General News Thread

[JonnyBoy]

Reading about the Belfast incident, UK is absolutely f*cked, yet nothing changes. How many more...

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

1 hour ago, Robo61 said:

In English please,  my apologies if it is your second language.

Innit.

[leicsmac]

It is darkly interesting to see how crime figures across the board have fallen over the last 30 years, yet folks still believe that things have actually gotten worse - as the below graph indicates. 

 

It's a tremendous example of how massive information exposure today can shape people's opinions, making problems either bigger or smaller than they actually are - and, sadly, be used to manipulate in various ways. 

 

Recency bias and survivorship bias with respect to the past clearly play a part, too.

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by leicsmac

[Trav Le Bleu]

14 minutes ago, Sampson said:

When Americans say "the western hemisphere" I think they generally mean the Americas and the Carribbean, what we in Europe used to call "the new world".

Yeah, there's always a problem with East/West, it depends on your viewpoint unlike north and south, which remains constant.

 

Assuming the East coast of USA is the Eastern edge of the "western hemisphere", then China and a huge chunk of Russia are in it.

[JonnyBoy]

17 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

It is darkly interesting to see how crime figures across the board have fallen over the last 30 years, yet folks still believe that things have actually gotten worse - as the below graph indicates. 

 

It's a tremendous example of how massive information exposure today can shape people's opinions, making problems either bigger or smaller than they actually are - and, sadly, be used to manipulate in various ways. 

 

Recency bias and survivorship bias with respect to the past clearly play a part, too.

 

 

 

it's all well and good pulling out the graphs, but i cannot remember in my lifetime people getting literally eyes gauged out and beheaded on the street, young children going to playgroups and getting murdered. It has become a horror movie out there 

 

 

 

[Clogger_]

3 minutes ago, JonnyBoy said:

 

it's all well and good pulling out the graphs, but i cannot remember in my lifetime people getting literally eyes gauged out and beheaded on the street, young children going to playgroups and getting murdered. It has become a horror movie out there 

 

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_massacre

[Clogger_]

Bad things have always happened. Picking out a couple of instances makes it sound like an agenda

 

(And they ARE terrible events. Do not wish to downplay this. Just that we need a broad view on this. You *have* to consider evidence of trends)

Edited 41 minutes ago by Clogger_

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, JonnyBoy said:

 

it's all well and good pulling out the graphs, but i cannot remember in my lifetime people getting literally eyes gauged out and beheaded on the street, young children going to playgroups and getting murdered. It has become a horror movie out there 

 

 

 

It is well and good, because objective numbers, leading to reasoned policy based on those numbers, is the only way such problems get addressed adequately without causing greater harm. History shows very quickly what decisions based on strong human emotion can do - even though most of the time that's the easier and better-feeling path. Occasionally good, often bad. 

 

People most often cannot remember horrific things happening to people in their nation, or elsewhere, in the past, simply because most of the time they simply did not know about it. In this day and age, the world is different, and easy access to knowledge and information about things happening far away is both a blessing and a curse.

 

But the numbers are clear - the UK is objectively no more of horror movie now than it has been at a great many points in the past. 

 

 

[LCFCJohn]

Also news from Manchester today

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gydjpdwy2o

 

Not seeming to be in the headlines all. The cynic in me wonders whether the 14 year old girl who committed this attack is not….of a background that makes the point the media want to make…

[whoareyaaa]

12 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

It is well and good, because objective numbers, leading to reasoned policy based on those numbers, is the only way such problems get addressed adequately without causing greater harm. History shows very quickly what decisions based on strong human emotion can do - even though most of the time that's the easier and better-feeling path. Occasionally good, often bad. 

 

People most often cannot remember horrific things happening to people in their nation, or elsewhere, in the past, simply because most of the time they simply did not know about it. In this day and age, the world is different, and easy access to knowledge and information about things happening far away is both a blessing and a curse.

 

But the numbers are clear - the UK is objectively no more of horror movie now than it has been at a great many points in the past. 

 

 

That can soon change though and its pretty obvious that the the hate from all sides has never been at boiling point like it is right now.

[Foxdiamond]

12 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

It is well and good, because objective numbers, leading to reasoned policy based on those numbers, is the only way such problems get addressed adequately without causing greater harm. History shows very quickly what decisions based on strong human emotion can do - even though most of the time that's the easier and better-feeling path. Occasionally good, often bad. 

 

People most often cannot remember horrific things happening to people in their nation, or elsewhere, in the past, simply because most of the time they simply did not know about it. In this day and age, the world is different, and easy access to knowledge and information about things happening far away is both a blessing and a curse.

 

But the numbers are clear - the UK is objectively no more of horror movie now than it has been at a great many points in the past. 

 

 

I wonder if we pinpoint one type of crime such as knife incidents in schools. This is a major concern of the public particularly the young age of the knife carriers. Is it just more coverage of events or has there been an increase since say 1996.

[bovril]

On 02/06/2026 at 13:22, bovril said:

Ahhhh the English summer - beer gardens, Wimbledon, and community tensions after a brutal stabbing 

Our Irish friends about to get in on the action, must be a world cup year.

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, whoareyaaa said:

That can soon change though and its pretty obvious that the the hate from all sides has never been at boiling point like it is right now.

Two world wars in the last century or so may beg to differ about that amount of hate.

 

However, you're right in that the needle is getting pushed to 11 and given how quickly anything happens these days things can spin on a penny. 

 

It's totally right to be concerned about the present and the future - it's just that imo a lot of people are both chasing the wrong demographic responsible and the wrong way to make it better. 

 

2 minutes ago, Foxdiamond said:

I wonder if we pinpoint one type of crime such as knife incidents in schools. This is a major concern of the public particularly the young age of the knife carriers. Is it just more coverage of events or has there been an increase since say 1996.

Good question, would have to do a dig. 

 

That being said, the debate then comes down to whether very specific forms of violent crime are worse than others, and exactly why. 

[whoareyaaa]

5 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

Two world wars in the last century or so may beg to differ about that amount of hate.

 

However, you're right in that the needle is getting pushed to 11 and given how quickly anything happens these days things can spin on a penny. 

 

It's totally right to be concerned about the present and the future - it's just that imo a lot of people are both chasing the wrong demographic responsible and the wrong way to make it better. 

 

Good question, would have to do a dig. 

 

That being said, the debate then comes down to whether very specific forms of violent crime are worse than others, and exactly why. 

The world wars was slightly different in that the enemy was in a different country, now the enemy is raoming around the streets.

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

The world wars was slightly different in that the enemy was in a different country, now the enemy is raoming around the streets.

Imo, the "enemy" are the ones in large business buildings and homes, exerting power and influence in whatever way they can to create the very environment in which people see those enemies on the street - and all for their own personal gain.

 

But that's just my take. You're certainly spot on in that the "enemy" is much more difficult to engage now, because they are everywhere.

[Lionator]

7 minutes ago, whoareyaaa said:

The world wars was slightly different in that the enemy was in a different country, now the enemy is raoming around the streets.

The enemy is Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and all the politicians that continue to apply their failed socio economic policies. A mentally deranged war victim from Sudan isn’t your enemy. 

[Lionator]

I do agree though, we’re going to see some crazy scenes over the next few nights. I would not want to work for PSNI right now.