Off Topic Politics Thread

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Me, the nasty Tory. I have been with Smile since 2001ish and now with Nationwide because Smile have become piss poor over the past 5 or so years. Constrant breakdowns, offlines etc.]

This nasty Tory has also never even had a driving lesson, has stated there are too many cars on the road since before he was old enough to drive (yet admired the beauty of some cars,) Always complained about the amount of fumes, let alone noise pollution from the increasing amount of traffic.

Never bought a single bottle of water, never bought an overpriced coffee in disposable cup, recycled since before the council provided an on-site service. Remember those days of taking your glass, carboard, plastic to the recycle bins in supermarket car parks?

Always championed less travel, more use of home grown produce, less imports that are un-necessary, constant up-cycling, less sitting in houses with ever increasing amounts of electricity sucking "stuff."

Always up-cycled rather than buy another brand new shiny thing to be dumped when it falls apart in a few years.

I get my energy from "So" who proudly state that 100% of their energy comes from renewable sources. Of course that might mean some (not much if any if their publicity is anything to go by) comes from wood burning pellets which is included in renewable sources so farcical as that is.

And no I won't be biting at all in reply to this message. So many conspiracy theories. So many conflicting arguments. State and the media to blame etc.

You want someone to blame then blame yourselves. Nothing to do with oil companies or governments. The reason there are far too many cars and other vehicles on the road is you the public. People are to blame for that because they will not use public transport (or bikes) and jump in their cars instead. You thye public want your cheap tat delivered to your doors at the lowest price possible.

Keep on banging on about "Nasty Tories" while bemoaning the "Nanny state" for not being "Nanny" enough to save yourselves from yourselves. It's working so well for you. You need someone to blame other than yourselves (as a collective whole) all the while, the "nasty Tories" are looking like getting in pretty easily.

Until people really start to practice what they preach then you will always be moaning about your own (collective) failings as if they were the failings of someone else all the while I will have never been a participant of the log jam on the roads, been one of the first and continuous participants of (common sense) things like recycling stuff that can be recycled and reusing/repurposing things that others would dump on the scrapheap.

But this is the norm. People are completely free of blame for taking on debts they knew were beyond them. Blame it all on the bankers.

Until people wake up and stop thinking it is always someone else's fault then nothing will change. And you'll all be continually moaning (like the left still does) oblivious to the fact that you (collectively) are equally as much to blame as those (nasty Tories and nasty right wingers) you want to pin the blame on.

Should be quite obvious that there is a climate/pollution/green problem but the reality is there is also a lot of money to be made here. Who is it that is more likely to push this avenue over this? Yes the nasty money making right wingers. It will happen but it will be those money makers that end up making it happen. For the wrong reasons? Yes of course but they are the ones that will eventually make this change because unless it is a money spinner then there will not be the incentive for it to happen. Government can't afford to do it as well as finance everything else the public demand. It will take a lot of private money to sort out and the left are too thick to realise that most of that money will end up tied up with their beliefs about taxing those with money.

Hey ho. Roll on 2 week's time. Many more years of the "nicer politics" pushing us more and more into a future where it is attempted to force homogenisation of political (and everything else) viewpoints by way of shaming. It really is sounding so futile these days.

Next time you watch an extinction rebellion protest count the number of new plastic newly printed placards, the number of stickers, the number of water bottles, the diesel coaches they hire to get their audience/participants etc etc and ask......if these are the people trying to "wake us up" to this problem what chance have we got? All the while nasty Tories like me will stay local, buy local, not pollute, buy as little plastic (and paper/card for that matter) and generally make up for the footprint made by those that proclaim to be "fighting for the cause." No doubt the future of "nasty capitalism" will be in green avenues. A lot already is. I hope so or it will never get off the ground.

(caveat) If only there were enough green jobs around that idiots like me could get, alas I work for a Chinese company, importing cheap Chinese goods in loads of packaging, no doubt with a carbon footprint as high as it can be...........all so people like you can buy it, because I sure don't, however I do need to work and you all like to complain about job losses as well as make your houses look nice with mostly "made in china" furniture, furniture, electronics and .........[insert virtually everything you buy.] The day I get a job riding my bike connected to a dynamo will be a great day. My conscience will finally be free of all guilt.
Feel good to get that off your chest?
 
Me, the nasty Tory. I have been with Smile since 2001ish and now with Nationwide because Smile have become piss poor over the past 5 or so years. Constrant breakdowns, offlines etc.]

This nasty Tory has also never even had a driving lesson, has stated there are too many cars on the road since before he was old enough to drive (yet admired the beauty of some cars,) Always complained about the amount of fumes, let alone noise pollution from the increasing amount of traffic.

Never bought a single bottle of water, never bought an overpriced coffee in disposable cup, recycled since before the council provided an on-site service. Remember those days of taking your glass, carboard, plastic to the recycle bins in supermarket car parks?

Always championed less travel, more use of home grown produce, less imports that are un-necessary, constant up-cycling, less sitting in houses with ever increasing amounts of electricity sucking "stuff."

Always up-cycled rather than buy another brand new shiny thing to be dumped when it falls apart in a few years.

I get my energy from "So" who proudly state that 100% of their energy comes from renewable sources. Of course that might mean some (not much if any if their publicity is anything to go by) comes from wood burning pellets which is included in renewable sources so farcical as that is.

And no I won't be biting at all in reply to this message. So many conspiracy theories. So many conflicting arguments. State and the media to blame etc.

You want someone to blame then blame yourselves. Nothing to do with oil companies or governments. The reason there are far too many cars and other vehicles on the road is you the public. People are to blame for that because they will not use public transport (or bikes) and jump in their cars instead. You thye public want your cheap tat delivered to your doors at the lowest price possible.

Keep on banging on about "Nasty Tories" while bemoaning the "Nanny state" for not being "Nanny" enough to save yourselves from yourselves. It's working so well for you. You need someone to blame other than yourselves (as a collective whole) all the while, the "nasty Tories" are looking like getting in pretty easily.

Until people really start to practice what they preach then you will always be moaning about your own (collective) failings as if they were the failings of someone else all the while I will have never been a participant of the log jam on the roads, been one of the first and continuous participants of (common sense) things like recycling stuff that can be recycled and reusing/repurposing things that others would dump on the scrapheap.

But this is the norm. People are completely free of blame for taking on debts they knew were beyond them. Blame it all on the bankers.

Until people wake up and stop thinking it is always someone else's fault then nothing will change. And you'll all be continually moaning (like the left still does) oblivious to the fact that you (collectively) are equally as much to blame as those (nasty Tories and nasty right wingers) you want to pin the blame on.

Should be quite obvious that there is a climate/pollution/green problem but the reality is there is also a lot of money to be made here. Who is it that is more likely to push this avenue over this? Yes the nasty money making right wingers. It will happen but it will be those money makers that end up making it happen. For the wrong reasons? Yes of course but they are the ones that will eventually make this change because unless it is a money spinner then there will not be the incentive for it to happen. Government can't afford to do it as well as finance everything else the public demand. It will take a lot of private money to sort out and the left are too thick to realise that most of that money will end up tied up with their beliefs about taxing those with money.

Hey ho. Roll on 2 week's time. Many more years of the "nicer politics" pushing us more and more into a future where it is attempted to force homogenisation of political (and everything else) viewpoints by way of shaming. It really is sounding so futile these days.

Next time you watch an extinction rebellion protest count the number of new plastic newly printed placards, the number of stickers, the number of water bottles, the diesel coaches they hire to get their audience/participants etc etc and ask......if these are the people trying to "wake us up" to this problem what chance have we got? All the while nasty Tories like me will stay local, buy local, not pollute, buy as little plastic (and paper/card for that matter) and generally make up for the footprint made by those that proclaim to be "fighting for the cause." No doubt the future of "nasty capitalism" will be in green avenues. A lot already is. I hope so or it will never get off the ground.

(caveat) If only there were enough green jobs around that idiots like me could get, alas I work for a Chinese company, importing cheap Chinese goods in loads of packaging, no doubt with a carbon footprint as high as it can be...........all so people like you can buy it, because I sure don't, however I do need to work and you all like to complain about job losses as well as make your houses look nice with mostly "made in china" furniture, furniture, electronics and .........[insert virtually everything you buy.] The day I get a job riding my bike connected to a dynamo will be a great day. My conscience will finally be free of all guilt.
how did you get to Portugal last summer Imps?
 
how did you get to Portugal last summer Imps?

I didn't. The wife went with the kids. I stayed here ;)

If you mean the summer before last (i.e. 2018) then I flew by TAP there and back. It was my first flight since 2009. My 9th flight of my 44 year life ;) I wouldn't have gone but my oldest son refused to go for a month and as a 13 year old I had to go with him for a week.
 
I'm pretty sure you posted a picture of yourself in a park in some country across the English Channel?

That would have been this one, taken in the gardens at Belem, Lisbon in 2009. Aged 34, definitely not 43, The son in that picture is now 13 and my hairline has moved up the sides of my forehead (albeit not like Shearer) a fair bit since then:
You must log in or register to see images
 
That would have been this one, taken in the gardens at Belem, Lisbon in 2009. Aged 34, definitely not 43, The son in that picture is now 13 and my hairline has moved up the sides of my forehead (albeit not like Shearer) a fair bit since then:
You must log in or register to see images


Welcome back to the forum
 
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We had the opportunity to choose Andy Burnham, a decent centre left candidate who would at least have put up a decent fight. But no, we had to gamble everything on the full loaf. And we are going to end up with no bread. I have a certain amount of sympathy with the argument that Labour has been stitched up but not by people like the BBC. I wouldn't be at all surprised when the truth comes out that Putin's money has been behind the whole shebang, Brexit, Trump, Boris the lot.
 
Welcome back to the forum

I'm not back. Just wanted to see how blind the "other" side is. We have 2 fools vying for No10, a 3rd place that could not care less about any vote that doesn't go their way and to blame is a "foolish" electorate apparently. Given a choice between these 3, it can't be pinned on a foolish public. You can only vote for who is put up in front of you.

Lots of talk about a Rabbi coming out against "anti-semitism." No mention of the Muslim council of Britain coming out against the conservatives 2 days ago. This forum is as representative of bias as it claims every media source they disagree with is.

These problems are all out there, all publicised equally but each side thinks that the other side is being given a free run.

There is so much small minded thinking on the progressive left without ever understanding that each thing is not separate from each other. In a perfect world then yes each of these issues could be sorted however we all know this is not a perfect world. Money controls power and those in power on both sides of the argument. The left pulls in as much money as the right. All sides are funded by vested interests which are not in reality the interests of you and I, no matter how indirectly some (from both sides) might be in our interests.

No doubt though that the rich are the only ones who can sort out something like the climate/green problem and it will take every consumer to play ball. At the moment we have consumers that will not play ball demanding that something is done while the consumer continues mostly to be the cause of the problem.

It's pretty simple really. travel less, use less energy, buy things that are produced locally, eat less meats, eat less processed foods, buy locally manufactured everything (and only if you really need it,) buy eco friendly produced things. Will that happen? Nope because people are lazy and thus this argument will perpetuate with us (most of) expecting Nanny to take care of everything followed by (most of) us then complaining about Nanny making sensible decisions on these matters.

Tobacco is a key example. IT makes too much money so it remains easily available. It could have been banned decades ago but it hasn't. 30 years from now we will still see gridlock with people convincing themselves that they have taken the eco-friendly option ignoring that the eco-friendly version was not having a car and not just changing the type of car they have.

The policies all talk about reducing carbon footprint by xxxx. That is impossible because while each person can reduce their carbon footprint it ignores that there will be more and more people all the time and thus we are just treading water. I don't think we can expect any more than that unless every person in this world changes their own personal habits entirely.

And if every person was capable of doing that, changing their whole mindsets, at that point the idea of socialism or communism (what these terms actually mean) could actually work, however humans are not capable of that. They will always crash what these things are supposed to mean and we end up with what we know from history that socialism and communism ends up as.

Better still would be to wipe out all 'isms, but that would mean letting some AI computer wipe every human brain, eliminating the need for any leadership because we would all be happy clones.
 
I'm not back. Just wanted to see how blind the "other" side is. We have 2 fools vying for No10, a 3rd place that could not care less about any vote that doesn't go their way and to blame is a "foolish" electorate apparently. Given a choice between these 3, it can't be pinned on a foolish public. You can only vote for who is put up in front of you.

Lots of talk about a Rabbi coming out against "anti-semitism." No mention of the Muslim council of Britain coming out against the conservatives 2 days ago. This forum is as representative of bias as it claims every media source they disagree with is.

These problems are all out there, all publicised equally but each side thinks that the other side is being given a free run.

There is so much small minded thinking on the progressive left without ever understanding that each thing is not separate from each other. In a perfect world then yes each of these issues could be sorted however we all know this is not a perfect world. Money controls power and those in power on both sides of the argument. The left pulls in as much money as the right. All sides are funded by vested interests which are not in reality the interests of you and I, no matter how indirectly some (from both sides) might be in our interests.

No doubt though that the rich are the only ones who can sort out something like the climate/green problem and it will take every consumer to play ball. At the moment we have consumers that will not play ball demanding that something is done while the consumer continues mostly to be the cause of the problem.

It's pretty simple really. travel less, use less energy, buy things that are produced locally, eat less meats, eat less processed foods, buy locally manufactured everything (and only if you really need it,) buy eco friendly produced things. Will that happen? Nope because people are lazy and thus this argument will perpetuate with us (most of) expecting Nanny to take care of everything followed by (most of) us then complaining about Nanny making sensible decisions on these matters.

Tobacco is a key example. IT makes too much money so it remains easily available. It could have been banned decades ago but it hasn't. 30 years from now we will still see gridlock with people convincing themselves that they have taken the eco-friendly option ignoring that the eco-friendly version was not having a car and not just changing the type of car they have.

The policies all talk about reducing carbon footprint by xxxx. That is impossible because while each person can reduce their carbon footprint it ignores that there will be more and more people all the time and thus we are just treading water. I don't think we can expect any more than that unless every person in this world changes their own personal habits entirely.

And if every person was capable of doing that, changing their whole mindsets, at that point the idea of socialism or communism (what these terms actually mean) could actually work, however humans are not capable of that. They will always crash what these things are supposed to mean and we end up with what we know from history that socialism and communism ends up as.

Better still would be to wipe out all 'isms, but that would mean letting some AI computer wipe every human brain, eliminating the need for any leadership because we would all be happy clones.

I can understand a lot of your points, but I can't agree with this part:

"These problems are all out there, all publicised equally but each side thinks that the other side is being given a free run."

This simply isn't true. Channel 4, The Guardian and The Mirror have been about the only outlets which have publicised the Labour side. The BBC and all the rest of the papers have been staggeringly one-sided to the point where I sometimes feel I am lost in some George Orwell novel...
 
I'm not back. Just wanted to see how blind the "other" side is. We have 2 fools vying for No10, a 3rd place that could not care less about any vote that doesn't go their way and to blame is a "foolish" electorate apparently. Given a choice between these 3, it can't be pinned on a foolish public. You can only vote for who is put up in front of you.

Lots of talk about a Rabbi coming out against "anti-semitism." No mention of the Muslim council of Britain coming out against the conservatives 2 days ago. This forum is as representative of bias as it claims every media source they disagree with is.

These problems are all out there, all publicised equally but each side thinks that the other side is being given a free run.

There is so much small minded thinking on the progressive left without ever understanding that each thing is not separate from each other. In a perfect world then yes each of these issues could be sorted however we all know this is not a perfect world. Money controls power and those in power on both sides of the argument. The left pulls in as much money as the right. All sides are funded by vested interests which are not in reality the interests of you and I, no matter how indirectly some (from both sides) might be in our interests.

No doubt though that the rich are the only ones who can sort out something like the climate/green problem and it will take every consumer to play ball. At the moment we have consumers that will not play ball demanding that something is done while the consumer continues mostly to be the cause of the problem.

It's pretty simple really. travel less, use less energy, buy things that are produced locally, eat less meats, eat less processed foods, buy locally manufactured everything (and only if you really need it,) buy eco friendly produced things. Will that happen? Nope because people are lazy and thus this argument will perpetuate with us (most of) expecting Nanny to take care of everything followed by (most of) us then complaining about Nanny making sensible decisions on these matters.

Tobacco is a key example. IT makes too much money so it remains easily available. It could have been banned decades ago but it hasn't. 30 years from now we will still see gridlock with people convincing themselves that they have taken the eco-friendly option ignoring that the eco-friendly version was not having a car and not just changing the type of car they have.

The policies all talk about reducing carbon footprint by xxxx. That is impossible because while each person can reduce their carbon footprint it ignores that there will be more and more people all the time and thus we are just treading water. I don't think we can expect any more than that unless every person in this world changes their own personal habits entirely.

And if every person was capable of doing that, changing their whole mindsets, at that point the idea of socialism or communism (what these terms actually mean) could actually work, however humans are not capable of that. They will always crash what these things are supposed to mean and we end up with what we know from history that socialism and communism ends up as.

Better still would be to wipe out all 'isms, but that would mean letting some AI computer wipe every human brain, eliminating the need for any leadership because we would all be happy clones.
Hi Imps, I'm intrigued by this

"Lots of talk about a Rabbi coming out against "anti-semitism." No mention of the Muslim council of Britain coming out against the conservatives 2 days ago. This forum is as representative of bias as it claims every media source they disagree with is."

In what parallel universe did this forum ever claim to be unbiased media? It's contributed to by people who post their opinions and who, on the whole tend to be a bit more left leaning than average I'd say...the Rabbi got plenty of comment because what he said was pertinent to the feeling that the media are biased against Corbyn's Labour Party. The Muslim Council of Britain comments were unsurprising as people expect the Tories to be like that so it attracted little comment on here.

So yes you are correct, there is definite bias on here, however Not606 is not mass media designed to influence large swathes of the population according to the wishes of its owners but is merely a random collection of individuals who chat about stuff online.
On that basis, you are comparing apples with oranges and your comparison is therefore meaningless.

I did read the rest of your post, but it just made me sad that there are working class Tories who believe that a Boris led government either isn't going to comprehensively **** this country for generations to come or believe that even if he does, that will still be better than a Socialist government that may invest in the people of this country.
I'm a leftie though so I'm biased of course.
 
I'm not back. Just wanted to see how blind the "other" side is. We have 2 fools vying for No10, a 3rd place that could not care less about any vote that doesn't go their way and to blame is a "foolish" electorate apparently. Given a choice between these 3, it can't be pinned on a foolish public. You can only vote for who is put up in front of you.

Lots of talk about a Rabbi coming out against "anti-semitism." No mention of the Muslim council of Britain coming out against the conservatives 2 days ago. This forum is as representative of bias as it claims every media source they disagree with is.

These problems are all out there, all publicised equally but each side thinks that the other side is being given a free run.

There is so much small minded thinking on the progressive left without ever understanding that each thing is not separate from each other. In a perfect world then yes each of these issues could be sorted however we all know this is not a perfect world. Money controls power and those in power on both sides of the argument. The left pulls in as much money as the right. All sides are funded by vested interests which are not in reality the interests of you and I, no matter how indirectly some (from both sides) might be in our interests.

No doubt though that the rich are the only ones who can sort out something like the climate/green problem and it will take every consumer to play ball. At the moment we have consumers that will not play ball demanding that something is done while the consumer continues mostly to be the cause of the problem.

It's pretty simple really. travel less, use less energy, buy things that are produced locally, eat less meats, eat less processed foods, buy locally manufactured everything (and only if you really need it,) buy eco friendly produced things. Will that happen? Nope because people are lazy and thus this argument will perpetuate with us (most of) expecting Nanny to take care of everything followed by (most of) us then complaining about Nanny making sensible decisions on these matters.

Tobacco is a key example. IT makes too much money so it remains easily available. It could have been banned decades ago but it hasn't. 30 years from now we will still see gridlock with people convincing themselves that they have taken the eco-friendly option ignoring that the eco-friendly version was not having a car and not just changing the type of car they have.

The policies all talk about reducing carbon footprint by xxxx. That is impossible because while each person can reduce their carbon footprint it ignores that there will be more and more people all the time and thus we are just treading water. I don't think we can expect any more than that unless every person in this world changes their own personal habits entirely.

And if every person was capable of doing that, changing their whole mindsets, at that point the idea of socialism or communism (what these terms actually mean) could actually work, however humans are not capable of that. They will always crash what these things are supposed to mean and we end up with what we know from history that socialism and communism ends up as.

Better still would be to wipe out all 'isms, but that would mean letting some AI computer wipe every human brain, eliminating the need for any leadership because we would all be happy clones.


It seems to me you have a very pessimistic outlook on life Imps. Do you think all human beings are blinkered, greedy and selfish? Don't you think we can be better than that? What about empathy, generosity, compassion? Don't people exhibit those characteristics too?

If all we do on the environment is tread water, btw, we're ****ed. But I believe we can still pull back from the brink. So can Saints, btw.
 
It seems to me you have a very pessimistic outlook on life Imps. Do you think all human beings are blinkered, greedy and selfish? Don't you think we can be better than that? What about empathy, generosity, compassion? Don't people exhibit those characteristics too?

If all we do on the environment is tread water, btw, we're ****ed. But I believe we can still pull back from the brink. So can Saints, btw.
This makes we want to dig through the Internet for a study I once read which explored the psychology of Conservative vs Left leaning voting. Conservatives are overwhelmingly governed by fear and the left governed by hope.

This was true to such an extent that simply playing a montage of distressing image before asking people to select their political choice could sway people to vote more to the right than they would normally.
 
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I have come to the opinion that the BBC has decided that Johnson is going to be the next PM and their sycophantic behaviour is based on fear that if they don't show him in a good light then he will take a terrible revenge on them. Look at the threats he has made regarding the supreme court and now threats to Channel 4 and a review of their licence.

Not just a ****ing lying toe rag but the playground's biggest ****ing bully too.
 
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That would have been this one, taken in the gardens at Belem, Lisbon in 2009. Aged 34, definitely not 43, The son in that picture is now 13 and my hairline has moved up the sides of my forehead (albeit not like Shearer) a fair bit since then:
You must log in or register to see images

A lot of energy was expended producing those needless tattoos mate. I don't drive (not allowed to because of my medical condition) and I don't fly because no one will insure me but I still lead a rich life. I watch the saints, watch endless day time telly and waste my time on football message boards.
 
Anyone who doesn't think the Tories will dismantle the NHS should ask who dismantled our social housing framework and created the homelessness we see today.

All saints fans who think a private medical system is OK should remember what happened to our hero Ron Davis. He ended up as white trash living in a run down caravan park and totally disabled because he couldn't pay for the operation that would restore his mobility.
 
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