Politics

[Renton 21450]

Okay, sorry for my ignorance here, but doesn't the blue tick indicate the account belongs to the famous person indicated? So that is Rory Stewart just taking the piss himself, yes? 

[Renton 21450]

10 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

No matter what his actual belief on this is, what he has made abundantly clear is that he can be talked out of or into anything based on which way the wind is blowing. He is the very opposite of a man of conviction.

 

Of course he is, his only conviction is himself. Quite literally a psychopath. 

 

[Monkeys Fist 42204]

1 minute ago, Renton said:

Okay, sorry for my ignorance here, but doesn't the blue tick indicate the account belongs to the famous person indicated? So that is Rory Stewart just taking the piss himself, yes? 

Got a calendar handy? 

[Renton 21450]

I know its April fools day man. It's another thing that doesn't work in these times any more though, especially in politics. What's a piss take, and what isn't? Fucked if I know any more!

 

Ah the good old days of the 70s, when the Island of Loof Lirpa was going to crash into South America at a speed of 30 mph, or the Italian Spaghetti tree harvest had failed. My personal favourite though was only 10 or so years ago, which was the circle line was being closed weekends in order to use it as a part time particle accelerator. 

[Christmas Tree 4713]

I got called out of a busy work meeting many years ago by a secretary saying someone had phoned and left a message that my wife had been in an armed robbery at the post office where she worked.
 

How I laughed til they rang back 30 minutes later saying she was now on her way to hospital in a very traumatised state   
 

 

 

[Craig 6682]

41 minutes ago, Renton said:

Okay, sorry for my ignorance here, but doesn't the blue tick indicate the account belongs to the famous person indicated? So that is Rory Stewart just taking the piss himself, yes? 

It does indeed.

[Rayvin 5189]

Man it's looking grim this morning on all fronts in terms of living costs. Could we possibly have a worse government in place to handle this than the one we have? Not only is it a Tory government, thus rendering it entirely unsympathetic to the lives of ordinary people (just work harder everyone, you lazy slackers) - but it's also a deeply incompetent one. About the only thing we have going for it in fact might well be how obsessed Johnson is with his public image, it's the only pressure we can apply at all.

 

Brexit yet again looks like an absolute catastrophe of a decision for quality of life across the country, not that it's the sole cause of all of this now.

 

I honestly don't think things will ever be 'normal' or stable again. I think at this point we might have to acknowledge that we have a lifetime's worth of instability and rolling disasters to get used to. Seems to just be a consistent thing at this stage.

[Renton 21450]

2 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

Man it's looking grim this morning on all fronts in terms of living costs. Could we possibly have a worse government in place to handle this than the one we have? Not only is it a Tory government, thus rendering it entirely unsympathetic to the lives of ordinary people (just work harder everyone, you lazy slackers) - but it's also a deeply incompetent one. About the only thing we have going for it in fact might well be how obsessed Johnson is with his public image, it's the only pressure we can apply at all.

 

Brexit yet again looks like an absolute catastrophe of a decision for quality of life across the country, not that it's the sole cause of all of this now.

 

I honestly don't think things will ever be 'normal' or stable again. I think at this point we might have to acknowledge that we have a lifetime's worth of instability and rolling disasters to get used to. Seems to just be a consistent thing at this stage.

 

You say that, but I wonder if people thought that during other periods of immense instability, such as WW2? However, we have now had more than a decade of utter shit from the tories. Brexit has completely fucked us even if covid disappears and the war in Ukraine is resolved. Not just our living standards either, but our solidarity and cohesiveness as a nation, not to mention our loss of freedoms. And my main fear is that whilst we are constantly fire-fighting and the government flip flops in an effort to appease its various supporters, the big issues of the day, climate change and dwindling resources, are not being addressed at all. Also our very democratic foundations are under attack. We desperately need reform, but we are getting the opposite. 

 

Tl/dr, I think I agree with you.  

[Rayvin 5189]

3 minutes ago, Renton said:

 

You say that, but I wonder if people thought that during other periods of immense instability, such as WW2? However, we have now had more than a decade of utter shit from the tories. Brexit has completely fucked us even if covid disappears and the war in Ukraine is resolved. Not just our living standards either, but our solidarity and cohesiveness as a nation, not to mention our loss of freedoms. And my main fear is that whilst we are constantly fire-fighting and the government flip flops in an effort to appease its various supporters, the big issues of the day, climate change and dwindling resources, are not being addressed at all. Also our very democratic foundations are under attack. We desperately need reform, but we are getting the opposite. 

 

Tl/dr, I think I agree with you.  

 

Aye. Ukraine war might boost climate change adaptations of course if we pivot to green or nuclear, but yeah.

 

It just seems utterly hopeless on so many fronts. Maybe it's darkest before the dawn, maybe eventually this is going to go past the line of tolerance for right leaning people and something will be forced to change, but because it's coming on in stages over a longer period of time it's really difficult to shake people out of just accepting it. Imagine in 2008 if we woke up and the country suddenly looked like this - I honestly believe the government would literally be overthrown. Do it over 10 years though and people just accept it.

[spongebob toonpants 3961]

5 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 Maybe it's darkest before the dawn, 

We've been in decline for forty years. There is no dawn coming. UK has had its time in the sun, its squandered its resources and we have a completely unequal and increasingly divided society

It's shit and it's only going to get worse. All Empires end and  we are no exception

[Renton 21450]

5 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

Aye. Ukraine war might boost climate change adaptations of course if we pivot to green or nuclear, but yeah.

 

It just seems utterly hopeless on so many fronts. Maybe it's darkest before the dawn, maybe eventually this is going to go past the line of tolerance for right leaning people and something will be forced to change, but because it's coming on in stages over a longer period of time it's really difficult to shake people out of just accepting it. Imagine in 2008 if we woke up and the country suddenly looked like this - I honestly believe the government would literally be overthrown. Do it over 10 years though and people just accept it.

 

Absolutely re: your last sentence. Little by little, drip by drip. Lie, lie, lie. Demonise entire groups. Gaslight. Dog whistle. Normalise it all. The boiling frog.

I mean, take supermarkets. Apart from the appalling price increases, people just accept empty shelves faced over with tat as normal now. When my wife goes shopping and tells me she couldn't get x, y, and z, I just shrug. This really wasn't normal a couple of years ago. It's incredible how easy people forget and accept.  

[Rayvin 5189]

Just now, spongebob toonpants said:

We've been in decline for forty years. There is no dawn coming. UK has had its time in the sun, its squandered its resources and we have a completely unequal and increasingly divided society

It's shit and it's only going to get worse. All Empires end and  we are no exception

 

All the more reason we should attach ourselves to the EU which stands a far greater chance at a resurgence in a new mould than any of its component parts do individually.

 

But yes, I think you might be right.

[spongebob toonpants 3961]

6 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

All the more reason we should attach ourselves to the EU which stands a far greater chance at a resurgence in a new mould than any of its component parts do individually.

 

But yes, I think you might be right.

Couldn't agree more about the EU.

US is in the same boat as us, just going to be a playground for the Super rich with everyone else fucked.

China will be the global economic superpower, but the EU has a  good chance of forging its own successful path

[Craig 6682]

1 hour ago, Renton said:

 

Absolutely re: your last sentence. Little by little, drip by drip. Lie, lie, lie. Demonise entire groups. Gaslight. Dog whistle. Normalise it all. The boiling frog.

I mean, take supermarkets. Apart from the appalling price increases, people just accept empty shelves faced over with tat as normal now. When my wife goes shopping and tells me she couldn't get x, y, and z, I just shrug. This really wasn't normal a couple of years ago. It's incredible how easy people forget and accept.  

You raise a brilliant point about supermarkets. The level of choice and the availability of it is something that appears to have fallen under the radar. Of course the pandemic is conveniently cited as a reason given that it occurred at the very moment Brexit did too. 

[Christmas Tree 4713]

Just out of interest, what are you struggling to get at the supermarkets?

 

Virtually everything we eat is prepared fresh and I honestly can’t think of anything that we’ve been unable to get.

[Rayvin 5189]

6 minutes ago, Christmas Tree said:

Just out of interest, what are you struggling to get at the supermarkets?

 

Virtually everything we eat is prepared fresh and I honestly can’t think of anything that we’ve been unable to get.

 

For me it's been a rolling thing - items I buy one week aren't available for the next two. It's extended right the way to fresh chicken tbh but has also included fruit juice, pizza, bread (of certain types), tomatoes, peppers, etc - it's almost like everything is on rotation. That said, I have been living quite remotely the past couple of years and I wonder if the limitations come from that to some extent. Although we do order for home delivery from Tesco...

 

Not really keeping track of it hugely but since we're exploring it in detail, those items are all things that just show up as unavailable every other week.

[The Fish 10821]

Aye, similar for me. Sometime there are no green peppers, other times there's no cherry tomatoes, there was a week or so where you couldn't get a grab bag of Beef flavoured hula hoops for love nor money.

 

[Christmas Tree 4713]

14 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

For me it's been a rolling thing - items I buy one week aren't available for the next two. It's extended right the way to fresh chicken tbh but has also included fruit juice, pizza, bread (of certain types), tomatoes, peppers, etc - it's almost like everything is on rotation. That said, I have been living quite remotely the past couple of years and I wonder if the limitations come from that to some extent. Although we do order for home delivery from Tesco...

 

Not really keeping track of it hugely but since we're exploring it in detail, those items are all things that just show up as unavailable every other week.

Interesting. We don’t use pizza bread or fruit juice but use the other stuff every week.

 

We do mostly shop at Aldi, so maybe it’s German efficiency  at its best.

[Rayvin 5189]

Just now, Christmas Tree said:

Interesting. We don’t use pizza bread or fruit juice but use the other stuff every week.

 

We do mostly shop at Aldi, so maybe it’s German efficiency  at its best.

 

I honestly think it's probably better in the cities, or perhaps if you go down to the stores themselves. Maybe online customers are back of the list in terms of availability. Whatever it is, it wasn't always like this. It's not causing huge problems I guess but it does also demonstrate how privileged we have been on this front for many years. Well, at my end anyway. Moving back to Newcastle soon, so maybe I'll see an improvement.

[Christmas Tree 4713]

1 minute ago, Rayvin said:

 

I honestly think it's probably better in the cities, or perhaps if you go down to the stores themselves. Maybe online customers are back of the list in terms of availability. Whatever it is, it wasn't always like this. It's not causing huge problems I guess but it does also demonstrate how privileged we have been on this front for many years. Well, at my end anyway. Moving back to Newcastle soon, so maybe I'll see an improvement.

Still up Moffat way?

[The Fish 10821]

1 minute ago, Christmas Tree said:

Still up Moffat way?

CT man, this is a family website!

[Rayvin 5189]

Aye but in Newcastle atm flat hunting - I figure I've timed this just poorly enough that I'll get hit with the huge energy price hike before it has a chance to impact the rental market, and end up overpaying on both.

 

Still though, I'm glad to be heading home.

[Toonpack 9321]

8 minutes ago, Christmas Tree said:

Interesting. We don’t use pizza bread or fruit juice but use the other stuff every week.

 

We do mostly shop at Aldi, so maybe it’s German efficiency  at its best.

 

Aldi have stuff missing as well, every supermarket I go into usually has not got something we were looking for, random stuff and shelves are noticeably much less rammed IMO

[Monkeys Fist 42204]

4 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

 

I honestly think it's probably better in the cities, or perhaps if you go down to the stores themselves. Maybe online customers are back of the list in terms of availability. Whatever it is, it wasn't always like this. It's not causing huge problems I guess but it does also demonstrate how privileged we have been on this front for many years. Well, at my end anyway. Moving back to Newcastle soon, so maybe I'll see an improvement.

The random shortages are entirely due to the ongoing lack of HGV drivers.…

 

… because of Brexit. 
 

Doesn’t help that the DVLA are slower than a mackem walking past a playground at sending out licenses. 

[Christmas Tree 4713]

5 minutes ago, Rayvin said:

Aye but in Newcastle atm flat hunting - I figure I've timed this just poorly enough that I'll get hit with the huge energy price hike before it has a chance to impact the rental market, and end up overpaying on both.

 

Still though, I'm glad to be heading home.

I got royally fucked over on Electricty through zero fault of my own. But every cloud……

 

At least the neighbours probably won’t have to face me dashing in and out of the hot tub this year