Off Topic Politics Thread

[Osvaldorama]

Plus the fact that the majority of the 13 million pensioners paid throughout their working life into their pension funds, and that the UK state pension is the lowest in Europe.

More inflammatory bollocks from our favourite inflammatory bollocks merchant.

That fact has nothing to do with what I said.
I believe that pensions should be completely untouchable as you are correct, people have paid them their whole lives.

Unfortunately the government wastes money hand over fist, people live longer and so people’s pensions just won’t be there.

Everyone should accept they won’t be getting a gov pension and start saving and investing now in my opinion.

More insults as you know my point was correct and you don’t know how to defend against it

 

[Archers Road]

The public sector by its very nature don’t create value. At best all the public sector can do is return money back to the private sector.

(Not to say that the public sector aren’t necessary and important. Just in a purely economic sense).

If the country were a business (which it is), the public sector would be on the “L” side of “P & L”

The country isn't a business, what a ridiculous thing to say.

 

[Osvaldorama]

The country isn't a business, what a ridiculous thing to say.

The economy is. Or at least should be. The fact that it isn’t run like one is one of the big reasons why the country is going to absolute ****.

How is that a ridiculous thing to say?

 

[shoot_spiderman]

In an article I’ve just read, this paragraph particularly struck me …

“My mother’s vehemence while watching television and hurling abuse at those she saw on the screen meant, I think, nothing other than this: eternally inferior, she allowed herself, through these expressions of abhorrence, the only feeling of superiority that was socially available to her – the sadly distinctive dignity of not belonging to categories so stigmatised that even someone like her could ostracise and insult them. It was as if, in feeling herself endowed with a capacity to humiliate – even if it was only fictively, for herself alone, in speaking to the television – she was avenged for having always been among the humiliated”

 

[Archers Road]

The economy is. Or at least should be. The fact that it isn’t run like one is one of the big reasons why the country is going to absolute ****.

How is that a ridiculous thing to say?

It’s hard to know where to start, answering a question like that. A country is a political, national, and geographical entity, with it’s own cultural identity, usually sharing a common language and history. It doesn’t exist for the sole purpose of making a profit for it’s owners and shareholders, it has a huge range of other function. A country’s responsibilities to, and expectations of it’s citizens, cannot be universally monetised or counted on a balance sheet.

 

[Mostlymadeofwater]

That fact has nothing to do with what I said.
I believe that pensions should be completely untouchable as you are correct, people have paid them their whole lives.

Unfortunately the government wastes money hand over fist, people live longer and so people’s pensions just won’t be there.

Everyone should accept they won’t be getting a gov pension and start saving and investing now in my opinion.

More insults as you know my point was correct and you don’t know how to defend against it

Name one piece of government waste

 

[Mostlymadeofwater]

The economy is. Or at least should be. The fact that it isn’t run like one is one of the big reasons why the country is going to absolute ****.

How is that a ridiculous thing to say?

Because business is historically known to act based on conscience and the best interest of the people and never cuts corners or creates damage...

 

[Lemons and Oranges]

Name one piece of government waste

Well, there's the education wasted on certain outspoken members of this forum...

 

[Ian Thumwood]

The economy should serve the people and not the other way around.

Leaving the market to manage life is a race to the bottom. The private sector is no more efficient than the public sector and is not so under invested. Give the public sector the funds and it would out perform the private sector.

 

[Mostlymadeofwater]

Well, there's the education wasted on certain outspoken members of this forum...

That's a massive assumption that members aren't privately educated in high class institutions

 

[Lemons and Oranges]

That's a massive assumption that members aren't privately educated in high class institutions

Fair point. I wasn't, but maybe I'm in a minority

 

[Ian Thumwood]

Trump being canvassed to pardon the killer of George Floyd.

 

[Le Tissier's Laces]

Good piece by William Hague in The Times today about how though Trump is an utterly abhorrent man, his net effect on policy and politics in Europe/Canada etc might actually end up being a positive - which sides with something I've been thinking/hoping - https://www.thetimes.com/comment/co...n-but-trumps-effect-may-be-positive-959dzffsl

In other news though, I think the closing of Voice of America is a really, really, really bad idea. The Chinese are, predictably, delighted. It's incredibly short sighted, shows no understanding of the importance of soft power, and is essentially what is wrong with Trump in one move.

 

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Good piece by William Hague in The Times today about how though Trump is an utterly abhorrent man, his net effect on policy and politics in Europe/Canada etc might actually end up being a positive - which sides with something I've been thinking/hoping - https://www.thetimes.com/comment/co...n-but-trumps-effect-may-be-positive-959dzffsl

In other news though, I think the closing of Voice of America is a really, really, really bad idea. The Chinese are, predictably, delighted. It's incredibly short sighted, shows no understanding of the importance of soft power, and is essentially what is wrong with Trump in one move.

The man abhors accurate press and free reporting. Why would he want to export that to other dictatorships he is trying to emulate?

 

[Le Tissier's Laces]

The man abhors accurate press and free reporting. Why would he want to export that to other dictatorships he is trying to emulate?

V true. That for me is (one of) the scariest parts. Along with people believing the narrative that gets spun with it.

 

[StJabbo1]

The man abhors accurate press and free reporting. Why would he want to export that to other dictatorships he is trying to emulate?

V true. That for me is (one of) the scariest parts. Along with people believing the narrative that gets spun with it.

Absolutely, people you might well regard as sensible and able to sort wheat from chaff suck up all the mis/disinformation and downright lies not just from the usual social media disgraces but also directly from the White House and Musk's DOGE dogs with their endless stream of 'mistakes' in supposed savings growing. American friends from both parties tell me lasting damage is being done and it's those that are least able to cope suffer the worst.

 

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Absolutely, people you might well regard as sensible and able to sort wheat from chaff suck up all the mis/disinformation and downright lies not just from the usual social media disgraces but also directly from the White House and Musk's DOGE dogs with their endless stream of 'mistakes' in supposed savings growing. American friends from both parties tell me lasting damage is being done and it's those that are least able to cope suffer the worst.

I find Musk retweeting things without fact checking them appalling. The fact he retweeted “Ben the Wine Guy” as evidence of the collapse of British society shows he is not a serious person.

 

[Ian Thumwood]

I am amused by the idea that Waitrose might somehow be responsible for the wall of Western civilisation.

Never met Os shopping there, though .....

 

[Le Tissier's Laces]

I find Musk retweeting things without fact checking them appalling. The fact he retweeted “Ben the Wine Guy” as evidence of the collapse of British society shows he is not a serious person.

Yep. 100%. And yet people will slavishly believe him over “legacy media”. It’s an extraordinarily effective piece of propaganda, sadly. Putin’s dream since the early 90s being put into action by the people in charge.

 

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Yep. 100%. And yet people will slavishly believe him over “legacy media”. It’s an extraordinarily effective piece of propaganda, sadly. Putin’s dream since the early 90s being put into action by the people in charge.

I read a fantastic exploration of Putin’s misinformation campaign recently. As much as he was a part of the tradition of USSR style dissembling, it wasn’t until 2008 that he really got going with it. I read that he felt humiliated by the global response to his invasion of Georgia and promptly renamed Russia Today RT and prioritised making it an acceptable source of news in the west. It then moved to legitimate news but dripping in nods to popular conspiracy theories, beginning with implying knowledge of 9/11 being an inside job. Gradually it legitimised conspiracy. Alongside this, he utilised his troll farms to stoke anti-UK and anti-US messages in BRICS nations, and this has grown to encompass the world.