we may hit it a few more times just for fun".
 

 

 

The fact you can say something like that should be concerning too all Americans. "Yeah, you know we just love killing people for sport. We don't even really need to be bombing that area but let's fuk over the entire country because we want regime change that we know won't happen but hey let's have fun doing it,  who cares about the impact to regular day iranians!"

 

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

35 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

The fact you can say something like that should be concerning too all Americans. "Yeah, you know we just love killing people for sport. We don't even really need to be bombing that area but let's fuk over the entire country because we want regime change that we know won't happen but hey let's have fun doing it,  who cares about the impact to regular day iranians!"

 

 

For someone given a peace award to say it is just...

 

There's no words really.

[Sampson]

1 hour ago, Jattdogg said:

The fact you can say something like that should be concerning too all Americans. "Yeah, you know we just love killing people for sport. We don't even really need to be bombing that area but let's fuk over the entire country because we want regime change that we know won't happen but hey let's have fun doing it,  who cares about the impact to regular day iranians!"

 

 

Maybe they thought Squid Game was an instruction book and not a satire.

[WigstonWanderer]

I’ve watched some interviews with members of the Iranian government and they sound much more measured and rational than Trump and Hegseth. Bloodthirsty psychopaths.

[leicsmac]

38 minutes ago, WigstonWanderer said:

I’ve watched some interviews with members of the Iranian government and they sound much more measured and rational than Trump and Hegseth. Bloodthirsty psychopaths.

“If I have one message to give to the secular American people, it’s that the world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don’t know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.” - Marjane Satrapi

 

That quote, sadly, doesn't appear to ever get old.

[st albans fox]

I’m wondering if I’ve wandered into another dimension 

 

trump is a lot of things but he’s not murdering tens of thousands of his own citizens within a week 

 

trying to make a case for the Iranian regime being anything but disgusting murderers is indefensible  

[Zear0]

7 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

I’m wondering if I’ve wandered into another dimension 

 

trump is a lot of things but he’s not murdering tens of thousands of his own citizens within a week 

 

trying to make a case for the Iranian regime being anything but disgusting murderers is indefensible  

Who’s making the case for the Iranian regime?

[WigstonWanderer]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

I’m wondering if I’ve wandered into another dimension 

 

trump is a lot of things but he’s not murdering tens of thousands of his own citizens within a week 

 

trying to make a case for the Iranian regime being anything but disgusting murderers is indefensible  

Of course they are, and Trump will carpet bomb Iranians until they are free. I’m sure they’ll be suitably grateful.

 

I’m not trying to make any such case. It’s quite possible to be disgusted by both sides (in this case all 3). The real losers here are the Iranian and Palestinian people. Trump & Hegseth are psychopaths, Netanyahu has unleashed some of the worst messianic nutters on the planet. The fact that that the theocratic monsters in the Iranian regime actually sound more reasonable just emphasises that there aren’t any good guys amongst them.

 

 

Edited 15 March by WigstonWanderer

[Clogger_]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

I’m wondering if I’ve wandered into another dimension 

 

trump is a lot of things but he’s not murdering tens of thousands of his own citizens within a week 

 

trying to make a case for the Iranian regime being anything but disgusting murderers is indefensible  

Nobody defending the Iranian regime. Just as nobody defends the Israeli regime. If this war continues, that's how the US government will be viewed - a pariah

[Clogger_]

If nothing else, this evil* situation makes it impossible to argue against the transition to renewable energy. Well, at least for anyone sane and/or not a paid-up fossil fuel lobbyist

 

(*And it is *evil* in the truest sense of the word. You'd think the zealots lobbing bombs around would think twice about it, but they never do.)

Edited 15 March by Clogger_

[Clogger_]

On 13/03/2026 at 22:33, bovril said:

I don't think he's arguing otherwise. It is interesting in general how the far right's and even the centre right's attitude to Israel has changed over time. 

Personally concerned the political Right's current alignment with Judaism/Israel is insincere and transactional. There are currently more votes (and more money) in demonising other minorities. History shows it can flip on a sixpence

[Clogger_]

On 13/03/2026 at 20:18, filthyfox said:

NOTHING about cuts. ALL about the snowflake generation.

The Captain of HMS Dragon would probably be 35 years old.

SNOWFLAKE

 

****ING GET INTO THE WARZONE AND DO YOUR ****ING JOB.

 

Oh...  but its NOT a war zone....   its CYPRUS

 

Bloody JOKE of a Navy.

 

Lets just let the Argies invade the Falklands again, and we will see if we can get there in 4 days.

Personally think Trump would get behind that chainsaw-wielding idiot if he decided to go for it. Luckily Argentina are more skint than we are

 

On the hyperbole about the Navy, it seems that we were not consulted on the Israeli/US decision to go to war. Not sure how we'd be ready to sail on day one. When lives are at stake it's a little bit more complicated than shouting "SNOWFLAKES"

 

Have you served, filthyfox?

[Trav Le Bleu]

20 minutes ago, Clogger_ said:

Personally think Trump would get behind that chainsaw-wielding idiot if he decided to go for it. Luckily Argentina are more skint than we are

 

On the hyperbole about the Navy, it seems that we were not consulted on the Israeli/US decision to go to war. Not sure how we'd be ready to sail on day one. When lives are at stake it's a little bit more complicated than shouting "SNOWFLAKES"

 

Have you served, filthyfox?

TBF, they were more supportive of Argentina than the UK in 1982. Have a look at any American atlas of that time and you'll see the Malvinas, not Falkland Islands.

[filthyfox]

22 minutes ago, Clogger_ said:

Personally think Trump would get behind that chainsaw-wielding idiot if he decided to go for it. Luckily Argentina are more skint than we are

 

On the hyperbole about the Navy, it seems that we were not consulted on the Israeli/US decision to go to war. Not sure how we'd be ready to sail on day one. When lives are at stake it's a little bit more complicated than shouting "SNOWFLAKES"

 

Have you served, filthyfox?

I was once in the filfth.   Expected to be ready at all times.

[Trav Le Bleu]

3 minutes ago, filthyfox said:

I was once in the filfth.   Expected to be ready at all times.

What a coincidence.

 

I was fifth in the once.

 

Unless of course you mean you were a copper.

Edited 15 March by Trav Le Bleu

[filthyfox]

19 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

What a coincidence.

 

I was fifth in the once.

 

Unless of course you mean you were a copper.

Hence the name filthy fox...

And seriously- had to be ready for anything, including a mad dash 30 miles away because of a riot brewing.

Edited 15 March by filthyfox

[Clogger_]

30 minutes ago, filthyfox said:

Hence the name filthy fox...

And seriously- had to be ready for anything, including a mad dash 30 miles away because of a riot brewing.

If you are talking about being in the police, that's not quite what I had in mind by 'serving' in that context. But respect where it's due - policing is tough. Still think your points about "SNOWFLAKES"(!) in the armed forces are way, way wide of the mark. It just isn't as simple as you made out... I guess you know that 

Edited 15 March by Clogger_

[danny.]

Pretty wild people are openly flying the Taliban flag in the middle of London, and celebrating the Iranian regime.

 

[Foxdiamond]

1 hour ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

TBF, they were more supportive of Argentina than the UK in 1982. Have a look at any American atlas of that time and you'll see the Malvinas, not Falkland Islands.

The US did supply the Sidewinder missles that proved vital for Royal Navy Harriers 

[leicsmac]

I think a Shakespeare quote is best related to the above discussion:

 

"A plague on both your houses."

[Jon the Hat]

13 hours ago, WigstonWanderer said:

I’ve watched some interviews with members of the Iranian government and they sound much more measured and rational than Trump and Hegseth. Bloodthirsty psychopaths.

While Trump and Hegseth are not nice people, the Iranian regime is a whole different level of ****.