But @turbotubbs it is interesting that I have to apologise for supporting Corbyn yet you and others don't have to apologise for supporting Johnson, despite Johnson objectively doing more damage to this country and its people than Corbyn ever did.
I didn't and don't support Johnson. I voted conservative to get the Brexit vote honoured and to avoid a Corbyn win. Right now I want Starmer's labour in power and would vote that way in an election.
I believed that Johnson might do an ok job, and I genuinely think that in less 'interesting' times, he could have been ok. However the need for a serious politician showed him up for what he is, a liar who should never be near power ever again.
You voted Tory then you implicitly supported Johnson.
I've had arguments here where people say voting Labour was supporting Corbyn even if lots of people voted that way not to support him.
I think you are deeply naive if you thought Johnson would ever do a good job. Only had to ask Londoners for examples.
I don't live in London, so only tangentially heard about his time in office. I note he won twice, so presumably wasn't terrible at the job.
Yes, like so many others, I have been deceived by Johnson.
Do you agree that people who voted Labour didn't necessarily endorse Corbyn? If so fair enough - but I have heard it time and time again on this board that it was.
Fair enough for admitting that, you have my respect.
Absolutely. Many people vote for the party (jokingly the red/blue rosette on a donkey). Many vote for the local MP (he/she is good sort). Some vote for the Leader (I like that Blair/Thatcher etc).
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Re: your mortgage affordability I have great sympathy but without meaning to pry I shall pry and ask whether you are interest only or repayment?
I've only ever had a interest-only mortgage and consequently have very low monthly costs with large tolerance for rates increasing - and I reduce capital in chunks on an ad hoc basis. I'm wondering whether people with repayment mortgages realise this is an option with lenders (there may need to be some equity in the property). The other thing to consider is extending the term.
The clown likely inherited a house and has nothing to pay , just a whining git. I would love to know these people he gave up his life for, nothing short of an absolute bellend.
Touched a nerve did I? Diddums
Look you are a dullard and a clown , an idiot like you could never touch a nerve with an intelligent person like me. Put your dummy tit back in and give us peace from your whining.
You are utterly hopeless.
You and foreskin should have a Sad Git Bores convention. I bet pubs empty when your mushes come through the door.
Can any experts opine on the submarine disaster, the odds of survival must be close to zero now?
Isn't this a situation where we don't have enough information to say? I heard someone on the radio say that something catastrophic could have happened and they've been dead for two days now.
3500m deep - that's about 350 times atmospheric pressure.
There are drop weights on the thing so it should have been possible to pull the handle and float up to the surface under pure buoyancy alone. Unless the mechanism was power operated and there was a power cut.
"Some of the backup systems are designed to work even if all aboard the submersible are unconscious; there are sandbags held by hooks that dissolve after a certain number of hours in the water and release the sandbags, letting the vessel float to the surface."
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Re: your mortgage affordability I have great sympathy but without meaning to pry I shall pry and ask whether you are interest only or repayment?
I've only ever had a interest-only mortgage and consequently have very low monthly costs with large tolerance for rates increasing - and I reduce capital in chunks on an ad hoc basis. I'm wondering whether people with repayment mortgages realise this is an option with lenders (there may need to be some equity in the property). The other thing to consider is extending the term.
The clown likely inherited a house and has nothing to pay , just a whining git. I would love to know these people he gave up his life for, nothing short of an absolute bellend.
Touched a nerve did I? Diddums
Look you are a dullard and a clown , an idiot like you could never touch a nerve with an intelligent person like me. Put your dummy tit back in and give us peace from your whining.
You are utterly hopeless.
You and foreskin should have a Sad Git Bores convention. I bet pubs empty when your mushes come through the door.
I would contend that I have earned more since 18 than most people have in their lives, I've probably paid more tax too.
I call rubbish on that. If that's true then you must be rather well paid, and should be able to afford that mortgage.
You sound like the opposite of the idiot on Question Time who didn't think 90K a year put him in the top 5% of earners.
A pleasure to be called an idiot by you.
Didn't intend to call you an idiot - its not my style, but I don't think what you said stacks up.
Perhaps you should assess why that is
I can't - I don't know your income (nor do i want to - that's your business). It just seems an unlikely claim.
Again, perhaps assess what I said with different eyes.
Ok, tubbs thicky day, any hints? The average UK salary is 29,600. Over 45 years thats 1,332,000. You are claiming that (a) you've earned more than that since 18, (b) you feel really hard up and may not be able to pay your mortgage when the fixed rate expires.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Re: your mortgage affordability I have great sympathy but without meaning to pry I shall pry and ask whether you are interest only or repayment?
I've only ever had a interest-only mortgage and consequently have very low monthly costs with large tolerance for rates increasing - and I reduce capital in chunks on an ad hoc basis. I'm wondering whether people with repayment mortgages realise this is an option with lenders (there may need to be some equity in the property). The other thing to consider is extending the term.
The clown likely inherited a house and has nothing to pay , just a whining git. I would love to know these people he gave up his life for, nothing short of an absolute bellend.
Touched a nerve did I? Diddums
Look you are a dullard and a clown , an idiot like you could never touch a nerve with an intelligent person like me. Put your dummy tit back in and give us peace from your whining.
hahahhahahaha. Funniest post Malcolm has ever managed
"with an intelligent person like me"
hahahahahahha. The man has no self awareness. He cannot be for real.
I would contend that I have earned more since 18 than most people have in their lives, I've probably paid more tax too.
I call rubbish on that. If that's true then you must be rather well paid, and should be able to afford that mortgage.
You sound like the opposite of the idiot on Question Time who didn't think 90K a year put him in the top 5% of earners.
A pleasure to be called an idiot by you.
Didn't intend to call you an idiot - its not my style, but I don't think what you said stacks up.
Perhaps you should assess why that is
I can't - I don't know your income (nor do i want to - that's your business). It just seems an unlikely claim.
Again, perhaps assess what I said with different eyes.
Ok, tubbs thicky day, any hints? The average UK salary is 29,600. Over 45 years thats 1,332,000. You are claiming that (a) you've earned more than that since 18, (b) you feel really hard up and may not be able to pay your mortgage when the fixed rate expires.
I was joking
This again? I'm sorry but I just don't get your humour!
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
I partly agree, and partly very much disagree. We could have an economic system that protects the elderly and the young. Instead a concerted effort by those in power to cater specifically to the elderly has rotted the brains of many a boomer. Yes, there is intergenerational warfare, but it is not the elderly who are to blame, rather the capitalist indoctrination they have been fed over decades. I would also argue that lock down was good, as a 32 year old who caught covid last year and is still feeling the negative effects of Long Covid, and imagining how much worse that would be personally if I wasn't vaxxed / got it pre-vax, and how much worse off everyone would be if that was repeated across the entire population.
Maybe I'm biased coz I love my grandparents dearly and they are both not quite boomers, having been children during WW2 rather than being born after it and are also pretty lefty themselves; my Great Nan having literally hosted Communist meetings in her council house kitchen in the post war era.
I didn't say all elderly people, I said some. The ones who call me lazy and feckless for a start, fuck them.
I believe me putting my life on hold was a waste of time and I bitterly regret doing it out of kindness. I really do at this point with some of the shit these people say to me.
Good response though.
I get it - I had the whole "I'm turning 30 and want to find a partner and get my life together and celebrate with friends" thing collapse, my 30th in lockdown, 2 years not seeing family except on screen, it was awful - but I do think at the end of the day it was probably the right course of action for the health of most people, especially the most vulnerable. It isn't helped by the attitude of many people here, I agree, but this isn't a reddit page - it's a political betting one; a subset of people interested in politics who are also nominally interested in betting on it - so a group that trends towards older with disposable income to lose on bets.
They aren't everyone, and that sacrifice you made out of empathy for your fellow person is important. I'm glad the brain rot of "everyone is an island" and "there is no such thing as society, only the individual and the family unit" is less so in our generation. We can build something new. Unfortunately it does seem like it will have to be out of the ashes of the old, even if it would be preferable to not have to have everything burn down around us.
The clown did it for himself and he has not the brains to realise the imaginary people he supposedly did it for had their lives on hold and hav emuch shorter life spans left in general than the whining idiot himself. Sacrifice my arse, he could not spell it.
Another balanced contribution from PBs diversity project. I wonder who it was some years ago who thought "let's provide a bit of balance for the site and have a frothing moron who is a prejudiced half pissed chippy fool with an IQ of less than 90 to represent the average supporter of Alex Salmond"
I reckon he is not a real person. He was invented by Scottish unionists.
As low quality as your usual drivel Foreskin, get a 5 year old to give you some tips.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
Can any experts opine on the submarine disaster, the odds of survival must be close to zero now?
Isn't this a situation where we don't have enough information to say? I heard someone on the radio say that something catastrophic could have happened and they've been dead for two days now.
3500m deep - that's about 350 times atmospheric pressure.
There are drop weights on the thing so it should have been possible to pull the handle and float up to the surface under pure buoyancy alone. Unless the mechanism was power operated and there was a power cut.
"Some of the backup systems are designed to work even if all aboard the submersible are unconscious; there are sandbags held by hooks that dissolve after a certain number of hours in the water and release the sandbags, letting the vessel float to the surface."
I would contend that I have earned more since 18 than most people have in their lives, I've probably paid more tax too.
I call rubbish on that. If that's true then you must be rather well paid, and should be able to afford that mortgage.
You sound like the opposite of the idiot on Question Time who didn't think 90K a year put him in the top 5% of earners.
A pleasure to be called an idiot by you.
Didn't intend to call you an idiot - its not my style, but I don't think what you said stacks up.
Perhaps you should assess why that is
I can't - I don't know your income (nor do i want to - that's your business). It just seems an unlikely claim.
Again, perhaps assess what I said with different eyes.
Ok, tubbs thicky day, any hints? The average UK salary is 29,600. Over 45 years thats 1,332,000. You are claiming that (a) you've earned more than that since 18, (b) you feel really hard up and may not be able to pay your mortgage when the fixed rate expires.
I was joking
This again? I'm sorry but I just don't get your humour!
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
You vote on it, negotiate and come to a consensus. Rojava has local assemblies that are direct democracies with essentially everyone involved in the vote, who then vote on local needs and can choose to send representatives to assemblies that represent larger geographic areas (but instead of being voted to act on their judgement, they are just representatives of the decision of the local assembly). Those representatives then bring back the decision and votes can happen with the new info. Is it slow, yes, but if things are emergencies people can vote to do what they can locally, and then go through the same process.
I can suggest the podcast The Women's War, where 2 conflict journalists go to Rojava and talk to people there, as well as just researching into Rojava and Abdullah Öcalan.
I'll seek out the podcast, but I'm highly sceptical.
So here's the thing, I'm a bit worried by the idea of my income being the subject of a vote of my peers. I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm the sort of person who rubs people up the wrong way. To indulge in a little self-justification, I think gadflies like me are necessary but they're still really fucking annoying. Would we encounter a situation where unpopular minorities, or particularly loathsome people are starved out of existence because a bare majority decided their needs aren't real, or that the greater good (the greater good) outweighs those needs?
I've not heard anything so far in your plan that protects annoying people from persecution.
I mean, merely annoying people could just learn to be less annoying.
And I think your peers would be significantly more forgiving of your annoying habits than your boss if you all get a vote on your pay together.
The Rojavan model specifically has designs for dealing with the history of ethnic persecution and old grudges - for them that means that there is a necessary consensus model that ethnic blocs are always represented and you build consensus with those specific need. The Rojavan model also accepts that the traditions of the area they are in are highly patriarchal, and so enforce women's education and participation in the direct democracy to try and eliminate that.
I'm not saying it's perfect. I'm just saying it's better than capitalism, which is the dictatorship of the boss. Most people spend most of their time working, and have very little recourse to decision making processes in their workplace because the person who owns the shares or at least represents them makes most of the decisions.
Ok, I'll listen. I'm open minded but it sounds like a long way from my starting point.
I can also suggest Richard Wolff, who is mostly focussed on the impact of imposing democracy in the workplace.
Can any experts opine on the submarine disaster, the odds of survival must be close to zero now?
Isn't this a situation where we don't have enough information to say? I heard someone on the radio say that something catastrophic could have happened and they've been dead for two days now.
3500m deep - that's about 350 times atmospheric pressure.
There are drop weights on the thing so it should have been possible to pull the handle and float up to the surface under pure buoyancy alone. Unless the mechanism was power operated and there was a power cut.
There's multiple ways of releasing them, in what seems the best thought-out aspect of the whole thing. Hull breach and implosion, or they are stuck on or under something
That does seem likely. The reporters seem to have gone quiet on the banging noises story.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Re: your mortgage affordability I have great sympathy but without meaning to pry I shall pry and ask whether you are interest only or repayment?
I've only ever had a interest-only mortgage and consequently have very low monthly costs with large tolerance for rates increasing - and I reduce capital in chunks on an ad hoc basis. I'm wondering whether people with repayment mortgages realise this is an option with lenders (there may need to be some equity in the property). The other thing to consider is extending the term.
The clown likely inherited a house and has nothing to pay , just a whining git. I would love to know these people he gave up his life for, nothing short of an absolute bellend.
Touched a nerve did I? Diddums
Look you are a dullard and a clown , an idiot like you could never touch a nerve with an intelligent person like me. Put your dummy tit back in and give us peace from your whining.
You are utterly hopeless.
You and foreskin should have a Sad Git Bores convention. I bet pubs empty when your mushes come through the door.
lol. More projection. I wonder how many times he can manage it? Anyway, I'd better get back to some work. I wish Malcolm would let us know when his trolley shift is at Tescos or Halfords (or wherever it is that is mad enough to employ sweaty grumpy swiveleyed old farts) so that we can enjoy this site without his moronic playground interventions
Don't let the thick old git wind you up CHB. Just laugh at him, he probably is scratching away at his hemorrhoids - you should feel sorry for the angry old git. He has probably lost his latest pair of NHS false teeth when he started ranting a few mins ago! lol
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
THIS is now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal AND the New York Times, all info released by officials of the Biden admin
"That a pandemic caused by a bat coronavirus started in the city with the world’s largest programme of research into bat coronaviruses was always intriguing. That among the first people to get ill with allegedly Covid-like symptoms in the month the pandemic began were three scientists working in that lab was highly suspicious.
"Now that we know their names, we find one of them was collecting what turned out to be the closest cousins of Sars-CoV-2 at the time, and another was doing the very experiments that could have created the virus. These revelations make it almost a slam dunk for the coronavirus lab-leak hypothesis."
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
Human beings have tried much, much, worse.
Over the past couple of hundred years, the economic growth produced by capitalism has cut absolute poverty from 89% to 8% of the world’s population.
It hasn’t been a case of just redistributing the overall resources that existed in 1820 from the rich to the poor. The rich are, after all, far better off than in 1820.
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
A decent and honourable effort. I too have a weird sleep lag if I awake in the night, although that's usually related to drinking too much wine.
Can any experts opine on the submarine disaster, the odds of survival must be close to zero now?
Isn't this a situation where we don't have enough information to say? I heard someone on the radio say that something catastrophic could have happened and they've been dead for two days now.
3500m deep - that's about 350 times atmospheric pressure.
There are drop weights on the thing so it should have been possible to pull the handle and float up to the surface under pure buoyancy alone. Unless the mechanism was power operated and there was a power cut.
There's multiple ways of releasing them, in what seems the best thought-out aspect of the whole thing. Hull breach and implosion, or they are stuck on or under something
That does seem likely. The reporters seem to have gone quiet on the banging noises story.
Slightly surprising story re a chap who claims partial flooding is likely.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
Ever checked your blood sugar at those times? Might be a low blood sugar effect.
THIS is now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal AND the New York Times, all info released by officials of the Biden admin
"That a pandemic caused by a bat coronavirus started in the city with the world’s largest programme of research into bat coronaviruses was always intriguing. That among the first people to get ill with allegedly Covid-like symptoms in the month the pandemic began were three scientists working in that lab was highly suspicious.
"Now that we know their names, we find one of them was collecting what turned out to be the closest cousins of Sars-CoV-2 at the time, and another was doing the very experiments that could have created the virus. These revelations make it almost a slam dunk for the coronavirus lab-leak hypothesis."
I would contend that I have earned more since 18 than most people have in their lives, I've probably paid more tax too.
And you’re complaining about your lot in life?
Fuck you
I am complaining about how people my age are treated.
You are a touchy prick aren't you?
You started the fuck yous
How are people of my age (45) treated better?
Aren't you a Tory? Why not ask your mates
Only once you’ve told me the last joke you and Jeremy shared, when you were mates
I’m a postie. I have to try to work at least 45 hours a week to pay my rent, bills and food (and beer), and have enough left over to get my overdraft down a bit. I have no savings at all
I do usually support the Tories. I don’t really support anyone at the moment. I don’t like SKS more than I don’t like Sunak. I pity Rishi a bit, he is a mate after all
I would contend that I have earned more since 18 than most people have in their lives, I've probably paid more tax too.
And you’re complaining about your lot in life?
Fuck you
I am complaining about how people my age are treated.
You are a touchy prick aren't you?
You started the fuck yous
How are people of my age (45) treated better?
Aren't you a Tory? Why not ask your mates
Only once you’ve told me the last joke you and Jeremy shared, when you were mates
I’m a postie. I have to try to work at least 45 hours a week to pay my rent, bills and food (and beer), and have enough left over to get my overdraft down a bit. I have no savings at all
I do usually support the Tories. I don’t really support anyone at the moment. I don’t like SKS more than I don’t like Sunak. I pity Rishi a bit, he is a mate after all
I don't have any issue with your supporting the Tories, you were the one who took issue with me years back for some reason, I can only think it's because I'm left-leaning.
You make things up (jokes?!?) and complain about being bullied
Then you bully people and hope you’ll bully them off the website (jokes?!?)
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
Ever checked your blood sugar at those times? Might be a low blood sugar effect.
No because it doesn’t really bother me. The tiredness only lasts about 10 minutes. I yawn a fair bit, have a coffee, then I’m fine
In fact it’s quite handy. If I properly wake in the night I know it’s pointless to try and fight my way back to sleep. I just read for 3 hours (or whatever). Then zzz
How crazy that transphobic people lie, and that the story that looked like someone compared trans identities to identifying as an animal (like they used to compare consenting same sex relationships to beastiality) ends up being that and not that someone actually identifies as a cat (despite what the national press think):
There is a minimum voting age. Should there be a maximum voting age?
Yes. Minimum should be 16, maximum should be 15.
I don't think there should be a minimum or maximum voting age, as long as you can cast your own vote. I don't think people with dementia lose the right to vote, and many of them have less capability or understanding of the world than some 7 year olds. Considering that often the majority of the voting eligible population chose not to vote anyway, I don't see the issue with allowing the kind of annoying teenager that I would have been (who read newspapers, and followed politics, etc etc) a vote as well. It would actually make politicians have to care about the needs of children without that going through the prism of the desires of parents.
In all seriousness, I don't agree with maximum voting ages. I hope my glib and absurd answer wasn't taken seriously.
Testing suitability for maturity is fraught with difficulties. Who sets the test?
I'd make it a flat 16 years old for all legal residents. That includes foreign born and prisoners too.
I would agree with that if we also lowered the age of consent, smoking, drinking, driving, serving on the front line, signing contracts and jury service. If we consider a 16 year old mature enough to decide on the future of the country then they are also old enough to do all those other things as well.
Disagree about foreign born unless they commit to the country by taking citizenship. And prisoners are still, in some element of our judicial system, being punished. Preventing them from voting seems a reasonable part of that.
I would withdraw the vote from anyone who has lived outside the country for more than 5 years and also from commonwealth citizens and Irish. They are foreign nationals.
Although the "cyclists need insurance" brigade do have a point. Liability insurance for cyclists is quite sensible.
Adult cyclists who cycle on pavements, which is unlawful, with a "get out of my way, pedestrian scum" attitude, being too wimpy and scared to ride on the roads, need bans slapped on them by magistrates. (It would only take a few Cambridge fellows to feel the long arm of the law for the others to feel "encouraged".)
Guidance from the Police Chief's Association accepts that adults cycling on pavements is OK, when the road is too dangerous, and it is done considerately - as in the vast majority of cases. Guidance was issued in 1999 by the Home Secretary when it became an "offence", and reaffirmed in 2014. The recent case of the manslaughter of the elderly cyclist demonstrates the need, until such time as we have safe facilities everywhere:
The "cyclists need insurance" brigade have no point whatsoever, except in their own sawdust-filled heads.
Lability insurance for people riding bikes usually comes for free with a home contents policy. Some of us have extra insurance via memberships or specialist policies. I have that because I know many motorist vehicle drivers will lie to the police and then lie to the court, and I will need ferocious lawyers should the worst happen, potentially for a civil claim.
These insurance companies include liability insurance in their Home Contents policies:
Apologies for introducing evidence to the debate.
Normally placid people go absolutely bonkers when it comes to cyclists. It's utterly barmy and baffling.
It's jealously. Motorists see my calf muscles go momentarily insane.
I had a shout-off with some driver in a huge fuck off (but white) Jeep Cherokee this morning. I just think many drivers resent the freedom of movement of cyclists. They don't like cyclists filtering either which I think is part of this.
Unless its a London thing, I think cyclists overestimate how much drivers dislike them. Some drivers are just douchebags, some cyclists are just douchebags, and I'm more likely to get into an argument with another driver than a cyclist.
This morning I had a shout-off (or exchange of banged horns) after I indicated to show I was pulling into the right hand lane, the driver behind in the right hand-lane saw my indicator and took that as a dare to close the gap instead of letting me in, and I pulled in safely anyway. Day before I shouted at another road user to use their indicator after they went around a roundabout in a dangerous manner without using their indicator.
Before that I hadn't been annoyed with any other road use in months and its an extremely long time since a cyclist has pissed me off (red light as almost always).
Sometimes people just don't like other road users for how they're acting. Whether that be people who ride through red lights, or people who don't use their indicator or those who take the indicator as a challenge, its not about cyclist or driver per se.
It's a numbers game, really. As a cyclist you spend a lot of time being overtaken by cars for obvious reasons. So 99 go past perfectly normally and 1 idiot comes too close or shouts at you just for being there, and that's the one you remember. It's easy to feel like everyone hates you because that's just how memory works.
This applies to lots of other situations too, of course. The memorability of extreme examples the main engine of all polarisation.
I'm just back from a cycling holiday and we only had one bad pass the whole time out of hundreds. We were on a Sustrans route and we even had drivers stopping and asking us how we were getting on, telling us about good pubs etc.
That one pass nearly killed us though, so it does stick in the mind.
There's quite an amusing and slightly blunt Irish camera cyclist called RighttoBikeIt who has his rear facing camera showing his "equipment" and his quadriceps, which probably does make people jealous.
At present there is little alternative much of the time other than to cycle on the roads, as there are few safe mobility (used to be called cycle-) tracks, and the entire public footpath, bridleway and cycleway network is littered with tens of thousands (literally) of illegal (under Equality Act 2010) anti-access barriers pandering to the myth that they keep 'motobikes' out, which ban disabled and many elderly people from much of the countryside.
This is one just built project (just finished by Plymouth Council) which excludes people in wheelchairs and elderly people in mobility scooters from a "strategic walking and cycling route", which is illegal. They considered a ramp, but wanted to save money.
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
Ever checked your blood sugar at those times? Might be a low blood sugar effect.
No because it doesn’t really bother me. The tiredness only lasts about 10 minutes. I yawn a fair bit, have a coffee, then I’m fine
In fact it’s quite handy. If I properly wake in the night I know it’s pointless to try and fight my way back to sleep. I just read for 3 hours (or whatever). Then zzz
I said we should have let elderly people be protected during COVID and let us all go on about our lives. I received a strong and vocal response that I said I was being ageist and nasty.
Yet anyone can call young people feckless, lazy, stupid, woke and nobody bats an eyelid. No such such as being youngist!
The truth is, you oldies have fucked it for the young of this country. We are fed up and angry with you (not all of you but a lot of you).
I think this idea is nonsense. Many many younger people died of covid in the first year. It was not just a threat to the over 70's. And if we had done as you now suggest (after your Damascene conversion on lockdowns) the hospitals would have been overwhelmed with covid patients when you presented with something else and didn't get treated.
Success of lockdowns has led, as predicted, to people saying they weren't needed.
That's a bit head I win, tails you lose, logic by you there though.
You can claim they were needed because they worked, but where's the evidence for that?
Sweden did better than us in preserving liberty and they didn't exactly all die in Sweden as a result now, did they?
It’s a bit boring how everyone keeps talking about Sweden. Lots of countries did different things, and there were other countries without lockdowns, like Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (all of whom learnt lessons from SARS), as well as places from Tanzania to Uruguay.
However, you also have to look at what those countries did do, how they fared in the pandemic, and geography, of course. But, please, can we move on from the tedium of “But Sweden!”
Happy to if we move on from the tedium of calling lockdowns "necessary".
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
I have an afternoon dip around 4pm. Get very tired but it only lasts about 20 minutes and then I am fine. Strangely it doesn't happen at the equivalent time in the morning when I am working nightshift. I also only sleep about 4 hours a night and have done for the last 30 years. I put this down to many years of shift work.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Re: your mortgage affordability I have great sympathy but without meaning to pry I shall pry and ask whether you are interest only or repayment?
I've only ever had a interest-only mortgage and consequently have very low monthly costs with large tolerance for rates increasing - and I reduce capital in chunks on an ad hoc basis. I'm wondering whether people with repayment mortgages realise this is an option with lenders (there may need to be some equity in the property). The other thing to consider is extending the term.
The clown likely inherited a house and has nothing to pay , just a whining git. I would love to know these people he gave up his life for, nothing short of an absolute bellend.
Touched a nerve did I? Diddums
Look you are a dullard and a clown , an idiot like you could never touch a nerve with an intelligent person like me. Put your dummy tit back in and give us peace from your whining.
You are utterly hopeless.
You and foreskin should have a Sad Git Bores convention. I bet pubs empty when your mushes come through the door.
THIS is now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal AND the New York Times, all info released by officials of the Biden admin
"That a pandemic caused by a bat coronavirus started in the city with the world’s largest programme of research into bat coronaviruses was always intriguing. That among the first people to get ill with allegedly Covid-like symptoms in the month the pandemic began were three scientists working in that lab was highly suspicious.
"Now that we know their names, we find one of them was collecting what turned out to be the closest cousins of Sars-CoV-2 at the time, and another was doing the very experiments that could have created the virus. These revelations make it almost a slam dunk for the coronavirus lab-leak hypothesis."
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
@BlancheLivermore I haven't complained about being bullied since my mental health issues have been resolved - I was in a difficult place and reacted too strongly but I would hope for compassion when I have been quite open about it.
Who have I bullied off the site?
What have I made up?
I am not seeking anyone's attention, no more than you are. I made a clumsy joke "I am Horse" in an attempt to satirise Leon's constant off-topic posting, I thought it was quite obviously a joke but then you didn't.
You don't like my opinions because I lean left wing, you allow and praise plenty of people that do what you accuse me of, for example your liking posts by Malcolm and Leon. And that's fine - but you're not as noble as you think you are.
I've not got any problems with you, you are the one who made problems with me...
Anyway let's just leave it there, I will go back to ignoring you because it's clearly not doing either of us any good engaging.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
Human beings have tried much, much, worse.
Over the past couple of hundred years, the economic growth produced by capitalism has cut absolute poverty from 89% to 8% of the world’s population.
It hasn’t been a case of just redistributing the overall resources that existed in 1820 from the rich to the poor. The rich are, after all, far better off than in 1820.
If capitalism continues the way it is it will make absolute poverty either 100% or 0% of the world’s population (depending on your preference) because climate change will destroy all human life on earth.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
Around 1,000 people in the UK died from Covid on its own, the rest died "with Covid".
@BlancheLivermore I haven't complained about being bullied since my mental health issues have been resolved - I was in a difficult place and reacted too strongly but I would hope for compassion when I have been quite open about it.
Who have I bullied off the site?
What have I made up?
I am not seeking anyone's attention, no more than you are. I made a clumsy joke "I am Horse" in an attempt to satirise Leon's constant off-topic posting, I thought it was quite obviously a joke but then you didn't...
I must have come in to that halfway through, as I didn't get it either. Not a terrible gag at all.
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
I have an afternoon dip around 4pm. Get very tired but it only lasts about 20 minutes and then I am fine. Strangely it doesn't happen at the equivalent time in the morning when I am working nightshift. I also only sleep about 4 hours a night and have done for the last 30 years. I put this down to many years of shift work.
I get an afternoon dip at about three and have a Japanese Power Nap-even if just five minutes - and then my brain feels like I’ve had a good eight hours. Very weird as the drift off feels incredibly heavy and deep sleep but it is very quick.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
I don’t mean to offend, but you’re sounding quite a bit like Pol Pot there! Particularly the bit about forcing hedge fund managers to work in the fields.
@BlancheLivermore I haven't complained about being bullied since my mental health issues have been resolved - I was in a difficult place and reacted too strongly but I would hope for compassion when I have been quite open about it.
Who have I bullied off the site?
What have I made up?
I am not seeking anyone's attention, no more than you are. I made a clumsy joke "I am Horse" in an attempt to satirise Leon's constant off-topic posting, I thought it was quite obviously a joke but then you didn't...
I must have come in to that halfway through, as I didn't get it either. Not a terrible gag at all.
I am obviously not as funny as I thought. Nevermind.
I would contend that I have earned more since 18 than most people have in their lives, I've probably paid more tax too.
And you’re complaining about your lot in life?
Fuck you
I am complaining about how people my age are treated.
You are a touchy prick aren't you?
You started the fuck yous
How are people of my age (45) treated better?
Aren't you a Tory? Why not ask your mates
Only once you’ve told me the last joke you and Jeremy shared, when you were mates
I’m a postie. I have to try to work at least 45 hours a week to pay my rent, bills and food (and beer), and have enough left over to get my overdraft down a bit. I have no savings at all
I do usually support the Tories. I don’t really support anyone at the moment. I don’t like SKS more than I don’t like Sunak. I pity Rishi a bit, he is a mate after all
Are you still doing Aldbourne, Blanche ?
No, but occasionally training other people there on bits of Aldbourne. My old route has been cut up to make other routes longer. I switch between two routes in Marlborough now. But did Shalbourne yesterday for the first time
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
Around 1,000 people in the UK died from Covid on its own, the rest died "with Covid".
By that metric, though, AIDS kills barely anyone.
If the questions are, were the restrictions in place too long, were they (mostly) too strict, were we too slow to react to new information from abroad, and was there insufficient risk segmentation?
Then the answers are probably, yes,yes,yes,yes.
But that doesn't mean that Covid wasn't a major killer.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
Although the "cyclists need insurance" brigade do have a point. Liability insurance for cyclists is quite sensible.
Adult cyclists who cycle on pavements, which is unlawful, with a "get out of my way, pedestrian scum" attitude, being too wimpy and scared to ride on the roads, need bans slapped on them by magistrates. (It would only take a few Cambridge fellows to feel the long arm of the law for the others to feel "encouraged".)
Guidance from the Police Chief's Association accepts that adults cycling on pavements is OK, when the road is too dangerous, and it is done considerately - as in the vast majority of cases. Guidance was issued in 1999 by the Home Secretary when it became an "offence", and reaffirmed in 2014. The recent case of the manslaughter of the elderly cyclist demonstrates the need, until such time as we have safe facilities everywhere:
The "cyclists need insurance" brigade have no point whatsoever, except in their own sawdust-filled heads.
Lability insurance for people riding bikes usually comes for free with a home contents policy. Some of us have extra insurance via memberships or specialist policies. I have that because I know many motorist vehicle drivers will lie to the police and then lie to the court, and I will need ferocious lawyers should the worst happen, potentially for a civil claim.
These insurance companies include liability insurance in their Home Contents policies:
Apologies for introducing evidence to the debate.
Normally placid people go absolutely bonkers when it comes to cyclists. It's utterly barmy and baffling.
It's jealously. Motorists see my calf muscles go momentarily insane.
I had a shout-off with some driver in a huge fuck off (but white) Jeep Cherokee this morning. I just think many drivers resent the freedom of movement of cyclists. They don't like cyclists filtering either which I think is part of this.
Unless its a London thing, I think cyclists overestimate how much drivers dislike them. Some drivers are just douchebags, some cyclists are just douchebags, and I'm more likely to get into an argument with another driver than a cyclist.
This morning I had a shout-off (or exchange of banged horns) after I indicated to show I was pulling into the right hand lane, the driver behind in the right hand-lane saw my indicator and took that as a dare to close the gap instead of letting me in, and I pulled in safely anyway. Day before I shouted at another road user to use their indicator after they went around a roundabout in a dangerous manner without using their indicator.
Before that I hadn't been annoyed with any other road use in months and its an extremely long time since a cyclist has pissed me off (red light as almost always).
Sometimes people just don't like other road users for how they're acting. Whether that be people who ride through red lights, or people who don't use their indicator or those who take the indicator as a challenge, its not about cyclist or driver per se.
It's a numbers game, really. As a cyclist you spend a lot of time being overtaken by cars for obvious reasons. So 99 go past perfectly normally and 1 idiot comes too close or shouts at you just for being there, and that's the one you remember. It's easy to feel like everyone hates you because that's just how memory works.
This applies to lots of other situations too, of course. The memorability of extreme examples the main engine of all polarisation.
I'm just back from a cycling holiday and we only had one bad pass the whole time out of hundreds. We were on a Sustrans route and we even had drivers stopping and asking us how we were getting on, telling us about good pubs etc.
That one pass nearly killed us though, so it does stick in the mind.
There's quite an amusing and slightly blunt Irish camera cyclist called RighttoBikeIt who has his rear facing camera showing his "equipment" and his quadriceps, which probably does make people jealous.
At present there is little alternative much of the time other than to cycle on the roads, as there are few safe mobility (used to be called cycle-) tracks, and the entire public footpath, bridleway and cycleway network is littered with tens of thousands (literally) of illegal (under Equality Act 2010) anti-access barriers pandering to the myth that they keep 'motobikes' out, which ban disabled and many elderly people from much of the countryside.
This is one just built project (just finished by Plymouth Council) which excludes people in wheelchairs and elderly people in mobility scooters from a "strategic walking and cycling route", which is illegal. They considered a ramp, but wanted to save money.
I've seen that on Twitter, and I'd like to see a little more detail on where it is, and what sort of path it is. It *may* be a reasonable compromise; it may not.
Leaving the steps aside, what sort of speed should cyclists be going down that path, if it is shared? 5 MPH max?
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Re: your mortgage affordability I have great sympathy but without meaning to pry I shall pry and ask whether you are interest only or repayment?
I've only ever had a interest-only mortgage and consequently have very low monthly costs with large tolerance for rates increasing - and I reduce capital in chunks on an ad hoc basis. I'm wondering whether people with repayment mortgages realise this is an option with lenders (there may need to be some equity in the property). The other thing to consider is extending the term.
The clown likely inherited a house and has nothing to pay , just a whining git. I would love to know these people he gave up his life for, nothing short of an absolute bellend.
Touched a nerve did I? Diddums
Look you are a dullard and a clown , an idiot like you could never touch a nerve with an intelligent person like me. Put your dummy tit back in and give us peace from your whining.
You are utterly hopeless.
You and foreskin should have a Sad Git Bores convention. I bet pubs empty when your mushes come through the door.
lol. More projection. I wonder how many times he can manage it? Anyway, I'd better get back to some work. I wish Malcolm would let us know when his trolley shift is at Tescos or Halfords (or wherever it is that is mad enough to employ sweaty grumpy swiveleyed old farts) so that we can enjoy this site without his moronic playground interventions
Don't let the thick old git wind you up CHB. Just laugh at him, he probably is scratching away at his hemorrhoids - you should feel sorry for the angry old git. He has probably lost his latest pair of NHS false teeth when he started ranting a few mins ago! lol
@BlancheLivermore I haven't complained about being bullied since my mental health issues have been resolved - I was in a difficult place and reacted too strongly but I would hope for compassion when I have been quite open about it.
Who have I bullied off the site?
What have I made up?
I am not seeking anyone's attention, no more than you are. I made a clumsy joke "I am Horse" in an attempt to satirise Leon's constant off-topic posting, I thought it was quite obviously a joke but then you didn't.
You don't like my opinions because I lean left wing, you allow and praise plenty of people that do what you accuse me of, for example your liking posts by Malcolm and Leon. And that's fine - but you're not as noble as you think you are.
I've not got any problems with you, you are the one who made problems with me...
Anyway let's just leave it there, I will go back to ignoring you because it's clearly not doing either of us any good engaging.
Although the "cyclists need insurance" brigade do have a point. Liability insurance for cyclists is quite sensible.
Adult cyclists who cycle on pavements, which is unlawful, with a "get out of my way, pedestrian scum" attitude, being too wimpy and scared to ride on the roads, need bans slapped on them by magistrates. (It would only take a few Cambridge fellows to feel the long arm of the law for the others to feel "encouraged".)
Guidance from the Police Chief's Association accepts that adults cycling on pavements is OK, when the road is too dangerous, and it is done considerately - as in the vast majority of cases. Guidance was issued in 1999 by the Home Secretary when it became an "offence", and reaffirmed in 2014. The recent case of the manslaughter of the elderly cyclist demonstrates the need, until such time as we have safe facilities everywhere:
The "cyclists need insurance" brigade have no point whatsoever, except in their own sawdust-filled heads.
Lability insurance for people riding bikes usually comes for free with a home contents policy. Some of us have extra insurance via memberships or specialist policies. I have that because I know many motorist vehicle drivers will lie to the police and then lie to the court, and I will need ferocious lawyers should the worst happen, potentially for a civil claim.
These insurance companies include liability insurance in their Home Contents policies:
Apologies for introducing evidence to the debate.
Normally placid people go absolutely bonkers when it comes to cyclists. It's utterly barmy and baffling.
It's jealously. Motorists see my calf muscles go momentarily insane.
I had a shout-off with some driver in a huge fuck off (but white) Jeep Cherokee this morning. I just think many drivers resent the freedom of movement of cyclists. They don't like cyclists filtering either which I think is part of this.
Unless its a London thing, I think cyclists overestimate how much drivers dislike them. Some drivers are just douchebags, some cyclists are just douchebags, and I'm more likely to get into an argument with another driver than a cyclist.
This morning I had a shout-off (or exchange of banged horns) after I indicated to show I was pulling into the right hand lane, the driver behind in the right hand-lane saw my indicator and took that as a dare to close the gap instead of letting me in, and I pulled in safely anyway. Day before I shouted at another road user to use their indicator after they went around a roundabout in a dangerous manner without using their indicator.
Before that I hadn't been annoyed with any other road use in months and its an extremely long time since a cyclist has pissed me off (red light as almost always).
Sometimes people just don't like other road users for how they're acting. Whether that be people who ride through red lights, or people who don't use their indicator or those who take the indicator as a challenge, its not about cyclist or driver per se.
It's a numbers game, really. As a cyclist you spend a lot of time being overtaken by cars for obvious reasons. So 99 go past perfectly normally and 1 idiot comes too close or shouts at you just for being there, and that's the one you remember. It's easy to feel like everyone hates you because that's just how memory works.
This applies to lots of other situations too, of course. The memorability of extreme examples the main engine of all polarisation.
I'm just back from a cycling holiday and we only had one bad pass the whole time out of hundreds. We were on a Sustrans route and we even had drivers stopping and asking us how we were getting on, telling us about good pubs etc.
That one pass nearly killed us though, so it does stick in the mind.
There's quite an amusing and slightly blunt Irish camera cyclist called RighttoBikeIt who has his rear facing camera showing his "equipment" and his quadriceps, which probably does make people jealous.
At present there is little alternative much of the time other than to cycle on the roads, as there are few safe mobility (used to be called cycle-) tracks, and the entire public footpath, bridleway and cycleway network is littered with tens of thousands (literally) of illegal (under Equality Act 2010) anti-access barriers pandering to the myth that they keep 'motobikes' out, which ban disabled and many elderly people from much of the countryside.
This is one just built project (just finished by Plymouth Council) which excludes people in wheelchairs and elderly people in mobility scooters from a "strategic walking and cycling route", which is illegal. They considered a ramp, but wanted to save money.
Question (genuine) - large chunks of the Cornish costal path have steps and/or very steep gradients.
When getting funding etc for such things, what is the assessment process by which the requirement to be accessible can be removed/not apply?
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
I don’t mean to offend, but you’re sounding quite a bit like Pol Pot there! Particularly the bit about forcing hedge fund managers to work in the fields.
SKS could kill all talk of him being a centrist poodle stone dead by including this in the manifesto.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Re: your mortgage affordability I have great sympathy but without meaning to pry I shall pry and ask whether you are interest only or repayment?
I've only ever had a interest-only mortgage and consequently have very low monthly costs with large tolerance for rates increasing - and I reduce capital in chunks on an ad hoc basis. I'm wondering whether people with repayment mortgages realise this is an option with lenders (there may need to be some equity in the property). The other thing to consider is extending the term.
The clown likely inherited a house and has nothing to pay , just a whining git. I would love to know these people he gave up his life for, nothing short of an absolute bellend.
Touched a nerve did I? Diddums
Look you are a dullard and a clown , an idiot like you could never touch a nerve with an intelligent person like me. Put your dummy tit back in and give us peace from your whining.
You are utterly hopeless.
You and foreskin should have a Sad Git Bores convention. I bet pubs empty when your mushes come through the door.
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
Ever checked your blood sugar at those times? Might be a low blood sugar effect.
No because it doesn’t really bother me. The tiredness only lasts about 10 minutes. I yawn a fair bit, have a coffee, then I’m fine
In fact it’s quite handy. If I properly wake in the night I know it’s pointless to try and fight my way back to sleep. I just read for 3 hours (or whatever). Then zzz
Just some rhythm in my metabolism, I guess
I'd suggest a diabetes check.
Nah, I’ve been like this for 30 years it doesn’t concern me. And I can be quite hypochondriac
I would contend that I have earned more since 18 than most people have in their lives, I've probably paid more tax too.
And you’re complaining about your lot in life?
Fuck you
I am complaining about how people my age are treated.
You are a touchy prick aren't you?
You started the fuck yous
How are people of my age (45) treated better?
Aren't you a Tory? Why not ask your mates
Only once you’ve told me the last joke you and Jeremy shared, when you were mates
I’m a postie. I have to try to work at least 45 hours a week to pay my rent, bills and food (and beer), and have enough left over to get my overdraft down a bit. I have no savings at all
I do usually support the Tories. I don’t really support anyone at the moment. I don’t like SKS more than I don’t like Sunak. I pity Rishi a bit, he is a mate after all
I don't have any issue with your supporting the Tories, you were the one who took issue with me years back for some reason, I can only think it's because I'm left-leaning.
You make things up (jokes?!?) and complain about being bullied
Then you bully people and hope you’ll bully them off the website (jokes?!?)
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
I have an afternoon dip around 4pm. Get very tired but it only lasts about 20 minutes and then I am fine. Strangely it doesn't happen at the equivalent time in the morning when I am working nightshift. I also only sleep about 4 hours a night and have done for the last 30 years. I put this down to many years of shift work.
I get an afternoon dip at about three and have a Japanese Power Nap-even if just five minutes - and then my brain feels like I’ve had a good eight hours. Very weird as the drift off feels incredibly heavy and deep sleep but it is very quick.
I’ve learned to love naps. Very restorative. If the body wants to sleep let it sleep. I can go the whole siesta sometimes
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
The problem is: who determines the needs of people? History suggests that top-down systems for determining the needs of people often lead to tyranny. The “needs of the people” becomes the excuse for many atrocities.
Capitalism puts decision making more in the hands of individuals. That tends to work better. Untempered capitalism soon sees the power accumulate in bad ways, but capitalism with a degree of redistribution and the rule of law within a liberal democracy seems to work pretty well in the long run compared to most alternatives.
How crazy that transphobic people lie, and that the story that looked like someone compared trans identities to identifying as an animal (like they used to compare consenting same sex relationships to beastiality) ends up being that and not that someone actually identifies as a cat (despite what the national press think):
THIS is now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal AND the New York Times, all info released by officials of the Biden admin
"That a pandemic caused by a bat coronavirus started in the city with the world’s largest programme of research into bat coronaviruses was always intriguing. That among the first people to get ill with allegedly Covid-like symptoms in the month the pandemic began were three scientists working in that lab was highly suspicious.
"Now that we know their names, we find one of them was collecting what turned out to be the closest cousins of Sars-CoV-2 at the time, and another was doing the very experiments that could have created the virus. These revelations make it almost a slam dunk for the coronavirus lab-leak hypothesis."
Can any experts opine on the submarine disaster, the odds of survival must be close to zero now?
Isn't this a situation where we don't have enough information to say? I heard someone on the radio say that something catastrophic could have happened and they've been dead for two days now.
3500m deep - that's about 350 times atmospheric pressure.
There are drop weights on the thing so it should have been possible to pull the handle and float up to the surface under pure buoyancy alone. Unless the mechanism was power operated and there was a power cut.
There's multiple ways of releasing them, in what seems the best thought-out aspect of the whole thing. Hull breach and implosion, or they are stuck on or under something
That does seem likely. The reporters seem to have gone quiet on the banging noises story.
Slightly surprising story re a chap who claims partial flooding is likely.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
I don't see much of a conflict between the two. Most people who labour accumulate capital. The kind of society which you're advocating, in which people have enough, but no more than enough, and in which people cannot spend money on things they don't need, sounds perfectly ghastly to me. And, because it cuts right across human nature, a society which can be achieved only through a great deal of coercion.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
I don’t mean to offend, but you’re sounding quite a bit like Pol Pot there! Particularly the bit about forcing hedge fund managers to work in the fields.
SKS could kill all talk of him being a centrist poodle stone dead by including this in the manifesto.
I just discovered that a few bottles of wine - say two dozen - that I bought many years ago for £20 or so, are now worth £100-£300 each
That’s deeply pleasing. However Vivino says these wines are now peaking or indeed past their peak. So I need to drink them all quite quickly or they will slowly turn to vinegar
So I will have the pleasure of drinking these fine wines but then, after that, I won’t have the pleasure of knowing I have got some wines worth £100-£300 sitting in the dark in my flat. And the latter pleasure is no small thing
Although the "cyclists need insurance" brigade do have a point. Liability insurance for cyclists is quite sensible.
Adult cyclists who cycle on pavements, which is unlawful, with a "get out of my way, pedestrian scum" attitude, being too wimpy and scared to ride on the roads, need bans slapped on them by magistrates. (It would only take a few Cambridge fellows to feel the long arm of the law for the others to feel "encouraged".)
Guidance from the Police Chief's Association accepts that adults cycling on pavements is OK, when the road is too dangerous, and it is done considerately - as in the vast majority of cases. Guidance was issued in 1999 by the Home Secretary when it became an "offence", and reaffirmed in 2014. The recent case of the manslaughter of the elderly cyclist demonstrates the need, until such time as we have safe facilities everywhere:
The "cyclists need insurance" brigade have no point whatsoever, except in their own sawdust-filled heads.
Lability insurance for people riding bikes usually comes for free with a home contents policy. Some of us have extra insurance via memberships or specialist policies. I have that because I know many motorist vehicle drivers will lie to the police and then lie to the court, and I will need ferocious lawyers should the worst happen, potentially for a civil claim.
These insurance companies include liability insurance in their Home Contents policies:
Apologies for introducing evidence to the debate.
Normally placid people go absolutely bonkers when it comes to cyclists. It's utterly barmy and baffling.
It's jealously. Motorists see my calf muscles go momentarily insane.
I had a shout-off with some driver in a huge fuck off (but white) Jeep Cherokee this morning. I just think many drivers resent the freedom of movement of cyclists. They don't like cyclists filtering either which I think is part of this.
Unless its a London thing, I think cyclists overestimate how much drivers dislike them. Some drivers are just douchebags, some cyclists are just douchebags, and I'm more likely to get into an argument with another driver than a cyclist.
This morning I had a shout-off (or exchange of banged horns) after I indicated to show I was pulling into the right hand lane, the driver behind in the right hand-lane saw my indicator and took that as a dare to close the gap instead of letting me in, and I pulled in safely anyway. Day before I shouted at another road user to use their indicator after they went around a roundabout in a dangerous manner without using their indicator.
Before that I hadn't been annoyed with any other road use in months and its an extremely long time since a cyclist has pissed me off (red light as almost always).
Sometimes people just don't like other road users for how they're acting. Whether that be people who ride through red lights, or people who don't use their indicator or those who take the indicator as a challenge, its not about cyclist or driver per se.
It's a numbers game, really. As a cyclist you spend a lot of time being overtaken by cars for obvious reasons. So 99 go past perfectly normally and 1 idiot comes too close or shouts at you just for being there, and that's the one you remember. It's easy to feel like everyone hates you because that's just how memory works.
This applies to lots of other situations too, of course. The memorability of extreme examples the main engine of all polarisation.
I'm just back from a cycling holiday and we only had one bad pass the whole time out of hundreds. We were on a Sustrans route and we even had drivers stopping and asking us how we were getting on, telling us about good pubs etc.
That one pass nearly killed us though, so it does stick in the mind.
There's quite an amusing and slightly blunt Irish camera cyclist called RighttoBikeIt who has his rear facing camera showing his "equipment" and his quadriceps, which probably does make people jealous.
At present there is little alternative much of the time other than to cycle on the roads, as there are few safe mobility (used to be called cycle-) tracks, and the entire public footpath, bridleway and cycleway network is littered with tens of thousands (literally) of illegal (under Equality Act 2010) anti-access barriers pandering to the myth that they keep 'motobikes' out, which ban disabled and many elderly people from much of the countryside.
This is one just built project (just finished by Plymouth Council) which excludes people in wheelchairs and elderly people in mobility scooters from a "strategic walking and cycling route", which is illegal. They considered a ramp, but wanted to save money.
Question (genuine) - large chunks of the Cornish costal path have steps and/or very steep gradients.
When getting funding etc for such things, what is the assessment process by which the requirement to be accessible can be removed/not apply?
From distant memory, that depends on the classification of the route: if it is path, it has to be accessible by foot alone. If a bridleway, it needs to be wider with accessible gates. A BOAT (Byway Open To All Traffic) has even more stringent requirements.
So if it is an official footpath, accessibility isn't much of an issue - as long as you can walk along it.
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
Ever checked your blood sugar at those times? Might be a low blood sugar effect.
No because it doesn’t really bother me. The tiredness only lasts about 10 minutes. I yawn a fair bit, have a coffee, then I’m fine
In fact it’s quite handy. If I properly wake in the night I know it’s pointless to try and fight my way back to sleep. I just read for 3 hours (or whatever). Then zzz
Just some rhythm in my metabolism, I guess
I'd suggest a diabetes check.
Nah, I’ve been like this for 30 years it doesn’t concern me. And I can be quite hypochondriac
Probably genetic predisposition if the study I linked is correct. With a bit if googling and spending a bit on having your DNA sequenced, you could even check that if you're bothered.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
The problem is: who determines the needs of people? History suggests that top-down systems for determining the needs of people often lead to tyranny. The “needs of the people” becomes the excuse for many atrocities.
Capitalism puts decision making more in the hands of individuals. That tends to work better. Untempered capitalism soon sees the power accumulate in bad ways, but capitalism with a degree of redistribution and the rule of law within a liberal democracy seems to work pretty well in the long run compared to most alternatives.
I have literally answered this question already when someone else asked it. A form of anarcho-democratic confederalism works for me.
Also - capitalism is top down - it creates monopolies. Who decides need now? “The market”? The market is just the desires of capital owners who act only in self interest chasing profit.
THIS is now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal AND the New York Times, all info released by officials of the Biden admin
"That a pandemic caused by a bat coronavirus started in the city with the world’s largest programme of research into bat coronaviruses was always intriguing. That among the first people to get ill with allegedly Covid-like symptoms in the month the pandemic began were three scientists working in that lab was highly suspicious.
"Now that we know their names, we find one of them was collecting what turned out to be the closest cousins of Sars-CoV-2 at the time, and another was doing the very experiments that could have created the virus. These revelations make it almost a slam dunk for the coronavirus lab-leak hypothesis."
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
Most communist systems directed labour towards the needs of the system, not the needs of people.
And "people" here also presumably excludes the sort of people who want to invest to make a bob or two. Or indeed just be left to their own devices and do unproductive but enjoyable things like bumming around the world, whether as billionaires or on a shoe string. Materialistic approaches to labour on both left and right simply suck the joy out of existence.
I just discovered that a few bottles of wine - say two dozen - that I bought many years ago for £20 or so, are now worth £100-£300 each
That’s deeply pleasing. However Vivino says these wines are now peaking or indeed past their peak. So I need to drink them all quite quickly or they will slowly turn to vinegar
So I will have the pleasure of drinking these fine wines but then, after that, I won’t have the pleasure of knowing I have got some wines worth £100-£300 sitting in the dark in my flat. And the latter pleasure is no small thing
I assumed the paradox was going to be how any number of bottles of wine survived this long with you in the first place.
UGH final op is Jones . Thomas writes (6-3) that even if an intervening federal case shows *you were convicted of something that isn't a crime* OR *were sentenced to more time than the law allows* you CANNOT file a federal habeas petition. https://twitter.com/LeahLitman/status/1671885660540788739
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
The problem is: who determines the needs of people? History suggests that top-down systems for determining the needs of people often lead to tyranny. The “needs of the people” becomes the excuse for many atrocities.
Capitalism puts decision making more in the hands of individuals. That tends to work better. Untempered capitalism soon sees the power accumulate in bad ways, but capitalism with a degree of redistribution and the rule of law within a liberal democracy seems to work pretty well in the long run compared to most alternatives.
I have literally answered this question already when someone else asked it. A form of anarcho-democratic confederalism works for me.
Also - capitalism is top down - it creates monopolies. Who decides need now? “The market”? The market is just the desires of capital owners who act only in self interest chasing profit.
Anyone who runs their own business would be surprised by this theory of capitalism being top down.
Although the "cyclists need insurance" brigade do have a point. Liability insurance for cyclists is quite sensible.
Adult cyclists who cycle on pavements, which is unlawful, with a "get out of my way, pedestrian scum" attitude, being too wimpy and scared to ride on the roads, need bans slapped on them by magistrates. (It would only take a few Cambridge fellows to feel the long arm of the law for the others to feel "encouraged".)
Guidance from the Police Chief's Association accepts that adults cycling on pavements is OK, when the road is too dangerous, and it is done considerately - as in the vast majority of cases. Guidance was issued in 1999 by the Home Secretary when it became an "offence", and reaffirmed in 2014. The recent case of the manslaughter of the elderly cyclist demonstrates the need, until such time as we have safe facilities everywhere:
The "cyclists need insurance" brigade have no point whatsoever, except in their own sawdust-filled heads.
Lability insurance for people riding bikes usually comes for free with a home contents policy. Some of us have extra insurance via memberships or specialist policies. I have that because I know many motorist vehicle drivers will lie to the police and then lie to the court, and I will need ferocious lawyers should the worst happen, potentially for a civil claim.
These insurance companies include liability insurance in their Home Contents policies:
Apologies for introducing evidence to the debate.
Normally placid people go absolutely bonkers when it comes to cyclists. It's utterly barmy and baffling.
It's jealously. Motorists see my calf muscles go momentarily insane.
I had a shout-off with some driver in a huge fuck off (but white) Jeep Cherokee this morning. I just think many drivers resent the freedom of movement of cyclists. They don't like cyclists filtering either which I think is part of this.
Unless its a London thing, I think cyclists overestimate how much drivers dislike them. Some drivers are just douchebags, some cyclists are just douchebags, and I'm more likely to get into an argument with another driver than a cyclist.
This morning I had a shout-off (or exchange of banged horns) after I indicated to show I was pulling into the right hand lane, the driver behind in the right hand-lane saw my indicator and took that as a dare to close the gap instead of letting me in, and I pulled in safely anyway. Day before I shouted at another road user to use their indicator after they went around a roundabout in a dangerous manner without using their indicator.
Before that I hadn't been annoyed with any other road use in months and its an extremely long time since a cyclist has pissed me off (red light as almost always).
Sometimes people just don't like other road users for how they're acting. Whether that be people who ride through red lights, or people who don't use their indicator or those who take the indicator as a challenge, its not about cyclist or driver per se.
It's a numbers game, really. As a cyclist you spend a lot of time being overtaken by cars for obvious reasons. So 99 go past perfectly normally and 1 idiot comes too close or shouts at you just for being there, and that's the one you remember. It's easy to feel like everyone hates you because that's just how memory works.
This applies to lots of other situations too, of course. The memorability of extreme examples the main engine of all polarisation.
I'm just back from a cycling holiday and we only had one bad pass the whole time out of hundreds. We were on a Sustrans route and we even had drivers stopping and asking us how we were getting on, telling us about good pubs etc.
That one pass nearly killed us though, so it does stick in the mind.
There's quite an amusing and slightly blunt Irish camera cyclist called RighttoBikeIt who has his rear facing camera showing his "equipment" and his quadriceps, which probably does make people jealous.
At present there is little alternative much of the time other than to cycle on the roads, as there are few safe mobility (used to be called cycle-) tracks, and the entire public footpath, bridleway and cycleway network is littered with tens of thousands (literally) of illegal (under Equality Act 2010) anti-access barriers pandering to the myth that they keep 'motobikes' out, which ban disabled and many elderly people from much of the countryside.
This is one just built project (just finished by Plymouth Council) which excludes people in wheelchairs and elderly people in mobility scooters from a "strategic walking and cycling route", which is illegal. They considered a ramp, but wanted to save money.
I've seen that on Twitter, and I'd like to see a little more detail on where it is, and what sort of path it is. It *may* be a reasonable compromise; it may not.
Leaving the steps aside, what sort of speed should cyclists be going down that path, if it is shared? 5 MPH max?
The Council considered a ramp, and rejected in favour of a staircase for cost reasons. It's partly an artefact of short term Govt funding packages.
But it is still in violation of the Equality Act 2010, which speaks of their priorities being wrong. With that staircase, it should not have been approved by the Govt funding body.
It is identified as an important cycling route, so discriminating against all sorts of users (parents with kids in a trailer or a tagalong, disabled cyclists on trikes, people on mobility scooters) is completely unacceptable. The first person who is discriminated against under EA 2010 can sue them as provided for in the act, receive compensation, and obtain an injunction making them change it.
It is in Plymstock.
Appropriate speed depends on conditions, how busy it is, and sightlines - amongst other things.
If it has peds, then 10mph and 4-5 mph when close. If empty or long gaps between peds with clear visibility, a higher speed would be fine.
I just discovered that a few bottles of wine - say two dozen - that I bought many years ago for £20 or so, are now worth £100-£300 each
That’s deeply pleasing. However Vivino says these wines are now peaking or indeed past their peak. So I need to drink them all quite quickly or they will slowly turn to vinegar
So I will have the pleasure of drinking these fine wines but then, after that, I won’t have the pleasure of knowing I have got some wines worth £100-£300 sitting in the dark in my flat. And the latter pleasure is no small thing
Where are they from - what region, appellation, year etc.?
THIS is now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal AND the New York Times, all info released by officials of the Biden admin
"That a pandemic caused by a bat coronavirus started in the city with the world’s largest programme of research into bat coronaviruses was always intriguing. That among the first people to get ill with allegedly Covid-like symptoms in the month the pandemic began were three scientists working in that lab was highly suspicious.
"Now that we know their names, we find one of them was collecting what turned out to be the closest cousins of Sars-CoV-2 at the time, and another was doing the very experiments that could have created the virus. These revelations make it almost a slam dunk for the coronavirus lab-leak hypothesis."
I have a short nap (15 mins) after lunch whenever I have the chance. I always wake up much more refreshed and ready to go again.
Winston Churchill swore by naps, of course
Do you have a day bed or do you do the full go-to-bed thing?
I do the full Monty
Shoes off, trousers off and proper go to bed, with alarm set: "OK Google, wake me up in 15 minutes". It works wonders for me, but can obviously only do when at home.
I've noticed more and more online ads are using computer-generated voices to do the voice-over. Anyone know why?
I'm guessing two things:
1) cheaper than hiring voice actors. 2) The ability to tailor ads more narrowly. This may not be a thing atm, but it will be going forward.
Incidentally, I love the really poorly-dubbed ads we occasionally see on TV. Ones where the lip sync means it's obvious the actor is actually speaking a different language.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
The problem is: who determines the needs of people? History suggests that top-down systems for determining the needs of people often lead to tyranny. The “needs of the people” becomes the excuse for many atrocities.
Capitalism puts decision making more in the hands of individuals. That tends to work better. Untempered capitalism soon sees the power accumulate in bad ways, but capitalism with a degree of redistribution and the rule of law within a liberal democracy seems to work pretty well in the long run compared to most alternatives.
I have literally answered this question already when someone else asked it. A form of anarcho-democratic confederalism works for me.
Also - capitalism is top down - it creates monopolies. Who decides need now? “The market”? The market is just the desires of capital owners who act only in self interest chasing profit.
All systems create distortions if left unchecked. Capitalism isn't left unchecked. It's why we have regulation. It's why the most successful Western economies with the happiest people and highest HDI scores have a shit load of regulation. It's why the Brexiteer dream of a deregulated libertarian paradise was never a runner.
I get weirdly tired about 3 hours after I wake up. Does anyone else? Doesn’t matter when. If I wake at 7 I have a bout of yawning at 10am. If I wake at 9 I am yawning at noon. For about ten minutes
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
Ever checked your blood sugar at those times? Might be a low blood sugar effect.
No because it doesn’t really bother me. The tiredness only lasts about 10 minutes. I yawn a fair bit, have a coffee, then I’m fine
In fact it’s quite handy. If I properly wake in the night I know it’s pointless to try and fight my way back to sleep. I just read for 3 hours (or whatever). Then zzz
Just some rhythm in my metabolism, I guess
I'd suggest a diabetes check.
Nah, I’ve been like this for 30 years it doesn’t concern me. And I can be quite hypochondriac
Get checked anyway. You're the right age and weight for type 2 and your diet is shit.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
The problem is: who determines the needs of people? History suggests that top-down systems for determining the needs of people often lead to tyranny. The “needs of the people” becomes the excuse for many atrocities.
Capitalism puts decision making more in the hands of individuals. That tends to work better. Untempered capitalism soon sees the power accumulate in bad ways, but capitalism with a degree of redistribution and the rule of law within a liberal democracy seems to work pretty well in the long run compared to most alternatives.
I have literally answered this question already when someone else asked it. A form of anarcho-democratic confederalism works for me.
Also - capitalism is top down - it creates monopolies. Who decides need now? “The market”? The market is just the desires of capital owners who act only in self interest chasing profit.
History suggests that forms of anarcho-democratic confederalism, and the like, rarely last long and soon collapse into dictatorship. Rojava is certainly no utopia, with lots of concerns over human rights.
I do not support unexpurgated capitalism. It needs regulation and democratic infrastructure. However, people acting in their self-interest has its up sides. People know what their self-interests actually are, so who better to act in them? Better people act in their own self-interests than the system deciding what their interests are for them.
I just discovered that a few bottles of wine - say two dozen - that I bought many years ago for £20 or so, are now worth £100-£300 each
That’s deeply pleasing. However Vivino says these wines are now peaking or indeed past their peak. So I need to drink them all quite quickly or they will slowly turn to vinegar
So I will have the pleasure of drinking these fine wines but then, after that, I won’t have the pleasure of knowing I have got some wines worth £100-£300 sitting in the dark in my flat. And the latter pleasure is no small thing
Get someone round whose company you really enjoy, order some great food and drink them. The memory of a great chilled evening with good wine, food and company will be worth infinitely more than the wine and it won’t be left to go shit and leave a real and metaphorical bad taste in your mouth that you left them lying there.
I am ready for a fight. I genuinely hate the people who have been so protected whilst we get fucked.
Put our lives on hold. Fucked.
We should have all refused to lock down, it was a complete waste of time for us. The people protected will be dead soon, we've got years of this shit to come.
I am so, so angry. I have no confidence Labour will sort it out - but the priority is getting Little Rishi and his bunch of fucktards out.
Labour rarely sorts anything out.
But joking aside, the younger generation do have legitimate complaint, though in my experience it is a little simplistic to make demographic divisions. There are plenty of entitled oldies and entitled youngers. There are plenty of whinging oldies and whinging youngsters. There are also those that work bloody hard, don't blame others and become a success in life however that looks, because they seize the day and look for the bright spots rather than the dark.
There are plenty of reasons why we (particularly those in UK) should all be very grateful for the times we live in, despite Brexit, incoming Labour governments, Putin etc. Let us be grateful we were not born in Mariupol.
You make a good point but I was addressing the overwhelming feeling we get from the media and so on who amplify it. I recall the week we spent discussing avocado on toast.
I am not saying all elderly people are bad - but a large minority give the rest a bad name. And for them I am afraid I regret putting my life on hold.
It wasn't just older people that were killed by Covid. Yes they were disproportionately effected. The lockdowns were not designed to save the elderly, they were designed to save our healthcare system. Funnily enough, the one system in Europe that is closest to our mad NHS system had no lockdown at all (Sweden). It will be interesting to reflect on which government got it right.
Lockdown was pretty shit. But if you want to focus on the bright side by contrasting with the darkest, imagine what it must be like for those people in Ukraine at the moment, or even the parents of Russian soldiers. They really have had a lot to complain about.
It's not just lockdown, it is the aftermath. Young people had their lives put on hold because it was the right thing to do yet we are basically now fending for ourselves.
Rishi says he wants to help, has literally anything he's done been aimed at anyone under the age of 90?
I would say that the negatives for young people would have happened covid or not - capitalism wants to extract more value from it's workers to create growth, the easiest way to do that is to pay workers less relative to the value they create, or lay them off completely. Covid exacerbated and highlighted some of these worst things, but if it wasn't covid it would be climate change, or inflation, or whatever other shock to the system would come about and mean government would shit on the young and workers.
What would you replace capitalism with?
Personally - I like the model of grass roots democracy model that is currently happening in Rojava. Like I said further down, I would probably call myself an anarcho communist - I don't really like the existence of states and I think equitable distribution of resources based on need is good.
Capitalism is just "those with capital dictate how markets work" - you can try and make other claims, but it boils down to that. If we want to get into a deeper materialist analysis, about the relationship between value, wealth and labour, we can - but at the end of the day capital accrues to capital, and the more capital you have the more power you have.
"based on need" is the problem here. How do you measure need? Especially without a state, but even with a state... how?
Strongmen emerge and decide.
That's how capitalism works, no? Rich people choose what to produce, because it will provide them profit, rich people choose how to sell it, because it will provide them with profit, and rich people will reap the benefits - because they get the profits. Elon Musk is a strongman - is his company a democracy, do his workers get a say on what they build, or who their boss is, or what they're paid? Is Jeff Bezos not a strongman - directing union busters and strike breakers? How is need "measured" in capitalism? It's distorted by advertising and fomo and the fetishization of products. The idea of the "free market" being purely the acts of "rational consumers" reacting to "rational producers" is obviously false - if it were true advertising and marketing would just be fact based pamphlets telling you the pros and cons of each product.
I don't think capitalism is perfect.
I do think anarchic-democracy and communistic models seem to end up much much worse, and place theory above human nature, cloaked in pseudo-utopian verbiage.
Well, capitalism is literally destroying the globe in the name of profit - I don't know how much worse we can get, but sure.
So in your alternative, there would be less production, i.e. more scarcity?
Less production, sure; but more scarcity? No. A more equitable distribution of resources. Considering that there is enough food to feed everyone globally (and we don’t) and have enough resources to house everyone (and we don’t) and that like 50% of the global wealth is held by 1% of the global population, and 50% of the global population have 1% of the global wealth - capitalism creates a lot of poverty and scarcity.
You're confusing yourself with abstractions. The 1% are not eating 50% of the food or living in 50% of the housing.
But the value - the labour - exists. If people can build a luxury yacht, a thing that need not exist, they can do other labour that is beneficial. If people can work at hedge funds, they can (and should be forced to) work in the fields and pick food.
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
That sounds rather like Pol Pot's Cambodia or Mao's China.
I mean, the snide making hedge fund managers do farming aside, what’s the issue? A materialist approach to labour? You’re saying that it’s Maoism or Pol Potism to recognise that wealth is labour and that under capitalism it is directed to the desires of capital and not actually the needs of people?
The problem is: who determines the needs of people? History suggests that top-down systems for determining the needs of people often lead to tyranny. The “needs of the people” becomes the excuse for many atrocities.
Capitalism puts decision making more in the hands of individuals. That tends to work better. Untempered capitalism soon sees the power accumulate in bad ways, but capitalism with a degree of redistribution and the rule of law within a liberal democracy seems to work pretty well in the long run compared to most alternatives.
I have literally answered this question already when someone else asked it. A form of anarcho-democratic confederalism works for me.
Also - capitalism is top down - it creates monopolies. Who decides need now? “The market”? The market is just the desires of capital owners who act only in self interest chasing profit.
Any number of huge companies have collapsed because they stopped providing the goods or services that people wanted.
THIS is now confirmed by the Wall Street Journal AND the New York Times, all info released by officials of the Biden admin
"That a pandemic caused by a bat coronavirus started in the city with the world’s largest programme of research into bat coronaviruses was always intriguing. That among the first people to get ill with allegedly Covid-like symptoms in the month the pandemic began were three scientists working in that lab was highly suspicious.
"Now that we know their names, we find one of them was collecting what turned out to be the closest cousins of Sars-CoV-2 at the time, and another was doing the very experiments that could have created the virus. These revelations make it almost a slam dunk for the coronavirus lab-leak hypothesis."
I have a short nap (15 mins) after lunch whenever I have the chance. I always wake up much more refreshed and ready to go again.
Winston Churchill swore by naps, of course
Do you have a day bed or do you do the full go-to-bed thing?
I do the full Monty
Shoes off, trousers off and proper go to bed, with alarm set: "OK Google, wake me up in 15 minutes". It works wonders for me, but can obviously only do when at home.
The most remarkable naps are the 3-4 minute reboot jobs I sometimes need to carry out while driving in late afternoon (4-5pm is the witching hour for me). Driving along, starting to feel the eyelids droop, worrying about veering into the hard shoulder and killing all the passengers. Pull into a motorway services car park, close eyes and boom, 3 minutes later the fatigue is gone and I'm alert as ever.
Although the "cyclists need insurance" brigade do have a point. Liability insurance for cyclists is quite sensible.
Adult cyclists who cycle on pavements, which is unlawful, with a "get out of my way, pedestrian scum" attitude, being too wimpy and scared to ride on the roads, need bans slapped on them by magistrates. (It would only take a few Cambridge fellows to feel the long arm of the law for the others to feel "encouraged".)
Guidance from the Police Chief's Association accepts that adults cycling on pavements is OK, when the road is too dangerous, and it is done considerately - as in the vast majority of cases. Guidance was issued in 1999 by the Home Secretary when it became an "offence", and reaffirmed in 2014. The recent case of the manslaughter of the elderly cyclist demonstrates the need, until such time as we have safe facilities everywhere:
The "cyclists need insurance" brigade have no point whatsoever, except in their own sawdust-filled heads.
Lability insurance for people riding bikes usually comes for free with a home contents policy. Some of us have extra insurance via memberships or specialist policies. I have that because I know many motorist vehicle drivers will lie to the police and then lie to the court, and I will need ferocious lawyers should the worst happen, potentially for a civil claim.
These insurance companies include liability insurance in their Home Contents policies:
Apologies for introducing evidence to the debate.
Normally placid people go absolutely bonkers when it comes to cyclists. It's utterly barmy and baffling.
It's jealously. Motorists see my calf muscles go momentarily insane.
I had a shout-off with some driver in a huge fuck off (but white) Jeep Cherokee this morning. I just think many drivers resent the freedom of movement of cyclists. They don't like cyclists filtering either which I think is part of this.
Unless its a London thing, I think cyclists overestimate how much drivers dislike them. Some drivers are just douchebags, some cyclists are just douchebags, and I'm more likely to get into an argument with another driver than a cyclist.
This morning I had a shout-off (or exchange of banged horns) after I indicated to show I was pulling into the right hand lane, the driver behind in the right hand-lane saw my indicator and took that as a dare to close the gap instead of letting me in, and I pulled in safely anyway. Day before I shouted at another road user to use their indicator after they went around a roundabout in a dangerous manner without using their indicator.
Before that I hadn't been annoyed with any other road use in months and its an extremely long time since a cyclist has pissed me off (red light as almost always).
Sometimes people just don't like other road users for how they're acting. Whether that be people who ride through red lights, or people who don't use their indicator or those who take the indicator as a challenge, its not about cyclist or driver per se.
It's a numbers game, really. As a cyclist you spend a lot of time being overtaken by cars for obvious reasons. So 99 go past perfectly normally and 1 idiot comes too close or shouts at you just for being there, and that's the one you remember. It's easy to feel like everyone hates you because that's just how memory works.
This applies to lots of other situations too, of course. The memorability of extreme examples the main engine of all polarisation.
I'm just back from a cycling holiday and we only had one bad pass the whole time out of hundreds. We were on a Sustrans route and we even had drivers stopping and asking us how we were getting on, telling us about good pubs etc.
That one pass nearly killed us though, so it does stick in the mind.
There's quite an amusing and slightly blunt Irish camera cyclist called RighttoBikeIt who has his rear facing camera showing his "equipment" and his quadriceps, which probably does make people jealous.
At present there is little alternative much of the time other than to cycle on the roads, as there are few safe mobility (used to be called cycle-) tracks, and the entire public footpath, bridleway and cycleway network is littered with tens of thousands (literally) of illegal (under Equality Act 2010) anti-access barriers pandering to the myth that they keep 'motobikes' out, which ban disabled and many elderly people from much of the countryside.
This is one just built project (just finished by Plymouth Council) which excludes people in wheelchairs and elderly people in mobility scooters from a "strategic walking and cycling route", which is illegal. They considered a ramp, but wanted to save money.
Question (genuine) - large chunks of the Cornish costal path have steps and/or very steep gradients.
When getting funding etc for such things, what is the assessment process by which the requirement to be accessible can be removed/not apply?
I don't know in detail, even though I am a little active campaigning on such things. In England they are supposed to be required to meet LTN 1/20 standards for quality of cycling / walking infra to get funding, which is a good system which *usually* works, but Plymouth are a bit of an outlier.
Not sure on conditions wrt disability discrimination. It's coming up the agenda, though, and there are *some* legal teeth available - though quite a bit of effort.
Although the "cyclists need insurance" brigade do have a point. Liability insurance for cyclists is quite sensible.
Adult cyclists who cycle on pavements, which is unlawful, with a "get out of my way, pedestrian scum" attitude, being too wimpy and scared to ride on the roads, need bans slapped on them by magistrates. (It would only take a few Cambridge fellows to feel the long arm of the law for the others to feel "encouraged".)
Guidance from the Police Chief's Association accepts that adults cycling on pavements is OK, when the road is too dangerous, and it is done considerately - as in the vast majority of cases. Guidance was issued in 1999 by the Home Secretary when it became an "offence", and reaffirmed in 2014. The recent case of the manslaughter of the elderly cyclist demonstrates the need, until such time as we have safe facilities everywhere:
The "cyclists need insurance" brigade have no point whatsoever, except in their own sawdust-filled heads.
Lability insurance for people riding bikes usually comes for free with a home contents policy. Some of us have extra insurance via memberships or specialist policies. I have that because I know many motorist vehicle drivers will lie to the police and then lie to the court, and I will need ferocious lawyers should the worst happen, potentially for a civil claim.
These insurance companies include liability insurance in their Home Contents policies:
Apologies for introducing evidence to the debate.
Normally placid people go absolutely bonkers when it comes to cyclists. It's utterly barmy and baffling.
It's jealously. Motorists see my calf muscles go momentarily insane.
I had a shout-off with some driver in a huge fuck off (but white) Jeep Cherokee this morning. I just think many drivers resent the freedom of movement of cyclists. They don't like cyclists filtering either which I think is part of this.
Unless its a London thing, I think cyclists overestimate how much drivers dislike them. Some drivers are just douchebags, some cyclists are just douchebags, and I'm more likely to get into an argument with another driver than a cyclist.
This morning I had a shout-off (or exchange of banged horns) after I indicated to show I was pulling into the right hand lane, the driver behind in the right hand-lane saw my indicator and took that as a dare to close the gap instead of letting me in, and I pulled in safely anyway. Day before I shouted at another road user to use their indicator after they went around a roundabout in a dangerous manner without using their indicator.
Before that I hadn't been annoyed with any other road use in months and its an extremely long time since a cyclist has pissed me off (red light as almost always).
Sometimes people just don't like other road users for how they're acting. Whether that be people who ride through red lights, or people who don't use their indicator or those who take the indicator as a challenge, its not about cyclist or driver per se.
It's a numbers game, really. As a cyclist you spend a lot of time being overtaken by cars for obvious reasons. So 99 go past perfectly normally and 1 idiot comes too close or shouts at you just for being there, and that's the one you remember. It's easy to feel like everyone hates you because that's just how memory works.
This applies to lots of other situations too, of course. The memorability of extreme examples the main engine of all polarisation.
I'm just back from a cycling holiday and we only had one bad pass the whole time out of hundreds. We were on a Sustrans route and we even had drivers stopping and asking us how we were getting on, telling us about good pubs etc.
That one pass nearly killed us though, so it does stick in the mind.
There's quite an amusing and slightly blunt Irish camera cyclist called RighttoBikeIt who has his rear facing camera showing his "equipment" and his quadriceps, which probably does make people jealous.
At present there is little alternative much of the time other than to cycle on the roads, as there are few safe mobility (used to be called cycle-) tracks, and the entire public footpath, bridleway and cycleway network is littered with tens of thousands (literally) of illegal (under Equality Act 2010) anti-access barriers pandering to the myth that they keep 'motobikes' out, which ban disabled and many elderly people from much of the countryside.
This is one just built project (just finished by Plymouth Council) which excludes people in wheelchairs and elderly people in mobility scooters from a "strategic walking and cycling route", which is illegal. They considered a ramp, but wanted to save money.
I've seen that on Twitter, and I'd like to see a little more detail on where it is, and what sort of path it is. It *may* be a reasonable compromise; it may not.
Leaving the steps aside, what sort of speed should cyclists be going down that path, if it is shared? 5 MPH max?
The Council considered a ramp, and rejected in favour of a staircase for cost reasons. It's partly an artefact of short term Govt funding packages.
But it is still in violation of the Equality Act 2010, which speaks of their priorities being wrong. With that staircase, it should not have been approved by the Govt funding body.
It is identified as an important cycling route, so discriminating against all sorts of users (parents with kids in a trailer or a tagalong, disabled cyclists on trikes, people on mobility scooters) is completely unacceptable. The first person who is discriminated against under EA 2010 can sue them as provided for in the act, receive compensation, and obtain an injunction making them change it.
It is in Plymstock.
Appropriate speed depends on conditions, how busy it is, and sightlines - amongst other things.
If it has peds, then 10mph and 4-5 mph when close. If empty or long gaps between peds with clear visibility, a higher speed would be fine.
Thanks for that. I'd point out a couple of immediate issues (from #3 plan):
*) There is a road right at the bottom of those steps. Having people bombing down straight into a road is not necessarily a good idea. *) The site *appears* to be quite limited for space, with gardens and houses on either side. Is there space for a reasonable ramp, given the required fall?
I just discovered that a few bottles of wine - say two dozen - that I bought many years ago for £20 or so, are now worth £100-£300 each
That’s deeply pleasing. However Vivino says these wines are now peaking or indeed past their peak. So I need to drink them all quite quickly or they will slowly turn to vinegar
So I will have the pleasure of drinking these fine wines but then, after that, I won’t have the pleasure of knowing I have got some wines worth £100-£300 sitting in the dark in my flat. And the latter pleasure is no small thing
Where are they from - what region, appellation, year etc.?
A variety. Some grand crus. Some pricey Australians. Some supertuscans etc
Here’s one. Worth about £100 apparently. Five times what I paid (ages ago)
Advice seems to be:drink now if you haven’t already
I just discovered that a few bottles of wine - say two dozen - that I bought many years ago for £20 or so, are now worth £100-£300 each
That’s deeply pleasing. However Vivino says these wines are now peaking or indeed past their peak. So I need to drink them all quite quickly or they will slowly turn to vinegar
So I will have the pleasure of drinking these fine wines but then, after that, I won’t have the pleasure of knowing I have got some wines worth £100-£300 sitting in the dark in my flat. And the latter pleasure is no small thing
The fact they are at or passing their peak means that no matter what you do you will not have £300 wine in your flat for much longer. Drink the buggers as was meant for them and enjoy that fleeting delight.
Comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Titan_submersible_incident
"with an intelligent person like me"
hahahahahahha. The man has no self awareness. He cannot be for real.
Shall I lighten the mood by starting a debate about cash?
We can discuss the worst headline act ever to appear, perhaps...
Don't let the thick old git wind you up CHB. Just laugh at him, he probably is scratching away at his hemorrhoids - you should feel sorry for the angry old git. He has probably lost his latest pair of NHS false teeth when he started ranting a few mins ago! lol
Same if I wake unexpectedly in the night. Say at 2am. I will reliably fall asleep again at 5am. I don’t try to push it, I accept it
Does anyone else have a similar biorhythm?
(This is my attempt to interrupt and divert the tedious bickering)
LOL
Confirmation, as if that were ever needed, heat this was always about you,
Over the past couple of hundred years, the economic growth produced by capitalism has cut absolute poverty from 89% to 8% of the world’s population.
It hasn’t been a case of just redistributing the overall resources that existed in 1820 from the rich to the poor. The rich are, after all, far better off than in 1820.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/22/missing-titan-sub-likely-intact-no-power-engineer-ron-allum-titanic-submersible
The other question to my mind is who wants to let on having military hydrophones anywhere? So lack of reported implosion signal may not mean much?
Quite a few "Cash only" places in places like St Ives and Looe.
In Fowey a craft beer shop had a conspiracy theory diatribe posted on its window, along with the "cash only" request.
Interesting
Also: I was right. Time to admit it and have LEON. WAS RIGHT tattooed on your forehead
Then you bully people and hope you’ll bully them off the website (jokes?!?)
And then complain about being bullied
And then make stuff up
You’re an unreliable, attention seeking hypocrite
But I still like you a little bit
In fact it’s quite handy. If I properly wake in the night I know it’s pointless to try and fight my way back to sleep. I just read for 3 hours (or whatever). Then zzz
Just some rhythm in my metabolism, I guess
https://bylinetimes.com/2023/06/22/dead-cats-and-transphobic-lies/
Disagree about foreign born unless they commit to the country by taking citizenship. And prisoners are still, in some element of our judicial system, being punished. Preventing them from voting seems a reasonable part of that.
I would withdraw the vote from anyone who has lived outside the country for more than 5 years and also from commonwealth citizens and Irish. They are foreign nationals.
At present there is little alternative much of the time other than to cycle on the roads, as there are few safe mobility (used to be called cycle-) tracks, and the entire public footpath, bridleway and cycleway network is littered with tens of thousands (literally) of illegal (under Equality Act 2010) anti-access barriers pandering to the myth that they keep 'motobikes' out, which ban disabled and many elderly people from much of the countryside.
SUSTRANS to their credit did an audit in 2018 called "Paths for Everyone", and found 16,000 barriers on their network that need removal or redesign.
https://www.sustrans.org.uk/media/2804/paths_for_everyone_ncn_review_report_2018.pdf
This is one just built project (just finished by Plymouth Council) which excludes people in wheelchairs and elderly people in mobility scooters from a "strategic walking and cycling route", which is illegal. They considered a ramp, but wanted to save money.
https://amp.theguardian.com/science/2023/jun/20/short-daytime-naps-may-keep-brain-healthy-as-it-ages-study-says
Wealth is the product of labour. We have lots of labour being used for antisocial ends. Humanity could choose to direct that labour towards social ends, and decide to distribute the outputs of that labour more equitably.
Who have I bullied off the site?
What have I made up?
I am not seeking anyone's attention, no more than you are. I made a clumsy joke "I am Horse" in an attempt to satirise Leon's constant off-topic posting, I thought it was quite obviously a joke but then you didn't.
You don't like my opinions because I lean left wing, you allow and praise plenty of people that do what you accuse me of, for example your liking posts by Malcolm and Leon. And that's fine - but you're not as noble as you think you are.
I've not got any problems with you, you are the one who made problems with me...
Anyway let's just leave it there, I will go back to ignoring you because it's clearly not doing either of us any good engaging.
Not a terrible gag at all.
If the questions are, were the restrictions in place too long, were they (mostly) too strict, were we too slow to react to new information from abroad, and was there insufficient risk segmentation?
Then the answers are probably, yes,yes,yes,yes.
But that doesn't mean that Covid wasn't a major killer.
Leaving the steps aside, what sort of speed should cyclists be going down that path, if it is shared? 5 MPH max?
I refuse to stop
You can do what you like
When getting funding etc for such things, what is the assessment process by which the requirement to be accessible can be removed/not apply?
I've noticed more and more online ads are using computer-generated voices to do the voice-over. Anyone know why?
Capitalism puts decision making more in the hands of individuals. That tends to work better. Untempered capitalism soon sees the power accumulate in bad ways, but capitalism with a degree of redistribution and the rule of law within a liberal democracy seems to work pretty well in the long run compared to most alternatives.
In addition, the CTBTO (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preparatory_Commission_for_the_Comprehensive_Nuclear-Test-Ban_Treaty_Organization) runs seismic monitoring stations around the world. Some of their sensors picked up the implosion of the San Juan (Argentine submarine lost at sea).
I just discovered that a few bottles of wine - say two dozen - that I bought many years ago for £20 or so, are now worth £100-£300 each
That’s deeply pleasing. However Vivino says these wines are now peaking or indeed past their peak. So I need to drink them all quite quickly or they will slowly turn to vinegar
So I will have the pleasure of drinking these fine wines but then, after that, I won’t have the pleasure of knowing I have got some wines worth £100-£300 sitting in the dark in my flat. And the latter pleasure is no small thing
So if it is an official footpath, accessibility isn't much of an issue - as long as you can walk along it.
AIUI, IANAE etc.
Also - capitalism is top down - it creates monopolies. Who decides need now? “The market”? The market is just the desires of capital owners who act only in self interest chasing profit.
Do you have a day bed or do you do the full go-to-bed thing?
I do the full Monty
And "people" here also presumably excludes the sort of people who want to invest to make a bob or two. Or indeed just be left to their own devices and do unproductive but enjoyable things like bumming around the world, whether as billionaires or on a shoe string. Materialistic approaches to labour on both left and right simply suck the joy out of existence.
UGH final op is Jones . Thomas writes (6-3) that even if an intervening federal case shows *you were convicted of something that isn't a crime* OR *were sentenced to more time than the law allows* you CANNOT file a federal habeas petition.
https://twitter.com/LeahLitman/status/1671885660540788739
https://www.plymouth.gov.uk/saltram-meadow-colesdown-hill
The Council considered a ramp, and rejected in favour of a staircase for cost reasons. It's partly an artefact of short term Govt funding packages.
But it is still in violation of the Equality Act 2010, which speaks of their priorities being wrong. With that staircase, it should not have been approved by the Govt funding body.
It is identified as an important cycling route, so discriminating against all sorts of users (parents with kids in a trailer or a tagalong, disabled cyclists on trikes, people on mobility scooters) is completely unacceptable. The first person who is discriminated against under EA 2010 can sue them as provided for in the act, receive compensation, and obtain an injunction making them change it.
It is in Plymstock.
Appropriate speed depends on conditions, how busy it is, and sightlines - amongst other things.
If it has peds, then 10mph and 4-5 mph when close. If empty or long gaps between peds with clear visibility, a higher speed would be fine.
1) cheaper than hiring voice actors.
2) The ability to tailor ads more narrowly. This may not be a thing atm, but it will be going forward.
Incidentally, I love the really poorly-dubbed ads we occasionally see on TV. Ones where the lip sync means it's obvious the actor is actually speaking a different language.
Would you. Care. For some teeea?
I do not support unexpurgated capitalism. It needs regulation and democratic infrastructure. However, people acting in their self-interest has its up sides. People know what their self-interests actually are, so who better to act in them? Better people act in their own self-interests than the system deciding what their interests are for them.
Not sure on conditions wrt disability discrimination. It's coming up the agenda, though, and there are *some* legal teeth available - though quite a bit of effort.
*) There is a road right at the bottom of those steps. Having people bombing down straight into a road is not necessarily a good idea.
*) The site *appears* to be quite limited for space, with gardens and houses on either side. Is there space for a reasonable ramp, given the required fall?
It also allows for a lot of variations, which are especially useful in advertising.
Here’s one. Worth about £100 apparently. Five times what I paid (ages ago)
Advice seems to be:drink now if you haven’t
already
A debris field has been discovered within the search area by an ROV near the Titanic, the US Coast Guard has just announced.
Experts within the unified command are evaluating the information