UK Politics: No Bully XL for you

[A wilding]

1 hour ago, Tywin et al. said:

I'm curious, part of the reason conservatives in the US support tax cuts for the wealthy is because they think one day they'll be rich even if there's realistically no way they'll benefit from them. Is this mindset shared by conservatives in the UK?

My impression is that they think that they are better off than they are relatively, and that they are already part of the elite. Plus being lied to about how the tax works (they are quoted the headline threshold of 325K without understanding that that is per person and that there is a partial exemption for their homes). And not realising that they are likely to spend a good deal of their savings during retirement and for end of life care.

Basically most people in the UK seem to think they are middle class these days.

[Tywin et al.]

1 hour ago, A wilding said:

My impression is that they think that they are better off than they are relatively, and that they are already part of the elite. Plus being lied to about how the tax works (they are quoted the headline threshold of 325K without understanding that that is per person and that there is a partial exemption for their homes). And not realising that they are likely to spend a good deal of their savings during retirement and for end of life care.

Basically most people in the UK seem to think they are middle class these days.

There's certainly that. Many people like to believe they're better off than they actually are, or perversely, like to feel there are people lower than them socially and economically. Most people are also woefully uniformed about taxes with their grievances superseding their understanding of the benefits they receive from them. They're just some of the ingredients in a toxic stew that allows the few with the most power to exploit the many. 

[dog-days]

Article on Ukrainian sappers

ETA: posted too early, meant that to go in Ukraine thread. 

Edited September 25, 2023 by dog-days

[BigFatCoward]

Armed troops on the streets coming up (they will probably be used for guard duties, not operations). 

[HexMachina]

On 9/23/2023 at 2:52 PM, Ser Scot A Ellison said:

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

and please see my edit above.

Living in a city centre hotspot for hen and stag parties, and student nights out...alcohol maybe doesn't directly impose itself on other, but the behaviours it prompts certainly do. You can say not from you, and I would believe you, but this isn't a personal thing, we're talking more broadly.

On 9/23/2023 at 3:23 PM, Heartofice said:

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.

In what way isn't this already done? The bodily effects of smoking are plastered on packets of cigarettes.

Its also still very common, in my experience, particularly when paired with alcohol. The amount of people huddled in the smoking shelters on a night out is pretty significant. I also know a lot of smokers at work

[Ser Scot A Ellison]

8 minutes ago, HexMachina said:

Living in a city centre hotspot for hen and stag parties, and student nights out...alcohol maybe doesn't directly impose itself on other, but the behaviours it prompts certainly do. You can say not from you, and I would believe you, but this isn't a personal thing, we're talking more broadly.

Look… when I’m walking my dog through my neighborhood I can tell when I’m passing a house where the owners smoke… from the road.  That’s how far the odor of cigarettes carries.

I grant that alcohol can and does sometimes bring out assholes.  But smoking wafts that odor everywhere around it… every fucking time.  

There are no exceptions.

[BigFatCoward]

Nobody gets glassed because of cigarettes though. 

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Ah, I see Cruella is back grabbing headlines.

 

[Heartofice]

13 hours ago, HexMachina said:

In what way isn't this already done? The bodily effects of smoking are plastered on packets of cigarettes.

 

What I find interesting is how smokers are able to completely ignore the horrific photos on the front cover of fag packets. I know some who have little cases so they don't have to look at them. Either way, they almost all focus on stuff like cancer and poor health, something young people think they won't have to worry about for 20-30 years. Telling someone they will look disgusting in their instagram and Tik Tok is probably a better tactic (or at least will need a more powerful filter)

[Spockydog]

*Starmer: Oh, FFS.*

 

 

 

[Varysblackfyre321]

I respect this woman’s efforts to try to help make her country stronger and a better place to be citizen even though she recognizes it’s an uphill battle. A really tough battle.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Varysblackfyre321

[Heartofice]

Poor dear. I hope she gets her tablecloth. Must be very traumatic for her. 

[Varysblackfyre321]

2 hours ago, Heartofice said:

Poor dear. I hope she gets her tablecloth. Must be very traumatic for her. 

Oh you did the exact same thing as the interviewer and hyperfixated on her expressing frustration at the significant increase of barriers of even getting simple goods from countries in the EU(an actual material reason to be opposed to Brexit), and ignore her expressed desire for her grandchildren to enjoy the fruits of Europe, through being able to travel and prosper.

 

If she had given a more flowery answer to the tune of “muh culture” like Brexiteers tend to do would you find it more respectable? If you think yes or no  I don’t know what would be worse. 
 

Oh another thing she could have done that Brexiteers tend to do is declare she has a right to do something without explaining why she’s doing it.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Varysblackfyre321

[Varysblackfyre321]

https://news.sky.com/story/home-secretary-suella-braverman-to-question-if-refugee-convention-is-fit-for-our-modern-age-in-us-think-tank-speech-12970029
 

Actual demon I believe.

[BigFatCoward]

11 hours ago, Varysblackfyre321 said:

https://news.sky.com/story/home-secretary-suella-braverman-to-question-if-refugee-convention-is-fit-for-our-modern-age-in-us-think-tank-speech-12970029
 

Actual demon I believe.

She is, and we all know what she's doing, but she's not wrong (technically). 

[BigFatCoward]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66929385

the sooner people start to understand that hard drug use is a public health issue rather than a crime issue the better it will be for everyone, and in all likelihood massively decrease crime. 

[Derfel Cadarn]

Laurence Fox has added ‘failed TV presenter’ to his resume of ‘failed school student’, ‘failed actor’, ‘failed musician’, and ‘failed politician’.

Managed to get suspended fromGB News(!) for basically soing a bit on air that no one would shag reporter Ava Evans, while Dan Wootten giggled away.

 

Wootten has apologised and tried to pretend it was shock that msde him laugh, but Fox is trying to drag him under the bus with him

 

Edited September 27, 2023 by Derfel Cadarn

[A Horse Named Stranger]

Dann Wooton is still on air? Only know his name from reading these threads. But I assumed he was done, too.

[BigFatCoward]

10 minutes ago, Derfel Cadarn said:

Laurence Fox has added ‘failed TV presenter’ to his resume of ‘failed school student’, ‘failed actor’, ‘failed musician’, and ‘failed political’.

Managed to get suspended fromGB News(!) for basically soing a bit on air that no one would shag reporter Ava Evans, while Dan Wootten giggled away.

 

Wootten has apologised and tried to pretend it was shock that msde him laugh, but Fox is trying to drag him under the bus with him

 

No solidarity in the loony right wing world, who'd have thought it?  You would think that this would be enough for them to take Wootton off air, but somehow i doubt it.  

[mormont]

2 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

She is, and we all know what she's doing, but she's not wrong (technically). 

She is wrong, and especially technically. She acknowledges that latter bit herself.

You may mean that the headline describing what she said isn't technically wrong, which is probably true - simply being gay or a woman is not the basis for an asylum claim. But that's not what she said. 

Quote

But we will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection.

(emphasis mine). 

Where she's particularly wrong is this idea that the world has changed and so this means the convention is no longer fit for purpose. It's still fit for purpose and needed as much as it ever was. It's just becoming inconvenient. And we don't abandon our moral duties because they are inconvenient.