Liffguard

I guess today we have found where the "nothing is off-limits for comedy, stop being offended snowflake" free-speech brigade draws the line. *(just kidding, the line has always been wherever they want it to be on any given day).

This line would be much easier to swallow if there was any indication that there will be even a token effort to spread the sacrifice around. In the UK at least, there is no such indication. As it stands, the working class, the lower middle class, and small business owners are going to be hammered. The rich and large businesses are going to be fine. Hell, they'll almost certainly come out richer when they take advantage of the crisis to buy up even more assets on the cheap. If we're being asked to sacrifice our living standards and go into major recession for the sake of Ukraine's defense then so be it, but it's entirely reasonable to then turn to the rich and powerful and tell them "you first." Massive windfall taxes, major wealth taxes, energy price caps, rent caps, small business support, eviction freezes, benefit payment increases etc. And if they're not willing to make that sacrifice (and to be clear, they aren't), then you can at least understand why it would stick in the craw of the people who are just trying to get by that they're being called appeasers for voicing their displeasure at having to get along with even less.

I may or may not have brought it up a couple of times before on previous threads

Holy shit, you weren't exaggerating. I found this paragraph jaw-dropping: That's from 2016. A prominant BBC journalist tasked with interviewing major politicians and presenting political analysis to the public unaware of even the concept of "both sides" until 2016. I certainly don't disagree with her overall conclusions, but the whole lecture comes across as breathtakingly naive. This is stuff that has been screamingly obvious to even half-awake observers for a very long time now. How could someone in her position be so late in becoming aware of it? (of course my immediate suspicion is that she had her position largely because she was unaware of it).

I'm not sure such a thing can be measured. To the extent that "measurement" implies a level of quantification, I'm not sure such a thing should be measured. There are absolutely arguments to be had about what people should learn and how they should learn them, but questions about value or usefulness to both societies and individuals seem to be philosophical rather than economic. Or rather, you can measure them economically, but in so doing you're tacitly accepting certain premises about what education is for that need to be backed up.

There are a few in devolved areas, in city politics and on the backbenches. But they mostly get filtered out before getting anywhere near prominant Westminster positions. The qualities that enable one to get ahead in Westminster and the qualities that make for a decent representative (or even just a decent human being) are a venn diagram with two circles with a couple of miles of empty space between them.

I'm currently about a third of the way through The Ballad of Perilous Graves by Alex Jennings. So far it's weird, haunting and soulful. Insofar as it has a plot, it's only just kicked into gear, so this is not for anyone who wants a quick, tight read. But if you want a meandering mystery with a captivating backdrop, then so far I can definitely recommend this.

So, I understand why you’re saying what you’re saying, but I think your reasoning is flawed. Firstly, I disagree with some of the premises. But, if we take all of the premises at face value, I still disagree with the conclusion. So, let’s assume for the sake of argument that a foetus at any stage of development after conception is morally equivalent to a post-birth independent human in all respects. Let’s assume that terminating this foetus is morally equivalent to homicide in all respects (I disagree with these premises, but even allowing for them I’m still opposed to criminalising abortion). Let’s say two men walk into a hospital waiting room. One of them is experiencing kidney failure. There are no viable treatment options, he needs a transplant. The other man has two healthy kidneys, and is a viable donor, but he refuses to donate. Is it acceptable to knock him out, strap him down, and forcibly remove a kidney to donate to the dying man? You say that you “regretfully but sincerely choose to prioritize living over living with complete autonomy” which would imply that you think it’s okay to take the kidney, but I suspect you would (rightfully) find this scenario horrifying. Let’s say it’s not two men. Let’s say it’s a mother and her child. The child is dying, the mother can donate a kidney. But she refuses. You might say that’s a cruel and cold decision. What kind of mother wouldn’t donate a kidney to save her dying child!? But remember, the question is not “do you think the mother is wrong for not donating her kidney?” The question is “do you think the mother should be forced to donate her kidney?” A kidney donation is pretty major surgery. Let’s say it’s not a kidney donation. Let’s say the child just needs a blood donation. Again, the mother refuses. I think most people would agree that a mother that wouldn’t donate blood to save their child is a pretty horrible person. But again, that isn’t the question. The question is, should she be forced to donate? Should she be arrested, prosecuted and jailed if she refuses? Even in this situation, I don’t think you can force someone to donate blood. I don’t think you should criminalise their refusal, even if you morally condemn the choice. So I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this. A foetus might have a right to life, but I don’t think that right implies the right to use another human’s body. You might think that a pregnant person who chooses to terminate a pregnancy is a bad person (personally I don’t, but I’ll allow that others might). But I strongly believe that no one should be compelled by law to donate their body to another. That’s the fundamental question here. Not “is a foetus a human life?” Not “is it morally right to terminate a pregnancy?” But, “can the law compel you to donate your body?”

Pure spite and a cast-iron axiomatic belief that rules are for other people and no-one gets to tell him what to do.

I think this is exactly it. The action scenes, for the most part, do not seem to be an organic part of the characters' emotional journeys. The scripts seem to go: - Talky bit (exposition) - Talky bit (emotion / character beat) - Insert fight scene here - Another talky bit (exposition) Like, you know how it was in Star Trek that the scripts would sometimes just go "insert technobabble here"? I feel like the recent MCU frequently just goes "insert action/fight scene here" and as a result the action feels disconnected from the rest of the story rather than an organic continuation.

I've got to admit, I'm struggling to see what's so special about this particular scandal. Johnson lied shamelessly and repeatedly to his own party, the press, and the country as a whole? Is it a day that ends with a Y? What's new about this? Everyone with even the slightest modicum of awareness has always known that this is who Johnson is. They knew it in the last election. They knew it in the last Tory leadership contest. They knew it when he was mayor, when he was an editor and a commentator. But all the politicians and commentators so thoroughly committed to standards and disgusted by these latest lies were happy to brush that aside when he was useful. Fucking spare me. And whoever replaces him will be mildly more dignified, and either the same or worse on policy. Westminster kabuki.

Got my arse kicked by Covid the past two weeks. I suppose I had to catch it eventually. I'm over all the symptoms now except the fatigue, which is still dragging me down big time. I feel like I want to sleep 14 hours a day. Even before covid, I've hit a point where I've mostly totally given up on working out. I'm still staying active and trying to keep fit, but recently I've just been finding exercise for the sake of exercise such a mental drain. Iinstead I've been trying to embrace a lifestyle that keeps me moving as a matter of course. So unless driving is the only realistic option, I either bike or walk to get around. I still do sport with friends a couple of times a week, and paddle boarding once a week or so. Also thrown up a home pull-up bar so I just do random pull-ups and press-ups throughout the day. It mostly seems to be working for me at the moment. It's been a big weight of my mind, letting go of the endless cycle of "I should be going to the gym" followed by either boredom if I do go or guilt if I don't.

You cannot hope to bribe or twist (thank God!) the British journalist. But, seeing what the man will do unbribed, there’s no occasion to.

For all you know she might be sixty, I never said her age

Things are going well with Facebook lady. Extremely well. Almost too well. My self-sabotaging brain is suspicious about when the other shoe drops. Apparently it is possible to just meet a cool person you like who likes you back, and with whom you can both communicate that liking. Who knew? The only potential trouble is that she doesn't want a serious relationship right now. That's fine for me for now, but I do worry about developing stronger feelings as time goes on and getting my heart broken. On the other hand, I'm gonna try and just enjoy the moment and not borrow trouble from the future.