UK Politics: No Bully XL for you

[A wilding]

1 hour ago, mormont said:

And I hate to say this, but your employer, your university (if you're a student), your suppliers, any company you associate with are entitled to reach conclusions about whether they want to associate with you in the absence of a court decision about your guilt: and they'll usually do so on a lower standard of proof than a court would, and considering things that aren't relevant in court. This is all perfectly legal and normal. it happens every day, in fact.

Unless you are an MP sadly. It is really annoying to hear corrupt MPs whinging about "due process" and "fairness" when they get consequences for misdeeds that would get any of us get immediately fired by our employers.

[Maltaran]

4 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I that is either deliberately or non deliberately naive. A government department ‘just asking questions’ should be taken as an implicit threat, otherwise why even ask the question. 
 

Dineage isn’t a minister though, she’s chair of the relevant backbench select committee. So the letter is IMO mostly for publicity and political posturing.

[Derfel Cadarn]

Schools striking in parts of Scotland (not teachers, other workers such as janitorial). The union Unite has accepted latest offer and called off their strike, however Unison are continuing with the strikes for next week while balloting members … so Unite are telling their members they may have to cross Unison’s picket lines!

 

[dog-days]

Sunak thinking about banning cigarettes though only for Generation-Under-Zs whatever they're called. 

I reckon he's just having a laugh now. Possibly at the expense of a lot of his MPs, who don't seem the kind to like this sort of measure. 

Maybe a polling company has identified a new swing voter: "Anxious in Chipping Barnet", early forties with kids, scared of cigarettes, foxes and Himalayan balsam. 

Edited September 22, 2023 by dog-days

[mormont]

Apparently he’s musing about charging for missed GP appointments again too. Just flailing at this point.

[Which Tyler]

7 hours ago, mormont said:

Apparently he’s musing about charging for missed GP appointments again too. Just flailing at this point.

I'd far rather give people an invoice for what NHS treatment costs; with a "paid in full" at the end, obviously.

People just have no idea how much this shit costs, and how lucky we are to have a NHS, even one creaking under the stress of the last 15 years.
Start doing that, and absolutely nobody would support privatisation (other than ideologues)

[BigFatCoward]

3 hours ago, Which Tyler said:

I'd far rather give people an invoice for what NHS treatment costs; with a "paid in full" at the end, obviously.

People just have no idea how much this shit costs, and how lucky we are to have a NHS, even one creaking under the stress of the last 15 years.
 

Outstanding idea. 

[Derfel Cadarn]

3 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

Outstanding idea. 

Yep!

[Luzifer's right hand]

That would be rather interesting.

A while ago I was interested in what GPs in different countries get and the pay for most jobs in the health care sector in the UK is surprisingly low.

I was actually a bit surprised that the system is still running with the medical professionals there speaking a language that makes emigration incredible easy but it is actually the other way round and a lot of foreign medical professionals migrate to the UK.

Maybe not having to deal with private insurance systems is a perk?

Edited September 23, 2023 by Luzifer's right hand

[Derfel Cadarn]

Another u-turn!

Policy to make new tenancies energy efficient scrapped. 
Having properly insulated housing is essential to reducing energy useage (if done properly will also serve to keep houses cooler in summer).

Sunak’s given up on the environment. He knows it won’t be his problem

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66900999

[Luzifer's right hand]

Just now, Derfel Cadarn said:

Another u-turn!

Policy to make new tenancies energy efficient scrapped. 
Having properly insulated housing is essential to reducing energy useage (if done properly will also serve to keep houses cooler in summer).

Sunak’s given up on the environment. He knows it won’t be his problem

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66900999

Giving up implies that he ever cared.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

17 hours ago, dog-days said:

Sunak thinking about banning cigarettes though only for Generation-Under-Zs whatever they're called. 

I reckon he's just having a laugh now. Possibly at the expense of a lot of his MPs, who don't seem the kind to like this sort of measure. 

Maybe a polling company has identified a new swing voter: "Anxious in Chipping Barnet", early forties with kids, scared of cigarettes, foxes and Himalayan balsam. 

Cigarettes are and always have been disgusting.  I speak as a child who was raised by smokers and was involuntarily subjected to smoking for years.  

One of the favorite moments in my life was when my Mother came to visit me in my first apartment and the pulled out a cigarette inside my apartment and I just said “No”.

She got indignant and went outside.

[Werthead]

39 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Another u-turn!

Policy to make new tenancies energy efficient scrapped. 
Having properly insulated housing is essential to reducing energy useage (if done properly will also serve to keep houses cooler in summer).

Sunak’s given up on the environment. He knows it won’t be his problem

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66900999

He's only 43 (the first PM to be younger than me), so it very much will be his problem. He's just confident his wealth will insulate him from any impact on his life.

[dog-days]

31 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

Cigarettes are and always have been disgusting.  I speak as a child who was raised by smokers and was involuntarily subjected to smoking for years.  

One of the favorite moments in my life was when my Mother came to visit me in my first apartment and the pulled out a cigarette inside my apartment and I just said “No”.

She got indignant and went outside.

Personally I'm not against banning smoking though I wouldn't say I'm exactly for it either. Bearing the Rat Palace experiment in mind, I'd rather the government worked at finding ways to make life tolerable for people without them needing drink and drugs to get through it. 

However, Sunak's party have been bleating about the nanny state for years. Restricting someone's liberty isn't normally their thing, unless that person is an asylum seeker, poor, black etc.

That said, socially smoking tobacco, even vaping, now does seem to be very much something for people from the lower ranks or young people on a night out; the middle and upper classes have all moved on to yoga, long distance running and/or cocaine.

Edited September 23, 2023 by dog-days

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

18 minutes ago, dog-days said:

That said, socially smoking tobacco, even vaping, now does seem to be very much something for people from the lower ranks or young people on a night out; the middle and upper classes have all moved on to yoga, long distance running and/or cocaine.

The “hardest” drug I’ve ever used is alcohol.  And that in recent years in small quantities and infrequently.  FYI.  

Edited September 23, 2023 by Ser Scot A Ellison

[dog-days]

1 minute ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The “hardest” drug I’ve ever used is alcohol.  FYI.

Ok. Thank you for telling me that. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

4 minutes ago, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

The “hardest” drug I’ve ever used is alcohol.  FYI.

Whch actually is a pretty hard drug on its own. Just a socially accepted one.

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

3 minutes ago, A Horse Named Stranger said:

Whch actually is a pretty hard drug on its own. Just a socially accepted one.

That doesn’t impose itself on those nearby like cigarettes do.  
 

and please see my edit above.

[Derfel Cadarn]

1 hour ago, Werthead said:

He's only 43 (the first PM to be younger than me), so it very much will be his problem. He's just confident his wealth will insulate him from any impact on his life.

Meant not his problem in that he’s likely to no longer be PM by end of next year.

But yeah, he probably thinks he’s rich enough to not worry about it

[Heartofice]

Banning smoking of cigarettes seems a totally out of date and unnecessary idea. It would be like telling teenagers they can’t use Facebook, well they weren’t doing that anyway! 
 

Anyone I see smoking cigarettes now seems like a total oddity, a relic from the past. Sure vaping is everywhere but at the very least it’s less harmful than ciggys.

I never understood why governments didn’t lean more on the vanity angle when trying to get people to stop smoking. Young people think they are immortal so telling them they might get cancer is like water off a ducks back. However, tell them they are going to look like wrinkled old hags, with stinking breath and the skin quality of a walnut and maybe they would pay attention.