Are we reading June’s Uxbridge by-election wrongly? – politicalbetting.com

Anabobazina said:

rottenborough said:

Leon said:

AlsoLei said:

Andy_JS said:

Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-use-mental-health-young-adults-weed-rcna84984

People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".

And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!

The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).

But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.

The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.

No

Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces

I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)

Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq

psychedelics now being v seriously researched as medical solution to depression.

Trials show ecstasy is effective at relieving PTSD.

ohnotnow said:

Leon said:

TimS said:

Farooq said:

Andy_JS said:

Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-use-mental-health-young-adults-weed-rcna84984

Are you sure? I know it's linked, but I wasn't aware that a causative effect was established. That is, there maybe psychological conditions that make people more likely to smoke it, reversing the proposed causality.

The literature is mixed, some studies seeming pretty clear and others questioning a causal link, but I’ve seen enough examples among friends and acquaintances that I’d tend to think it does indeed tip some susceptible people over the edge.

I agree. I know of at least two people tipped into psychosis and schizophrenia by cannabis, and I really wonder if that would have happened without the weed. One of them ended his life in his late 20s - awful. It is a DANGEROUS drug

I remember back in the day when I first tried 'skunk'. Sitting in an armchair and barely able to lift my arm to take another puff, Quite a different experience to the light hearted regular hash/grass I'd tried before.

I'd hate to try to skunk++ that is available now.

Fairliered said:

Anabobazina said:

Cookie said:

For complicated reasons, I am watching rugby league on the telly. I've not watched it for a while. It's a peculiar game - as uf someone really, really, really liked the bit in rugby union where a large inside centre - Manu Tuliagi, say - crashes into his opposite numbet and set out to design a game which stripped out everything which wasn't that bit, and ensured that bit happened over and over again.
It's not unentertaining. But peculiar.
Also compelling is Leigh's choice of imagery. Leigh Leopards, they call themselves. Their shirts are utterly horrible. Basically a massive picture of a leopard. And leopardskin seems very prominent in the clothing of the team's bigwigs and hangers-on. Any glamour this may have is offset by the prominent sponsorship on the kit of Leigh market.
Leigh's manager is an unusual looking fella. Adrian Lam - on looking him up, he is of Anglo-Sino-Papuan ancestry. That's a family history which needs some digging in to. His son, Lachlan, is also playing.
It's not as good as rugby union. But it is strangely compelling.

League can be great. Although I agree this game wasn’t a classic, you do often get really exciting matches. And there’s much less farting and faffing around with scums like there is in Union.

Scums! I’m going to use that instead of scrums when speaking to my rugger bugger friends!

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Anabobazina said:

Alcohol-specific deaths 2021

9,641

Cannabis-related deaths 2021

26

https://www.statista.com/statistics/470833/drug-poisoning-deaths-cannabis-in-england-and-wales/

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/alcoholspecificdeathsintheuk/2021registrations

76,000 from smoking.

bondegezou said:

FrankBooth said:

I suspect the ECHR's refugee rights are not going to survive long in their current form.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-enormity-of-the-migrant-crisis-will-upend-european-politics/

Don’t believe what you read in the Spectator.

Sunil_Prasannan said:

Anabobazina said:

Alcohol-specific deaths 2021

9,641

Cannabis-related deaths 2021

26

https://www.statista.com/statistics/470833/drug-poisoning-deaths-cannabis-in-england-and-wales/

https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/bulletins/alcoholspecificdeathsintheuk/2021registrations

76,000 from smoking.

rottenborough said:

Is Sunak just thinking - 'i want to be remembered for something'?

Seems to be all over the shop poking into policy with no rhyme or reason. This evening's is smoking.

Luckyguy1983 said:

I said this back in June:

https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/4433219/#Comment_4433219

"Usually I would agree, however, there is in Britain a new four party (I include the SNP and Lib Dems) political consensus based around a set of deeply unpopular and economically harmful policies, largely the result of politicians (and administrators) agreeing to things at international symposia.

This is why Starmer hasn't sealed the deal and isn't trusted or liked. Whilst he's hamstrung with these terrible policies (support for ulez, stratospheric green levies, destroying the UK's oil industry, open door immigration), he will always be vulnerable to the first party to espouse a more popular agenda, be it Nigel, or (as they did successfully before) the Tories robbing Nigel's clothes."

There are more of these dividing lines, if Sunak and his team are brave enough to exploit them, and do so with conviction and seriousness. He's sort of done it on green - though the execution hasn't been flawless.

Starmer has now been captured on film stating that he's against any divergence from EU law. As the heir presumptive, if he wasn't already an EU devotee, he's expected to align the UK closely with the EU with a view to joining Macron's new 'outer group' and potentially going all the way back in. Sunak could ban EU supertrawlers from UK waters - a policy that is environmentally-sound and beneficial to the UK fishing industry. Starmer wouldn't be able to follow.

Andy_JS said:

Front cover of tomorrow's Telegraph.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/09/22/woke-takeover-whitehall-risks-government-policy-simon-case/

"The Cabinet Secretary has been warned by senior civil servants of a “woke takeover of Whitehall” that risks “improperly” influencing Government policy.

Simon Case was told in a letter signed by 42 staff from 16 departments that ideology on gender promoted by trans activists has become embedded in the Civil Service in a “significant breach of impartiality”.

It says the concept that “everyone has a gender identity which is more important than their sex” is “treated as undisputed fact”."

AlsoLei said:

Leon said:

AlsoLei said:

Andy_JS said:

Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-use-mental-health-young-adults-weed-rcna84984

People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".

And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!

The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).

But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.

The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.

No

Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces

I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)

Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq

But "high potency skunk" is what I was warned about as a teenager. Most skunk is in the 15-25% THC range, the "high potency" moral panic of 20 years ago was about stuff in the top half of that.

This new article is claiming to be about some sort of "90% THC" cannabis - but how would that even work? Only 10% water, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, chlorophyll, CBD, etc., etc.? Rubbish! It's the same old moral panic, just with new labels for whatever they're wetting their pants about today.

Go to a decent vendor and they'll tell you what strains they're selling together with a chemical assay showing say, 15% THC, 12% CBD. But there's very little regulation, and who knows how much truth there is in their claims?

So I'm all for fixing that, adding strong consumer protections so that you can be confident that you know what you're getting. But waving your arms and screaming "it's all so much worse than 20 years ago!" is just stupid.

And it's completely disconnected from the market for fentanyl and stuff like Xylazine, which is driven entirely by prohibition. One doesn't lead to the other - why would it?

Anabobazina said:

LostPassword said:

rottenborough said:

LostPassword said:

Speaking of alcohol, does anyone know if the great cherry brandy shortage of last year has been resolved?

It will be time to bake Christmas cakes before too long and last year I couldn't find cherry brandy anywhere.

Nothing works in this country anymore. Even the bloody cakes.

In fairness my struggles to purchase cherry brandy were in Ireland, though I was given to understand it was a Europe-wide shortage.

My favourite Christmas cake recipe has a connection with Admiral Nelson. Two internet points for anyone who can't explain it.

I can’t explain it, do I get my points?

rottenborough said:

rottenborough said:

Pippa Crerar

@PippaCrerar
Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…

Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?

Out of touch or what.

Leon said:

AlsoLei said:

Leon said:

AlsoLei said:

Andy_JS said:

Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-use-mental-health-young-adults-weed-rcna84984

People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".

And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!

The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).

But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.

The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.

No

Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces

I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)

Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq

But "high potency skunk" is what I was warned about as a teenager. Most skunk is in the 15-25% THC range, the "high potency" moral panic of 20 years ago was about stuff in the top half of that.

This new article is claiming to be about some sort of "90% THC" cannabis - but how would that even work? Only 10% water, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, chlorophyll, CBD, etc., etc.? Rubbish! It's the same old moral panic, just with new labels for whatever they're wetting their pants about today.

Go to a decent vendor and they'll tell you what strains they're selling together with a chemical assay showing say, 15% THC, 12% CBD. But there's very little regulation, and who knows how much truth there is in their claims?

So I'm all for fixing that, adding strong consumer protections so that you can be confident that you know what you're getting. But waving your arms and screaming "it's all so much worse than 20 years ago!" is just stupid.

And it's completely disconnected from the market for fentanyl and stuff like Xylazine, which is driven entirely by prohibition. One doesn't lead to the other - why would it?

Delusional

Go to America, drive around, get back to me

Anabobazina said:

rottenborough said:

rottenborough said:

Pippa Crerar

@PippaCrerar
Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…

Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?

Out of touch or what.

It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade
isn’t uncommon.

LostPassword said:

rottenborough said:

LostPassword said:

Speaking of alcohol, does anyone know if the great cherry brandy shortage of last year has been resolved?

It will be time to bake Christmas cakes before too long and last year I couldn't find cherry brandy anywhere.

Nothing works in this country anymore. Even the bloody cakes.

In fairness my struggles to purchase cherry brandy were in Ireland, though I was given to understand it was a Europe-wide shortage.

My favourite Christmas cake recipe has a connection with Admiral Nelson. Two internet points for anyone who can explain it.

Foxy said:

LostPassword said:

rottenborough said:

LostPassword said:

Speaking of alcohol, does anyone know if the great cherry brandy shortage of last year has been resolved?

It will be time to bake Christmas cakes before too long and last year I couldn't find cherry brandy anywhere.

Nothing works in this country anymore. Even the bloody cakes.

In fairness my struggles to purchase cherry brandy were in Ireland, though I was given to understand it was a Europe-wide shortage.

My favourite Christmas cake recipe has a connection with Admiral Nelson. Two internet points for anyone who can explain it.

Is it pickled in brandy for a week, like Horatio was after Trafalgar?

Anabobazina said:

rottenborough said:

Anabobazina said:

rottenborough said:

rottenborough said:

Pippa Crerar

@PippaCrerar
Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…

Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?

Out of touch or what.

It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade
isn’t uncommon.

I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.

As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.

He phoned me at 9:10.

I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?

That is quite remarkable. A world away!

Foxy said:

Andy_JS said:

"Second-hand electric car prices drop 25% in a year
Consumers lose confidence as they wait for charging infrastructure" (£)

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/second-hand-electric-cars-prices-drop-fall-737xlvk3p

Mostly as production has caught up. A year back used electric vehicles were selling at new prices.

Also means that affordability of used EVs is 25% better.

rottenborough said:

Leon said:

AlsoLei said:

Leon said:

AlsoLei said:

Andy_JS said:

Cannabis is worse than alcohol and cigarettes because it causes serious mental illness in many people. (Apologies if mental illness isn't the latest phrase to describe it).

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/marijuana-use-mental-health-young-adults-weed-rcna84984

People said the same when I was a teenager - "oh, it's not like it was when we were kids in the 70s, these days it's all high-potency skunk which leads to psychosis, so you had better not try it".

And, of course, my parents' generation were told almost exactly the same thing. And their parents' generation, too. And Reefer Madness, making the same arguments, was released in 1936!

The specifics may change - 20 years ago, I was warned about "high-potency skunk", and your article shows that kids now are being warned about "90% THC strains" (which sounds like bollocks to me - the highest I've ever seen advertised is 27%).

But go to any high-rated darknet market vendor, or to a legitimate seller in jurisdictions where it's legal, and they'll tell you what strains they're selling with what potency, backed up with lab test results.

The answer here is to have a well-regulated market with strong consumer protection in place. Repeating the same old moral panic every generation gets us nowhere.

No

Modern recreational drugs - from Fentanyl and Tranq down to high-potency Skunk - are simply too dangerous to legalise. I suggest you take a walk around downtown Denver one day, the capital of the pioneer state of cannabis legalisation. You will see endless shuddering crazy people, you will see the psychosis that modern cannabis induces

I used to be in favour of legalisation. I have had a lot of fun from drugs, so anything else seemed hypocritical. I have changed my mind, looking at what these new drugs can do (and strong weed is part of that)

Ironically, psychedelics like mushrooms or DMT are now some of the safest drugs you can take, compared to evil shit like Tranq

But "high potency skunk" is what I was warned about as a teenager. Most skunk is in the 15-25% THC range, the "high potency" moral panic of 20 years ago was about stuff in the top half of that.

This new article is claiming to be about some sort of "90% THC" cannabis - but how would that even work? Only 10% water, cellulose, hemicellulose, pectin, lignin, chlorophyll, CBD, etc., etc.? Rubbish! It's the same old moral panic, just with new labels for whatever they're wetting their pants about today.

Go to a decent vendor and they'll tell you what strains they're selling together with a chemical assay showing say, 15% THC, 12% CBD. But there's very little regulation, and who knows how much truth there is in their claims?

So I'm all for fixing that, adding strong consumer protections so that you can be confident that you know what you're getting. But waving your arms and screaming "it's all so much worse than 20 years ago!" is just stupid.

And it's completely disconnected from the market for fentanyl and stuff like Xylazine, which is driven entirely by prohibition. One doesn't lead to the other - why would it?

Delusional

Go to America, drive around, get back to me

"there's very little regulation"

Eh? Is there any regulation?

rottenborough said:

Foxy said:

rottenborough said:

Anabobazina said:

rottenborough said:

rottenborough said:

Pippa Crerar

@PippaCrerar
Rishi Sunak’s leadership pledge to fine people £10 for missing a GP or hospital appointment is also understood to be back on table…

Has anyone told Sunak that they mainly now ring you as it is driven by telephone-based appointments?

Out of touch or what.

It takes a month - a month! - to get an appointment at my surgery unless you say it’s an emergency (which can be anything at all, but they insist you have to call it an emergency regardless of whether it’s a broken leg, a severed artery, or mildly irritating earache). You then have to call up at exactly 0800hrs the next day, or you are screwed. 0801 is almost always too late. I am given to believe this ludicrous charade
isn’t uncommon.

I have to say that every time I read such stories I count myself hugely blessed. My GP practice is nothing like this.

As a timely example, I phoned at 8am this morning to try to get an appointment today. After waiting in a telephone queue for five minutes ('you are #3 in the queue etc) I got an appt with my named GP.

He phoned me at 9:10.

I often wonder how they can do this when no other practice I ever hear about can deliver this?

Mrs Foxy went in this AM to have some annual bloods done, and stopped by the reception to book an appointment with the GP on another unrelated issue. Had an appointment 15 min later.

Sometimes things work, albeit nowhere near often enough.

I wonder if the good GP practices are quietly getting on with it whilst all we read about is the bad ones?

I mean if you read the Mail or Telegraph it seems no one in Britain has managed to see a GP in decades.

Andy_JS said:

A strange thing about American pronunciation is that they normally say "rout" for "route" but apparently when it comes to "Route 66" they pronounce it the British way.

Foxy said:

Andy_JS said:

"Second-hand electric car prices drop 25% in a year
Consumers lose confidence as they wait for charging infrastructure" (£)

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/second-hand-electric-cars-prices-drop-fall-737xlvk3p

Mostly as production has caught up. A year back used electric vehicles were selling at new prices.

Also means that affordability of used EVs is 25% better.