Easy to feel disheartened by these antisemitic attacks taking place in the UK but let's not feel ashamed. It's Israel not Britain that's to blame.
Right?
It shames the nation. It’s disgraceful
If I was Jewish I would absolutely not feel safe in the UK. Not at home, not in the synagogue, not walking the streets
And the left have enabled this in different ways
I'd imagine elements of the left don't understand the damage that being against 'Zionism' but not 'Anti-semitic' has done. Idiots like Corbyn being pals with lots of interesting characters.
"Antisemitism" has been so devalued by the false claims on anyone who is against Israels Genocide that it is now worthless.
No it hasn’t.
Just like Ali Disaster Area claiming racial persecution by the Met, didn’t invalidate all other claims of racism by the Met.
Watermelons are antisemitic types have seriously undermined actual antisemitism.
While he suggests the fiscal rules “will stay in any context,” he says “there’s certainly a case, when we look at the pressure on defence spending, to consider that exceptionally outside of the rules.”
Talking of telling the truth, paying lip service to a rigid framework while actually ignoring it helps to create an environment where politicians are more concerned with appearances than reality.
It is so bleeding obvious that Burnham needs to take over. So, so obvious.
The data is staring us in the face.
SKS clique don't care about winning as long as a centre left figure is prevented from becoming PM They have only themselves to claim for the bloodbath that is about to ensure.
Pretending the rise in anti-Semitic attacks is happening in a vacuum is just a case of not wanting to deal with reality.
I never remember so many incidents pre both the Gaza and Iran wars . Of course anytime anyone mentions this they get paraded as anti-Semitic .
The media are now so terrified to even discuss this .
Attributing the rise in attacks due to the situation in the Middle East isn’t justifying violence it’s simply stating the bleeding obvious !
They normalised it all by letting the weekly hatefest marches in London continue to do what they want, shout what they want etc and as usual police stood by instead of nipping it in the bud.
On topic, I don't agree that we have never had it so bad. The people who think so and are attracted by various charlatans will vote to make things worse for them and for everyone else. It's entirely their fault that they do so but as always no-one likes home truths.
Pretending the rise in anti-Semitic attacks is happening in a vacuum is just a case of not wanting to deal with reality.
I never remember so many incidents pre both the Gaza and Iran wars . Of course anytime anyone mentions this they get paraded as anti-Semitic .
The media are now so terrified to even discuss this .
Attributing the rise in attacks due to the situation in the Middle East isn’t justifying violence it’s simply stating the bleeding obvious !
They normalised it all by letting the weekly hatefest marches in London continue to do what they want, shout what they want etc and as usual police stood by instead of nipping it in the bud.
This is a good article. My only criticism is that it's parochial.
The last two decades, across the developed world, have been shit. Now, not shit in absolute terms; no one is starving. But shit in relative terms, with the historic pattern of progress, and children wealthier than their parents breaking down.
This economic discontinuity has happened in the US, in Europe, and in Japan.
The only places it has not happened are Australia and Canada (and perhaps Norway).
It's happened where there is lots of immigration. And it's happened where there's been essentially none.
And it is the result of three interconnecting factors.
Firstly, dependency ratios. In the 60s, 70s and 80s, people were having fewer children, and there weren't many old people. The amount of 'work' that was spent on the retired and kids was diminishing. This was combined with women spending more time in work, which meant economic output only went in one direction.
Secondly, from the mid 1970s and the oil shock, the cost of commodities went into long-term decline, driven by a combination of increased efficiency and new resources (often in the developed world). The amount of money spent on heating homes and powering cars kept on going down, leaving more money for other things.
Thirdly, the developed world first had a monopoly on making things, particularly expensive things. The developing world shipped commodities to Europe, the US and Japan, who made those commodities into expensive goods. And people in the developed world were rich, and people in the developing world were poor.
Then each of those boosts became a drag.
Demographics turned negative, as the number of old people grew relative to the number of workers. Every year, more money had to be taken out of workers paychecks to pay for the pensions and healthcare of old people.
Commodities got expensive, thanks to the developing world.. well.. developing. And wanting their fair share of coal and oil and gas and copper.
Governments in the late 1990s discovered that you could temporarily get out of the hole by borrowing and importing. It turns out that selling an imported iPhone is economic activity! And that worked for a while.
But ultimately, we ceased to do anything useful at exactly the same time that demographics came to smack us around the head.
To make things worse, politicians in the West attempted to solve the demographic issues with migration. Birth rate of 1.2? Population pyramid inverted? Simply import more people. Which led to a breakdown in social cohesion and more expensive housing. Not least because too many of our leaders thought it better to hide the issues in front of us.
Candidly, we need politicians who can tell us the truth.
The problem, as South America has shown over the last seventy years, is that we don't want to hear the truth. Nobody gets elected by actual identification of the issues.
They get elected by whispering the most seductive words in the English language: "it's not your fault".
This has been happening for decades though.
I’ve worked very very hard all my adult life. And I’ve had a modestly successful career.
But my parents had waaaay more fun than I did and were relatively speaking a lot better off than I have been
It's the 17-18 years since the GFC that has seen the breakdown of the cycle of growth, and the resulting decline of traditional parties.
We often see here a view that wishes government would just be a good administrator, and be careful with money. That's very sensible - if you're a pensioner, or close to it. It's a short term view, as if Britain, like a pensioner, had already made it's main opportunities and made its main life decisions, and now just needs to look after it's health for the next decade or so, and avoid running out of cash. The mainstream political parties try to offer this "sensible" path, which is understandable,given the dominance of the pensioner vote.
But it's a problem for those with their life ahead of them; and those thinking of their kid's lives. It assumes that most things which aren't working well can't be fixed now, and have to be lived with. That there aren't really any serious opportunities, and that the right investments are now obvious, with no serious risk of missing out, or being taken for mugs. It's a rather dour, quietist vision, even in the best light, and it's being rejected.
Keir Starmer is probably a decent administrator. Even Rishi Sunak probably was. But neither have any grasp of strategy. Even in good, peaceful times, you need a strategy, as otherwise those who have one will eat your lunch. And these are not good times - history is back with a vengeance, with the international order collapsing and artificial intelligence changing how business works.
This can't be written off as just wishful thinking by voters. They understand that their are risks and tradeoffs. But they know the country needs to "have a go", look for ways to succeed; it can't afford not to.
Pretending the rise in anti-Semitic attacks is happening in a vacuum is just a case of not wanting to deal with reality.
I never remember so many incidents pre both the Gaza and Iran wars . Of course anytime anyone mentions this they get paraded as anti-Semitic .
The media are now so terrified to even discuss this .
Attributing the rise in attacks due to the situation in the Middle East isn’t justifying violence it’s simply stating the bleeding obvious !
They normalised it all by letting the weekly hatefest marches in London continue to do what they want, shout what they want etc and as usual police stood by instead of nipping it in the bud.
How many of these "hatefest marches" did you attend in order to be an authority on such matters?
I only ever went on one but noticed a massive Jewish contingent on the march. Presumably by your logic all these Jews are antisemites?
Conflating Zionism with Judaism is by definition literally antisemitic
It is so bleeding obvious that Burnham needs to take over. So, so obvious.
The data is staring us in the face.
SKS clique don't care about winning as long as a centre left figure is prevented from becoming PM They have only themselves to claim for the bloodbath that is about to ensure.
Hate to be the one to break it to you, but, err, Starmer is a centre left figure.
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
The problem is that a lot of people in these places are stuck. The ones that had get up and go have long gone, with funding or without.
Those left have either lost the will, have some reason to hang around, or are part of the problem.
Pretending the rise in anti-Semitic attacks is happening in a vacuum is just a case of not wanting to deal with reality.
I never remember so many incidents pre both the Gaza and Iran wars . Of course anytime anyone mentions this they get paraded as anti-Semitic .
The media are now so terrified to even discuss this .
Attributing the rise in attacks due to the situation in the Middle East isn’t justifying violence it’s simply stating the bleeding obvious !
They normalised it all by letting the weekly hatefest marches in London continue to do what they want, shout what they want etc and as usual police stood by instead of nipping it in the bud.
I think it's very easy to blame Muslims in the UK for changing views about Israel.
It's also wrong.
Views of Israel have gone into absolute freefall everywhere.
South Korea and Japan have worse favorable/unfavorables on Israel than the UK, despite having essentially no Muslim populations. And that's from both countries having -historically- being quite warm towards Israel.
Pretending the rise in anti-Semitic attacks is happening in a vacuum is just a case of not wanting to deal with reality.
I never remember so many incidents pre both the Gaza and Iran wars . Of course anytime anyone mentions this they get paraded as anti-Semitic .
The media are now so terrified to even discuss this .
Attributing the rise in attacks due to the situation in the Middle East isn’t justifying violence it’s simply stating the bleeding obvious !
They normalised it all by letting the weekly hatefest marches in London continue to do what they want, shout what they want etc and as usual police stood by instead of nipping it in the bud.
I think it's very easy to blame Muslims in the UK for changing views about Israel.
It's also wrong.
Views of Israel have gone into absolute freefall everywhere.
South Korea and Japan have worse favorable/unfavorables on Israel than the UK, despite having essentially no Muslim populations. And that's from both countries having -historically- being quite warm towards Israel.
But today’s story isn’t about views on the state of Israel and its government. It’s a blatantly antisemetic attack on Jewish civilians going about their business in Golder’s Green, London.
We need a Red Pill Blue Pill moment. Life isn't supposed to be like this
Our economy can't grow because working productivity is low Working productivity is low because so many people are miserable and depressed and broke You now need two wages to even have a chance of paying your bills We both have the worst social security in Europe in terms of what it pays and the highest cost ever
So we need to take the other pill.
I said earlier that if elected as leader of Sunderland council (as an example) that I would focus on streets and heritage. Get your teams working with residents to clean up their area. Pull the weeds, fill the cracks, repair the potholes. Buy some flagpoles and put actual flags up which go up and down. Get heritage boards up showcasing our proud community history.
Create a buzz that gets people actually wanting to do shit together. Thanks also to the person posting the Guardian article about Newton Aycliffe town centre. A perfect example - absentee landlord doesn't give a Rat Fuck about the place their asset is in. CPO them, as Stockton have done. Literally bulldoze the most broken properties. Create mini arcade shops so that people can have a shop unit inside the bigger property for a peppercorn rent - a chance to trade and offer something different than the shitty chains now departing.
That's a starter for 10. So much of the failure of our society is that people have given up. My town is fucked so why bother trying. No wonder fewer people work and productivity is low.
Easy to feel disheartened by these antisemitic attacks taking place in the UK but let's not feel ashamed. It's Israel not Britain that's to blame.
Right?
It shames the nation. It’s disgraceful
If I was Jewish I would absolutely not feel safe in the UK. Not at home, not in the synagogue, not walking the streets
And the left have enabled this in different ways
I'd imagine elements of the left don't understand the damage that being against 'Zionism' but not 'Anti-semitic' has done. Idiots like Corbyn being pals with lots of interesting characters.
"Antisemitism" has been so devalued by the false claims on anyone who is against Israels Genocide that it is now worthless.
We are where we are because mainstream politicians have failed to rise to the challenge of the post-GFC years. They have chosen to represent a seemingly immovable “system”, despite playing to the gallery and pretending they care about issues that matter to the man and woman on the street. It is no surprise that people feel repeatedly let down and why they are casting around for alternatives.
I have said before and it remains my view that if western democracies are to survive in their current form they need political leaders to emerge (on either the left or the right) who are able to speak frankly and honestly to some of these issues, demonstrate they say what they mean, and take tough decisions even if that means weathering the storm of criticism from various quarters. I generally try to be a glass-half-full person, so I hope that in time that will happen. But we are enduring a bit of a wait.
Quite right. People have given up on parties they know have not, and will not, improve their lives. In the north of England I expect Labour to get virtually obliterated.
That said, I'm bearish on Reform's performance in Scotland. I expect them to underperform the polls by a notable margin.
Lord Malc will no doubt buy another car, boat and house to console himself.
The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter · 22m BREAKING: US Central Command has prepared a plan for a "short and powerful" wave of strikes which would likely target Iranian infrastructure, per Axios.
President Trump believes this would break the "negotiating deadlock."
US gasoline futures are up another +5% amid the news.
The Kobeissi Letter @KobeissiLetter · 22m BREAKING: US Central Command has prepared a plan for a "short and powerful" wave of strikes which would likely target Iranian infrastructure, per Axios.
President Trump believes this would break the "negotiating deadlock."
US gasoline futures are up another +5% amid the news.
Off topic, but important: Mitch McConnell, despite his impending retirement, and his serious health problems, is speaking out:
Headlines often say that Americans don’t support U.S. aid to Ukraine, but real Americans say otherwise. They have consistently affirmed that Washington should aid Kyiv in resisting Russian aggression. Congress last year acted on that wish: Republican majorities on both armed services committees authorized $400 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative for each of the next two years. Appropriators fully funded that authorization for fiscal 2026 with overwhelming support.
Yet the Ukraine aid we passed months ago is now collecting dust at the Pentagon. When Senate appropriators have sought an explanation from the department’s policy shop, led by Undersecretary Elbridge Colby, they’ve been stonewalled.
Off topic, but important: Mitch McConnell, despite his impending retirement, and his serious health problems, is speaking out: Headlines often say that Americans don’t support U.S. aid to Ukraine, but real Americans say otherwise. They have consistently affirmed that Washington should aid Kyiv in resisting Russian aggression. Congress last year acted on that wish: Republican majorities on both armed services committees authorized $400 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative for each of the next two years. Appropriators fully funded that authorization for fiscal 2026 with overwhelming support.
Otoh McConnell blocked Garland from the Supreme Court and stopped the impeachment of Donald Trump. The man is a partisan hack whose only regret is ceding control to a regime even more extreme. Be careful what you wish for.
So many of these Iran metrics are guesses based on when the crisis ends. Even if Trump declares victory tomorrow the disruption continues well into the summer. And he won't. So oil prices will continue to rise and with it energy prices and with it food prices.
Industry now estimating 9% average food price inflation in the best case scenario. The best case. And that would mean some stuff going up 20%+ as last time.
This is a more severe shock than the Ukraine crisis and from a supply perspective has already gone on longer with no end in sight. It is going to be BRUTAL, and people simply don't know it.
People'd like to be wealthier but they spend less of their lives working. And about 60 years ago they cut back on producing new taxpayers collectively to afford a better life in the moment.
So many of these Iran metrics are guesses based on when the crisis ends. Even if Trump declares victory tomorrow the disruption continues well into the summer. And he won't. So oil prices will continue to rise and with it energy prices and with it food prices.
Industry now estimating 9% average food price inflation in the best case scenario. The best case. And that would mean some stuff going up 20%+ as last time.
This is a more severe shock than the Ukraine crisis and from a supply perspective has already gone on longer with no end in sight. It is going to be BRUTAL, and people simply don't know it.
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
You make a very good point, some people have/do move though, I've had numerous colleagues who've relocated or worked away during the week.
Which is fine as long as you can explain how it is more effective to borrow more rather than spend less on other stuff, how the markets will react WRT belief in UK solvency and how the economics of 'guns and butter' make us all safer and better off.
But he is silent about all this, how he is going to pay the interest (currently paid by additional borrowing) and pay it back. Having a plan without explaining the hard bit is the approach of the underpants gnomes.
In this important regard he seems no better than the others.
Which is fine as long as you can explain how it is more effective to borrow more rather than spend less on other stuff, how the markets will react WRT belief in UK solvency and how the economics of 'guns and butter' make us all safer and better off.
But he is silent about all this, how he is going to pay the interest (currently paid by additional borrowing) and pay it back. Having a plan without explaining the hard bit is the approach of the underpants gnomes.
In this important regard he seems no better than the others.
Seems like the SCOTUS may have handed another massive win to Trump in last couple of hours over voting rights act:
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act in the middle of primary season could create a potentially chaotic scramble among states that may consider drawing new maps.
At least one outcome is clear: The decision will improve Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterm elections. How big of an advantage that becomes remains to be seen.
Which is fine as long as you can explain how it is more effective to borrow more rather than spend less on other stuff, how the markets will react WRT belief in UK solvency and how the economics of 'guns and butter' make us all safer and better off.
But he is silent about all this, how he is going to pay the interest (currently paid by additional borrowing) and pay it back. Having a plan without explaining the hard bit is the approach of the underpants gnomes.
In this important regard he seems no better than the others.
Don’t agree. Military spending isn’t really investment in that its return is limited (other than economic stimulus). We all need to pay higher taxes to pay for this, not borrow from our children.
Seems like the SCOTUS may have handed another massive win to Trump in last couple of hours over voting rights act:
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act in the middle of primary season could create a potentially chaotic scramble among states that may consider drawing new maps.
At least one outcome is clear: The decision will improve Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterm elections. How big of an advantage that becomes remains to be seen.
They upset him over tariffs, which were too ridiculous for some of the Conservative Justices to abandon their principles over - so they can at least return to advancing their own political interests when they do align with his, which is of course the job of a Supreme Court Justice, whatever their background.
Which is fine as long as you can explain how it is more effective to borrow more rather than spend less on other stuff, how the markets will react WRT belief in UK solvency and how the economics of 'guns and butter' make us all safer and better off.
But he is silent about all this, how he is going to pay the interest (currently paid by additional borrowing) and pay it back. Having a plan without explaining the hard bit is the approach of the underpants gnomes.
In this important regard he seems no better than the others.
Don’t agree. Military spending isn’t really investment in that its return is limited (other than economic stimulus). We all need to pay higher taxes to pay for this, not borrow from our children.
Off topic, but important: Mitch McConnell, despite his impending retirement, and his serious health problems, is speaking out: Headlines often say that Americans don’t support U.S. aid to Ukraine, but real Americans say otherwise. They have consistently affirmed that Washington should aid Kyiv in resisting Russian aggression. Congress last year acted on that wish: Republican majorities on both armed services committees authorized $400 million for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative for each of the next two years. Appropriators fully funded that authorization for fiscal 2026 with overwhelming support.
Yet the Ukraine aid we passed months ago is now collecting dust at the Pentagon. When Senate appropriators have sought an explanation from the department’s policy shop, led by Undersecretary Elbridge Colby, they’ve been stonewalled.
I'd say better late than never, but that is often not the case.
Seems like the SCOTUS may have handed another massive win to Trump in last couple of hours over voting rights act:
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act in the middle of primary season could create a potentially chaotic scramble among states that may consider drawing new maps.
At least one outcome is clear: The decision will improve Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterm elections. How big of an advantage that becomes remains to be seen.
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
People may have no means of going, and I'm not sure how much it would cost to fund them to do so, though I agree with the basic suggestion that places to not have an inherent reason to continue on. They grow, they shrink, and some will disappear.
Obviously we do everything in our power to prevent places growing when there is demand, but some still slips through.
We need a Red Pill Blue Pill moment. Life isn't supposed to be like this
Our economy can't grow because working productivity is low Working productivity is low because so many people are miserable and depressed and broke You now need two wages to even have a chance of paying your bills We both have the worst social security in Europe in terms of what it pays and the highest cost ever
So we need to take the other pill.
I said earlier that if elected as leader of Sunderland council (as an example) that I would focus on streets and heritage. Get your teams working with residents to clean up their area. Pull the weeds, fill the cracks, repair the potholes. Buy some flagpoles and put actual flags up which go up and down. Get heritage boards up showcasing our proud community history.
Create a buzz that gets people actually wanting to do shit together. Thanks also to the person posting the Guardian article about Newton Aycliffe town centre. A perfect example - absentee landlord doesn't give a Rat Fuck about the place their asset is in. CPO them, as Stockton have done. Literally bulldoze the most broken properties. Create mini arcade shops so that people can have a shop unit inside the bigger property for a peppercorn rent - a chance to trade and offer something different than the shitty chains now departing.
That's a starter for 10. So much of the failure of our society is that people have given up. My town is fucked so why bother trying. No wonder fewer people work and productivity is low.
Boosterism?
No amount of enthusiasm is going to cure the demographics. 500,000 Brits are forecast to emigrate each year for the next 10 years. If immigration is reduced to a net 10,000 a year, will those who arrive have the skills and productivity (and taxpaying ability) to replace them?
Everything will be driven by the numbers and mix of those coming in and leaving.
If that video is genuine, there doesnt seem any legitimate reason for both of those officers to be kicking the guy's head like that, when he's been tasered and doesn't offer any resistance?
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
There's a distinct difference between pit villages which have no reason to still exist (Durham, South Wales) and those pit villages which do have good reason to still exist (Yorkshire, Midlands).
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
If that video is genuine, there doesnt seem any legitimate reason for both of those officers to be kicking the guy's head like that, when he's been tasered and doesn't offer any resistance?
But is the video genuine?
Yes, but looking at a longer clip, it's been edited to make the police look bad. The suspect was refusing to let go of the knife at that point.
Skimming through PB today is like doom scrolling - apparently everybody in the country is fucking miserable, deeply discontented and can barely afford to live. Is it really as bad as this? Most people I know and come across, of all generations and from all walks of life, have pretty good lives and are broadly content. Material deprivation is obviously rife in some areas, but not generally.
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
There's a distinct difference between pit villages which have no reason to still exist (Durham, South Wales) and those pit villages which do have good reason to still exist (Yorkshire, Midlands).
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook on rent controls just now: "We're not doing this. It's not a credible or serious policy proposition... we exhaustively went through the evidence... We've really, really alive to the potential detrimental consequences for renters"
Skimming through PB today is like doom scrolling - apparently everybody in the country is fucking miserable, deeply discontented and can barely afford to live. Is it really as bad as this? Most people I know and come across, of all generations and from all walks of life, have pretty good lives and are broadly content. Material deprivation is obviously rife in some areas, but not generally.
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
I don't think the country is completely miserable nor that we are suffering in relative global terms, but I do think the country is not as rich as it thinks it is and that is storing up problems for the future, and that a lot of basic things simply do not work well or cost way too much, resulting in a level of low grade crappiness that makes it easy to think things are a lot worse than they are.
Skimming through PB today is like doom scrolling - apparently everybody in the country is fucking miserable, deeply discontented and can barely afford to live. Is it really as bad as this? Most people I know and come across, of all generations and from all walks of life, have pretty good lives and are broadly content. Material deprivation is obviously rife in some areas, but not generally.
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
Have you asked them how they feel? Many of us stick a mask on and pretend we're ok.
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
There's a distinct difference between pit villages which have no reason to still exist (Durham, South Wales) and those pit villages which do have good reason to still exist (Yorkshire, Midlands).
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
Seems like the SCOTUS may have handed another massive win to Trump in last couple of hours over voting rights act:
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act in the middle of primary season could create a potentially chaotic scramble among states that may consider drawing new maps.
At least one outcome is clear: The decision will improve Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterm elections. How big of an advantage that becomes remains to be seen.
If that video is genuine, there doesnt seem any legitimate reason for both of those officers to be kicking the guy's head like that, when he's been tasered and doesn't offer any resistance?
But is the video genuine?
Yes, but looking at a longer clip, it's been edited to make the police look bad. The suspect was refusing to let go of the knife at that point.
Yes, but looking at the details, the cop was kicking to make him give up his knife. He then gave up the knife and then the cop on the right was still stamping on his head.
Skimming through PB today is like doom scrolling - apparently everybody in the country is fucking miserable, deeply discontented and can barely afford to live. Is it really as bad as this? Most people I know and come across, of all generations and from all walks of life, have pretty good lives and are broadly content. Material deprivation is obviously rife in some areas, but not generally.
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
Have you asked them how they feel? Many of us stick a mask on and pretend we're ok.
Seems like the SCOTUS may have handed another massive win to Trump in last couple of hours over voting rights act:
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act in the middle of primary season could create a potentially chaotic scramble among states that may consider drawing new maps.
At least one outcome is clear: The decision will improve Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterm elections. How big of an advantage that becomes remains to be seen.
Skimming through PB today is like doom scrolling - apparently everybody in the country is fucking miserable, deeply discontented and can barely afford to live. Is it really as bad as this? Most people I know and come across, of all generations and from all walks of life, have pretty good lives and are broadly content. Material deprivation is obviously rife in some areas, but not generally.
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
Its not that its bad. As you say it isn't for the majority. The issue is we have passed the peak and things are flatlining/declining, whereas expectations are for continuous improvement.
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
There's a distinct difference between pit villages which have no reason to still exist (Durham, South Wales) and those pit villages which do have good reason to still exist (Yorkshire, Midlands).
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
There's a distinct difference between pit villages which have no reason to still exist (Durham, South Wales) and those pit villages which do have good reason to still exist (Yorkshire, Midlands).
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
Skimming through PB today is like doom scrolling - apparently everybody in the country is fucking miserable, deeply discontented and can barely afford to live. Is it really as bad as this? Most people I know and come across, of all generations and from all walks of life, have pretty good lives and are broadly content. Material deprivation is obviously rife in some areas, but not generally.
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
I don't think the country is completely miserable nor that we are suffering in relative global terms, but I do think the country is not as rich as it thinks it is and that is storing up problems for the future, and that a lot of basic things simply do not work well or cost way too much, resulting in a level of low grade crappiness that makes it easy to think things are a lot worse than they are.
It's where I think Rochdale is on the money with getting the weeds out of the pavements and so on. In terms of contentment per pound, sorting out Streetscene probably rates pretty well. Hence the hanging baskets model of regeneration; it can't be the whole story, but it's a start. Shit as all those ziptied flags look now, and dodgy as some of their motivations are, I wonder if there was also a "something nice to look at" impulse, however poor the execution.
The catch is that it's hard to justify spending on morale-boosting niceness when core services are creaking. Which is the other half of the equation. A better society requires spending, and there's little sign that we really want to pay the taxes to cover that spending. So we're a bit stuck.
Enten: "These are the worst numbers I've ever seen for any president on inflation. Trump is 49 points underwater. Biden -- inflation absolutely crushed his presidency -- but at his worst he was only 43 points underwater. Trump is in a worse position on inflation than Jimmy Carter was!"
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
There's a distinct difference between pit villages which have no reason to still exist (Durham, South Wales) and those pit villages which do have good reason to still exist (Yorkshire, Midlands).
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
We need a Red Pill Blue Pill moment. Life isn't supposed to be like this
Our economy can't grow because working productivity is low Working productivity is low because so many people are miserable and depressed and broke You now need two wages to even have a chance of paying your bills We both have the worst social security in Europe in terms of what it pays and the highest cost ever
So we need to take the other pill.
I said earlier that if elected as leader of Sunderland council (as an example) that I would focus on streets and heritage. Get your teams working with residents to clean up their area. Pull the weeds, fill the cracks, repair the potholes. Buy some flagpoles and put actual flags up which go up and down. Get heritage boards up showcasing our proud community history.
Create a buzz that gets people actually wanting to do shit together. Thanks also to the person posting the Guardian article about Newton Aycliffe town centre. A perfect example - absentee landlord doesn't give a Rat Fuck about the place their asset is in. CPO them, as Stockton have done. Literally bulldoze the most broken properties. Create mini arcade shops so that people can have a shop unit inside the bigger property for a peppercorn rent - a chance to trade and offer something different than the shitty chains now departing.
That's a starter for 10. So much of the failure of our society is that people have given up. My town is fucked so why bother trying. No wonder fewer people work and productivity is low.
What you are proposing is pretty much exactly what Mayor Pete did in South Bend, Indiana.
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
There's a distinct difference between pit villages which have no reason to still exist (Durham, South Wales) and those pit villages which do have good reason to still exist (Yorkshire, Midlands).
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
Seems like the SCOTUS may have handed another massive win to Trump in last couple of hours over voting rights act:
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act in the middle of primary season could create a potentially chaotic scramble among states that may consider drawing new maps.
At least one outcome is clear: The decision will improve Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterm elections. How big of an advantage that becomes remains to be seen.
Pretending the rise in anti-Semitic attacks is happening in a vacuum is just a case of not wanting to deal with reality.
I never remember so many incidents pre both the Gaza and Iran wars . Of course anytime anyone mentions this they get paraded as anti-Semitic .
The media are now so terrified to even discuss this .
Attributing the rise in attacks due to the situation in the Middle East isn’t justifying violence it’s simply stating the bleeding obvious !
They normalised it all by letting the weekly hatefest marches in London continue to do what they want, shout what they want etc and as usual police stood by instead of nipping it in the bud.
I think it's very easy to blame Muslims in the UK for changing views about Israel.
It's also wrong.
Views of Israel have gone into absolute freefall everywhere.
South Korea and Japan have worse favorable/unfavorables on Israel than the UK, despite having essentially no Muslim populations. And that's from both countries having -historically- being quite warm towards Israel.
But today’s story isn’t about views on the state of Israel and its government. It’s a blatantly antisemetic attack on Jewish civilians going about their business in Golder’s Green, London.
No Jewish citizen should ever be held to account for actions of Israel, just as no Muslim should be held to account for the actions of Osama Bin Laden.
I am happy to stand security outside synagogues, because no one should feel unsafe.
Seems like the SCOTUS may have handed another massive win to Trump in last couple of hours over voting rights act:
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act in the middle of primary season could create a potentially chaotic scramble among states that may consider drawing new maps.
At least one outcome is clear: The decision will improve Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterm elections. How big of an advantage that becomes remains to be seen.
I've got a vague memory of there being some large organisation that used to distribute regeneration funds to the most deprived areas independent of the UK govt.... Perhaps @Fishing knows what it was?
It's not just easy, it is unfortunately the truth to a large extent. Politicians may well need to ask themselves how they get voters to stop voting against their own interests, but they're battling right wing media operations promoting simplistic, xenophobic solutions
What we need are simplistic solutions where we send one pound abroad to get seventy pence back.
If you're in a former pit village in the NE then voting to leave the EU, lose your regeneration funding and see the Conservative government direct the funds from the smaller UK version to Tunbridge Wells is clearly a rational decision. A very well-made point.
Interestingly the study I linked to seems to suggest that while the EU regen funding to the most deprived areas could lift them to the level where they were no longer in the most deprived category, when they then lost that funding they declined again. The regeneration doesn't stick, so either the regeneration needs to be an even higher level, for longer, or there's some other underlying issue. Clearly continuing funding to a region once it is less deprived than other regions is politically difficult (unless you're the Conservatives funding Tunbridge Wells etc).
The underlying issue is that those pit villages have no reason to exit. They came into being because of a hole in the ground and they ceased to have purpose when that hole ran fallow. Spending money on them is a waste. The decent thing would have been to fund people moving out of them to places there is future - as we did when we shipped chunks of London to Milton Keynes - and then flatten them - as they are doing in the dead parts of Detroit. Except we imported masses of people removing anywhere for them to go, and then spent a fortune telling them it's all going to be ok after the *next* regeneration.
There's a distinct difference between pit villages which have no reason to still exist (Durham, South Wales) and those pit villages which do have good reason to still exist (Yorkshire, Midlands).
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
Enten: "These are the worst numbers I've ever seen for any president on inflation. Trump is 49 points underwater. Biden -- inflation absolutely crushed his presidency -- but at his worst he was only 43 points underwater. Trump is in a worse position on inflation than Jimmy Carter was!"
Narrator: The inflation from the Straits has barely started
Which is why Starmer is (should be) safe. No new PM wants the forthcoming cost of living crisis to define their first six months. Should be as that relies on candidates for PM having an inkling of common sense and economic understanding, which might be asking a tad too much.
If that video is genuine, there doesnt seem any legitimate reason for both of those officers to be kicking the guy's head like that, when he's been tasered and doesn't offer any resistance?
But is the video genuine?
He was holding onto the knife and hiding it under his body. You can see it in the video.
The American policy in such cases is to dump all the bullets into the suspect.
Skimming through PB today is like doom scrolling - apparently everybody in the country is fucking miserable, deeply discontented and can barely afford to live. Is it really as bad as this? Most people I know and come across, of all generations and from all walks of life, have pretty good lives and are broadly content. Material deprivation is obviously rife in some areas, but not generally.
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
I don't think the country is completely miserable nor that we are suffering in relative global terms, but I do think the country is not as rich as it thinks it is and that is storing up problems for the future, and that a lot of basic things simply do not work well or cost way too much, resulting in a level of low grade crappiness that makes it easy to think things are a lot worse than they are.
The media aren’t interested in people that are doing ok. They only want to tell us about the poor and miserable ones, especially if they can pin the mental health badge onto them.
If that video is genuine, there doesnt seem any legitimate reason for both of those officers to be kicking the guy's head like that, when he's been tasered and doesn't offer any resistance?
But is the video genuine?
Are you fucking serious?
He’s just stabbed two Jews and is still holding a knife and resisting. In literally any other country on earth he would have been shot dead. He’s incredibly lucky
London is not dying and is as wonderful as ever. The sun comes out and everyone looks happy and the atmosphere is just unbeatable.
I blame the Tories entirely for the issues the country is facing
Then you're being obtuse.
I blame austerity for destroying the social fabric of the UK.
We are still a great country. But they made it worse.
Yet Labour going into the 2010 general election were promising spending cuts.
Alistair Darling: we will cut deeper than Margaret Thatcher
Thinktank warns of 'two parliaments of pain' with spending slashed by 25% to repair black hole in finance
Alistair Darling admitted tonight that Labour's planned cuts in public spending will be "deeper and tougher" than Margaret Thatcher's in the 1980s, as the country's leading experts on tax and spending warned that Britain faces "two parliaments of pain" to repair the black hole in the state's finances.
London is not dying and is as wonderful as ever. The sun comes out and everyone looks happy and the atmosphere is just unbeatable.
I blame the Tories entirely for the issues the country is facing
Then you're being obtuse.
I blame austerity for destroying the social fabric of the UK.
We are still a great country. But they made it worse.
Yet Labour going into the 2010 general election were promising spending cuts.
Alistair Darling: we will cut deeper than Margaret Thatcher
Thinktank warns of 'two parliaments of pain' with spending slashed by 25% to repair black hole in finance
Alistair Darling admitted tonight that Labour's planned cuts in public spending will be "deeper and tougher" than Margaret Thatcher's in the 1980s, as the country's leading experts on tax and spending warned that Britain faces "two parliaments of pain" to repair the black hole in the state's finances.
London is not dying and is as wonderful as ever. The sun comes out and everyone looks happy and the atmosphere is just unbeatable.
I blame the Tories entirely for the issues the country is facing
Then you're being obtuse.
I blame austerity for destroying the social fabric of the UK.
We are still a great country. But they made it worse.
Yet Labour going into the 2010 general election were promising spending cuts.
Alistair Darling: we will cut deeper than Margaret Thatcher
Thinktank warns of 'two parliaments of pain' with spending slashed by 25% to repair black hole in finance
Alistair Darling admitted tonight that Labour's planned cuts in public spending will be "deeper and tougher" than Margaret Thatcher's in the 1980s, as the country's leading experts on tax and spending warned that Britain faces "two parliaments of pain" to repair the black hole in the state's finances.
Skimming through PB today is like doom scrolling - apparently everybody in the country is fucking miserable, deeply discontented and can barely afford to live. Is it really as bad as this? Most people I know and come across, of all generations and from all walks of life, have pretty good lives and are broadly content. Material deprivation is obviously rife in some areas, but not generally.
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
I don't think the country is completely miserable nor that we are suffering in relative global terms, but I do think the country is not as rich as it thinks it is and that is storing up problems for the future, and that a lot of basic things simply do not work well or cost way too much, resulting in a level of low grade crappiness that makes it easy to think things are a lot worse than they are.
It's where I think Rochdale is on the money with getting the weeds out of the pavements and so on. In terms of contentment per pound, sorting out Streetscene probably rates pretty well. Hence the hanging baskets model of regeneration; it can't be the whole story, but it's a start. Shit as all those ziptied flags look now, and dodgy as some of their motivations are, I wonder if there was also a "something nice to look at" impulse, however poor the execution.
The catch is that it's hard to justify spending on morale-boosting niceness when core services are creaking. Which is the other half of the equation. A better society requires spending, and there's little sign that we really want to pay the taxes to cover that spending. So we're a bit stuck.
Councils can’t spend money on anything that’s not ringfenced, because of the social care albatross. I don’t see improvement unless social care is taken away from councils and provided nationally, in conjunction with the NHS. They will also need to fund and staff it adequately. Whether that is funded by tax rises, borrowing, or both, it needs to be done. Councils can then provide the remaining local services, like roads and streetscene. They will also need to be funded adequately. Tax cuts have cost us dearly.
I don't wholly agree though I appreciate the argument.
There are signs turnout next Thursday is going to be low - we had a GE in July 2024 with a historically low turnout. Yet we are to believe people are angry. If so, this is anger manifesting as apathy.
The sentiment may be "I want change" but there's no broad support for anty party advocating change yet as there isn't for those trying to manage the status quo. Indeed, I'd argue the sense of resignation, of a disassociation from the political process, is, if anything, more dangerous and insidious than large numbers voting for extreme parties.
How do we get a sense of re-engagement (if that's what we want) ? How do we get people to once again think what their view is matters ? How do we convince those who shout on social media they can be part of a political process?
London is not dying and is as wonderful as ever. The sun comes out and everyone looks happy and the atmosphere is just unbeatable.
I blame the Tories entirely for the issues the country is facing
Then you're being obtuse.
I blame austerity for destroying the social fabric of the UK.
We are still a great country. But they made it worse.
Yet Labour going into the 2010 general election were promising spending cuts.
Alistair Darling: we will cut deeper than Margaret Thatcher
Thinktank warns of 'two parliaments of pain' with spending slashed by 25% to repair black hole in finance
Alistair Darling admitted tonight that Labour's planned cuts in public spending will be "deeper and tougher" than Margaret Thatcher's in the 1980s, as the country's leading experts on tax and spending warned that Britain faces "two parliaments of pain" to repair the black hole in the state's finances.
I don't wholly agree though I appreciate the argument.
There are signs turnout next Thursday is going to be low - we had a GE in July 2024 with a historically low turnout. Yet we are to believe people are angry. If so, this is anger manifesting as apathy.
The sentiment may be "I want change" but there's no broad support for anty party advocating change yet as there isn't for those trying to manage the status quo. Indeed, I'd argue the sense of resignation, of a disassociation from the political process, is, if anything, more dangerous and insidious than large numbers voting for extreme parties.
How do we get a sense of re-engagement (if that's what we want) ? How do we get people to once again think what their view is matters ? How do we convince those who shout on social media they can be part of a political process?
All the polls tell me is people want change. But do they want Reform change? Not convinced.
I still think Kemi has a legitimate chance of being change.
I don't wholly agree though I appreciate the argument.
There are signs turnout next Thursday is going to be low - we had a GE in July 2024 with a historically low turnout. Yet we are to believe people are angry. If so, this is anger manifesting as apathy.
The sentiment may be "I want change" but there's no broad support for anty party advocating change yet as there isn't for those trying to manage the status quo. Indeed, I'd argue the sense of resignation, of a disassociation from the political process, is, if anything, more dangerous and insidious than large numbers voting for extreme parties.
How do we get a sense of re-engagement (if that's what we want) ? How do we get people to once again think what their view is matters ? How do we convince those who shout on social media they can be part of a political process?
If we had compulsory voting, with a NOTA option, NOTA would win an absolute majority. It would be a deserved majority.
I don't wholly agree though I appreciate the argument.
There are signs turnout next Thursday is going to be low - we had a GE in July 2024 with a historically low turnout. Yet we are to believe people are angry. If so, this is anger manifesting as apathy.
The sentiment may be "I want change" but there's no broad support for anty party advocating change yet as there isn't for those trying to manage the status quo. Indeed, I'd argue the sense of resignation, of a disassociation from the political process, is, if anything, more dangerous and insidious than large numbers voting for extreme parties.
How do we get a sense of re-engagement (if that's what we want) ? How do we get people to once again think what their view is matters ? How do we convince those who shout on social media they can be part of a political process?
If we had compulsory voting, with a NOTA option, NOTA would win an absolute majority. It would be a deserved majority.
Yes but as Labour discovered, simply saying "change" without enunciating what that means, only gets you so far.
For some, I suspect "change" is more about a reversion to what they once knew - nostalgia ain't what it used to be as someone once said, but the past can be appealing if the future looks difficult and dangerous.
For others, and without calling a spade a garden implement, it's about immigration and "boats".
In more practical terms, how do you reduce fly tipping, how do you re-invigorate the High Street and how do you get more Police on the streets? These are slogans I've seen from leaflets here in East Ham but without a single syllable of explanation as to how these desirable aims are to be achieved.
Comments
The real question should be, do labour mps have full confidence in Starmer ?
The data is staring us in the face.
Billy Liar syndrome.
They have only themselves to claim for the bloodbath that is about to ensure.
On topic, I don't agree that we have never had it so bad. The people who think so and are attracted by various charlatans will vote to make things worse for them and for everyone else. It's entirely their fault that they do so but as always no-one likes home truths.
When someone claims someone else is antisemitic this should not longer be taken at face value thanks to Zionist distortion of the term.
@JavierBlas
The world is calling on the barrel of last resort — and it’s brutal for the US.
American total petroleum exports (crude and refined products) surged last week to an all-time high >14m b/d.
The price? US total inventories plunged at ~3.5 million b/d last week. Unsustainable.
https://x.com/JavierBlas/status/2049506125196796300
@JavierBlas
The world is calling on the barrel of last resort — and it’s brutal for the US.
American total petroleum exports (crude and refined products) surged last week to an all-time high >14m b/d.
The price? US total inventories plunged at ~3.5 million b/d last week. Unsustainable.
https://x.com/JavierBlas/status/2049506125196796300
If you ever get the chance, jump at going to the Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania.
But it's a problem for those with their life ahead of them; and those thinking of their kid's lives. It assumes that most things which aren't working well can't be fixed now, and have to be lived with. That there aren't really any serious opportunities, and that the right investments are now obvious, with no serious risk of missing out, or being taken for mugs. It's a rather dour, quietist vision, even in the best light, and it's being rejected.
Keir Starmer is probably a decent administrator. Even Rishi Sunak probably was. But neither have any grasp of strategy. Even in good, peaceful times, you need a strategy, as otherwise those who have one will eat your lunch. And these are not good times - history is back with a vengeance, with the international order collapsing and artificial intelligence changing how business works.
This can't be written off as just wishful thinking by voters. They understand that their are risks and tradeoffs. But they know the country needs to "have a go", look for ways to succeed; it can't afford not to.
I only ever went on one but noticed a massive Jewish contingent on the march. Presumably by your logic all these Jews are antisemites?
Conflating Zionism with Judaism is by definition literally antisemitic
Those left have either lost the will, have some reason to hang around, or are part of the problem.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/HW6VwJt7pfJ9ES6A7
Welcome to Edlo!
It's also wrong.
Views of Israel have gone into absolute freefall everywhere.
South Korea and Japan have worse favorable/unfavorables on Israel than the UK, despite having essentially no Muslim populations. And that's from both countries having -historically- being quite warm towards Israel.
Our economy can't grow because working productivity is low
Working productivity is low because so many people are miserable and depressed and broke
You now need two wages to even have a chance of paying your bills
We both have the worst social security in Europe in terms of what it pays and the highest cost ever
So we need to take the other pill.
I said earlier that if elected as leader of Sunderland council (as an example) that I would focus on streets and heritage. Get your teams working with residents to clean up their area. Pull the weeds, fill the cracks, repair the potholes. Buy some flagpoles and put actual flags up which go up and down. Get heritage boards up showcasing our proud community history.
Create a buzz that gets people actually wanting to do shit together. Thanks also to the person posting the Guardian article about Newton Aycliffe town centre. A perfect example - absentee landlord doesn't give a Rat Fuck about the place their asset is in. CPO them, as Stockton have done. Literally bulldoze the most broken properties. Create mini arcade shops so that people can have a shop unit inside the bigger property for a peppercorn rent - a chance to trade and offer something different than the shitty chains now departing.
That's a starter for 10. So much of the failure of our society is that people have given up. My town is fucked so why bother trying. No wonder fewer people work and productivity is low.
Brace! Brace!
We are where we are because mainstream politicians have failed to rise to the challenge of the post-GFC years. They have chosen to represent a seemingly immovable “system”, despite playing to the gallery and pretending they care about issues that matter to the man and woman on the street. It is no surprise that people feel repeatedly let down and why they are casting around for alternatives.
I have said before and it remains my view that if western democracies are to survive in their current form they need political leaders to emerge (on either the left or the right) who are able to speak frankly and honestly to some of these issues, demonstrate they say what they mean, and take tough decisions even if that means weathering the storm of criticism from various quarters. I generally try to be a glass-half-full person, so I hope that in time that will happen. But we are enduring a bit of a wait.
The Kobeissi Letter
@KobeissiLetter
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22m
BREAKING: US Central Command has prepared a plan for a "short and powerful" wave of strikes which would likely target Iranian infrastructure, per Axios.
President Trump believes this would break the "negotiating deadlock."
US gasoline futures are up another +5% amid the news.
https://x.com/KobeissiLetter/status/2049519482394079635
(He's had a remarkable career. I'd be pleased if his second wife, Elaine Chao, replaced him in the Senate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_McConnell )
Industry now estimating 9% average food price inflation in the best case scenario. The best case. And that would mean some stuff going up 20%+ as last time.
This is a more severe shock than the Ukraine crisis and from a supply perspective has already gone on longer with no end in sight. It is going to be BRUTAL, and people simply don't know it.
"Burnham argues defence spending should be taken out of the fiscal rules to fund a rise through borrowing."
https://x.com/alexwickham/status/2049510846619914708
Which is fine as long as you can explain how it is more effective to borrow more rather than spend less on other stuff, how the markets will react WRT belief in UK solvency and how the economics of 'guns and butter' make us all safer and better off.
But he is silent about all this, how he is going to pay the interest (currently paid by additional borrowing) and pay it back. Having a plan without explaining the hard bit is the approach of the underpants gnomes.
In this important regard he seems no better than the others.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act in the middle of primary season could create a potentially chaotic scramble among states that may consider drawing new maps.
At least one outcome is clear: The decision will improve Republicans’ fortunes ahead of the midterm elections. How big of an advantage that becomes remains to be seen.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/04/29/us/supreme-court-voting-rights
Which would be a reversion to what it was in 2022.
Obviously we do everything in our power to prevent places growing when there is demand, but some still slips through.
No amount of enthusiasm is going to cure the demographics. 500,000 Brits are forecast to emigrate each year for the next 10 years. If immigration is reduced to a net 10,000 a year, will those who arrive have the skills and productivity (and taxpaying ability) to replace them?
Everything will be driven by the numbers and mix of those coming in and leaving.
https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2049486444666802527
But is the video genuine?
The first get boarded up houses being sold for a tenner, the second get new housing estates.
This is a generations long pattern, here is a BBC program from 1969 about a declining Durham pit village with a doomed pit:
1969: Craghead Colliery | A Year in the Life | BBC Archive
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQyxIH1Px20
https://x.com/PolitlcsUK/status/2049474591593025847
I'm just not convinced that the country is as in bad a state as the prevailing, and dominant, discourse suggests.
If so are there any particular reason ? Proximity to Newcastle or better communications perhaps ?
Now at $119.44.
Chris Smyth
@Smyth_Chris
Housing minister Matthew Pennycook on rent controls just now: "We're not doing this. It's not a credible or serious policy proposition... we exhaustively went through the evidence... We've really, really alive to the potential detrimental consequences for renters"
https://x.com/Smyth_Chris/status/2049515911690797514
I blame the Tories entirely for the issues the country is facing
Northumberland is a Minor County.
The catch is that it's hard to justify spending on morale-boosting niceness when core services are creaking. Which is the other half of the equation. A better society requires spending, and there's little sign that we really want to pay the taxes to cover that spending. So we're a bit stuck.
Aaron Rupar
@atrupar
Enten: "These are the worst numbers I've ever seen for any president on inflation. Trump is 49 points underwater. Biden -- inflation absolutely crushed his presidency -- but at his worst he was only 43 points underwater. Trump is in a worse position on inflation than Jimmy Carter was!"
https://x.com/atrupar/status/2049539902375637186
Narrator: The inflation from the Straits has barely started
https://x.com/iapolls2022/status/2049132351817437601
I am happy to stand security outside synagogues, because no one should feel unsafe.
https://www.natesilver.net/p/generic-ballot-average-2026-nate-silver-bulletin-congress-polls
The American policy in such cases is to dump all the bullets into the suspect.
We are still a great country. But they made it worse.
He’s just stabbed two Jews and is still holding a knife and resisting. In literally any other country on earth he would have been shot dead. He’s incredibly lucky
Alistair Darling: we will cut deeper than Margaret Thatcher
Thinktank warns of 'two parliaments of pain' with spending slashed by 25% to repair black hole in finance
Alistair Darling admitted tonight that Labour's planned cuts in public spending will be "deeper and tougher" than Margaret Thatcher's in the 1980s, as the country's leading experts on tax and spending warned that Britain faces "two parliaments of pain" to repair the black hole in the state's finances.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2010/mar/25/alistair-darling-cut-deeper-margaret-thatcher
Thanks for the thread, @RochdalePioneers.
I don't wholly agree though I appreciate the argument.
There are signs turnout next Thursday is going to be low - we had a GE in July 2024 with a historically low turnout. Yet we are to believe people are angry. If so, this is anger manifesting as apathy.
The sentiment may be "I want change" but there's no broad support for anty party advocating change yet as there isn't for those trying to manage the status quo. Indeed, I'd argue the sense of resignation, of a disassociation from the political process, is, if anything, more dangerous and insidious than large numbers voting for extreme parties.
How do we get a sense of re-engagement (if that's what we want) ? How do we get people to once again think what their view is matters ? How do we convince those who shout on social media they can be part of a political process?
Of all the things to cut, that has to be the dumbest.
I still think Kemi has a legitimate chance of being change.
I have had superior game experiences in Zambia. In Kafue and Luangwa at the end of the Dry. But other than that this is top class
And only here in Rwanda can you combine superb classic safari with mountain gorillas a few hours away
For some, I suspect "change" is more about a reversion to what they once knew - nostalgia ain't what it used to be as someone once said, but the past can be appealing if the future looks difficult and dangerous.
For others, and without calling a spade a garden implement, it's about immigration and "boats".
In more practical terms, how do you reduce fly tipping, how do you re-invigorate the High Street and how do you get more Police on the streets? These are slogans I've seen from leaflets here in East Ham but without a single syllable of explanation as to how these desirable aims are to be achieved.