Off Topic Politics Thread

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Gregm1988 said:
As to “Beanie Babies for 30 something tech bros” - it is also banged on about by libertarian types and guys who complain about the current establishment/society and just assume it will burn down soon and/or inflation will be allowed to go out of control forever (I don’t want to broadly call them all “alt right” as this isn’t true)

There are a few surprising cases of people still supporting it and having it. But many are those who “cashed out” so already made money back, potentially also pulled out a nice gain and are now just playing with “free money”. People getting in now are not likely to get in that position as far as I can see
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Oh there's definitely a rich vein of technofuturism in the real-by-god crypto evangelizers. But the fundamental problem with the blockchain concept is that the very thing that makes it so desirable in their eyes -- the decentralization -- also makes it impossibly unworkable as the basic building block of an economic system. It doesn't scale; it does the opposite of scaling. The amount of computational power necessary to maintain blockchains only increases over time, and that's when it isn't being used widely compared to hard currency.

Absolutely. As I see it in that first para the word “investment” and “gamble” are interchangeable and it doesn’t really change meaning

too expensive / volatile to be a good investment OR gamble
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As a person who has done a bit of investing and a lot of gambling, I fundamentally disagree. The aim is the same in both cases -- to generate a profit -- but the tactics and willingness to commit one's bankroll should differ greatly. Dropping $200 on Bitcoin in 2017 would have been a reasonable gamble; putting your retirement savings into it would have been a terrible investment, even if it ultimately made you enormously wealthy.
 
Schad said:
Oh there's definitely a rich vein of technofuturism in the real-by-god crypto evangelizers. But the fundamental problem with the blockchain concept is that the very thing that makes it so desirable in their eyes -- the decentralization -- also makes it impossibly unworkable as the basic building block of an economic system. It doesn't scale; it does the opposite of scaling. The amount of computational power necessary to maintain blockchains only increases over time, and that's when it isn't being used widely compared to hard currency.



As a person who has done a bit of investing and a lot of gambling, I fundamentally disagree. The aim is the same in both cases -- to generate a profit -- but the tactics and willingness to commit one's bankroll should differ greatly. Dropping $200 on Bitcoin in 2017 would have been a reasonable gamble; putting your retirement savings into it would have been a terrible investment, even if it ultimately made you enormously wealthy.
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I think even in 2017 there were people getting burned by taking out loans and extra mortgages to get it

Even my friend who never shut up about it and made a massive amount from it (to the point where he became harder and harder to spend time with) still said the whole - only spend what you are prepared to lose on it

Which is the gambling mantra definitely. Not so much an investment mantra apart from (maybe) those who do high risk stock trading. But that is far more akin to gambling as you describe

i just meant to agree with you that it is now bad for both things. So misspoke when I said “and still mean the same thing” but did definitely mean the words were interchangeable at a high level. But it is 4am and apparently I crashed out on the sofa for 4 hours which has irritated me
 
Gregm1988 said:
Yeah - I don’t understand how he could possibly think this is an acceptable excuse. As mentioned, if true (which is clearly isn’t and he is a serial liar anyway) then it just demonstrates his incompetence
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Ignorance is no defense in the eyes of the law. How is it this is not a criminal investigation when all the evidence points to illegal gatherings?
 
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Does this count as irony with regard to the "pork pie putsch?
"They (the red wall MPs) met in the office of Alicia Kearns – whose constituency contains Melton Mowbray – to discuss Johnson’s future"
 
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Osvaldorama said:
It’s one of the dumbest things I’ve seen.

Utterly hilarious he thinks that excuse can wash.

People missed funerals, births, gave up everything.

Politics is dead to me. I’m buying as much bitcoin as I can and ignoring all of it from now on. Will check the manifestos before each election and ignore mainstream media.
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“People missed funerals, births, gave up everything.”

Last year, when my wife was taken into hospital, the hospital had rules in place that restricted visits.
In the first two weeks, she was there, I saw her on just 3 occasions, and I was only allowed in to see her on those occasion because a doctor had phoned me to say that she might be dying and I should come in to say my goodbyes.
After surviving those scares, and with few signs that she would pull through, the ward allowed me to visit her for 1 hour a day, for the rest of her time there, before she was transferred to the hospice for end of life care.
My wife was alone for the best part of 7 weeks and it broke my heart, on one visit, when she said “They’re getting ready for me to peg it.”
I don’t hold any grudges, against the hospital, for imposing their stringent visiting rules, because I understood the need to protect vulnerable patients and the staff, from Covid, but I do hold a massive grudge against Johnson and any MP who has covered his back and defended his breaching of rules.
I think, if I saw Johnson walking down the street, I would be arrested, because I don’t think I would be able to stop myself from slapping the smug, arrogant **** across the face.
Truth be told, though, the entire party is a cesspit of dishonesty and greed and pretty much every single Tory MP has been smeared by their support for his lies and by their support of draconian law changes.
They need to go. All of them.
 
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ChilcoSaint said:
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Does anyone want to tell the majority of the cabinet that were it not for a cull of all the competent members of that party due to Brexit fundamentalism that they would be nobodies as well? Seriously Sunak has only been an MP for something like 6 years and was put in post to be a doormat (something that appears to have been another of BoJo’s miscalculations)

If Brexit wasn’t a thing no one would care about Rees-Mogg. And he still isn’t trusted with a proper portfolio even after all this time
 
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tomw24 said:
Tory MP Christian Wakeford has defected to Labour.
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He had a majority of 402 (0.8%)

Shame it wasn’t a dozen of them. Or say, all 20 who are apparently plotting this pork pie thing

I mean that would really send a message. And send Boris out the door.
 
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I can’t imagine that Red Wall shift was ever going to be lasting. But I have been wrong about so many things over the last 5 years
 
Archers Road said:
How can anyone switch parties and expect to be taken seriously? Resigning from a party and remaining as an independent is one thing, but going from Conservative to Labour, it the other way round, suggests a complete lack of any principle or conviction. What does the bloke believe in ffs?
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Self preservation I suspect.
 
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StJabbo1 said:
I think he's always been opposed to Spaffer as a number of ex party members hoofed into touch by a vengeful PM for not following the party line.
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He wasn’t purged from the party like Clarke, Stewart, Grieve etc., and signed up to Johnson’s English Nationalist manifesto.
 
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