Off Topic Politics Thread

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If parents are there to have balanced chats with their kids then schools don’t have to do anything but educate. The sad fact is that this is no longer anywhere near the truth. So many children come to school totally ignorant of basic life ideas and carrying parental prejudices based on nothing other than ignorance.

No teacher wants to get involved in this crap. But let’s be clear here: the loudest voices in schools are actually voices of cruelty. The snide remarks. The bullying. The way people who are different are targeted and mocked. The way trans **** is weaponised in schools is by children - who are often arseholes - using these things to punish and humiliate others.

Outside of schools the debate is damaging. Inside schools teachers have a duty to civilise these children - whose parents will mouth off about the stupidity of trans politics in front of them but forget to say how important it is we respect others.

 

[saintrichie123]

Interest rates now up to 5%, 13 months on the trot increase …..,..not good if you’re coming to the end of a fixed term mortgage or in fact trying to get one.
Also some renters may get an increase due to the owners mortgage increase.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/business-65977222

 

[EasyBreezer]

Outrageous the BoE is allowing homeowners, who make up a huge percentage of this country, to take the hit.

Banks are creaming profits on the increased rates already. Corporate UK is reeling in record profits also whilst we suffer.

Since 2008 we have existed through one of the greatest transfers of wealth from normal people to the already outrageously wealthy.

Cost of home ownership relative to average income is now worse than during the great depression.

Meanwhile Tories are queueing to congratulate one of the worst BoE governors of all time.

 

[Archers Road]

Franny Benali wasn't subject to such petty limitations....

Nor was Aleksandr Ostland.

 

[saintrichie123]

Outrageous the BoE is allowing homeowners, who make up a huge percentage of this country, to take the hit.

Banks are creaming profits on the increased rates already. Corporate UK is reeling in record profits also whilst we suffer.

Since 2008 we have existed through one of the greatest transfers of wealth from normal people to the already outrageously wealthy.

Cost of home ownership relative to average income is now worse than during the great depression.

Meanwhile Tories are queueing to congratulate one of the worst BoE governors of all time.

Sunak just doesn’t want to know, if I remember correctly even Maggie taxed in the end.

 

[Archers Road]

Outrageous the BoE is allowing homeowners, who make up a huge percentage of this country, to take the hit.

Banks are creaming profits on the increased rates already. Corporate UK is reeling in record profits also whilst we suffer.

Since 2008 we have existed through one of the greatest transfers of wealth from normal people to the already outrageously wealthy.

Cost of home ownership relative to average income is now worse than during the great depression.

Meanwhile Tories are queueing to congratulate one of the worst BoE governors of all time.

Didn’t we, the taxpayer, bail out the banks about 15 years ago?

 

[SaintStu]

Get use to this interest rates - predictions are that they may peak at 6% but not really come down below 5% for another couple of years. This will make it a problem for the next government. Can you see the current government busting a gut to improve the situation before the election when their rich mates are making dosh, and there is not a whole lot they can do without making banks take the hit or international money markets reacting negatively.

 

[Lemons and Oranges]

Get use to this interest rates - predictions are that they may peak at 6% but not really come down below 5% for another couple of years. This will make it a problem for the next government. Can you see the current government busting a gut to improve the situation before the election when their rich mates are making dosh, and there is not a whole lot they can do without making banks take the hit or international money markets reacting negatively.

If the Tories believed that they might have a chance of winning the next election, I feel that there would be more attempt to improve things, but it does seem that they are employing a 'scorched earth' policy, by tanking the economy (for us ordinary mortals, anyway) just as they cede power to Labour.

 

[Billy Bates]

Im not sure people mortgaging themselves up to the tits over the last few years is the governments (and would say the same under a Labour gov) problem. I get cost of living, rising inflation and such, but when I had a mortgage I always made sure i could afford repayments if the rate shot up.

I know plenty of people who loved being furloughed and working at home during lockdown, some even went and got bigger mortgages on larger houses as they weren't paying for travel. Problem there was that was always a temporary measure, and they are complaining now how unfair it is.

I think people need to take responsibility. Isn't inflation also caused by increased wages, that have presumably gone to many people who have problems with mortgages?

I do agree with looking into taxing the bastards who caused the issues in 2008, albeit we need to keep the investment and incentives into the UK otherwise they will go someplace else. Or maybe that would be a good idea, bit like the Football Superleague.

Anyhow, look forward to the 1%er problems/insults coming my way, just my 2'penneth,

 

[ChilcoSaint]

I don't believe bringing trans discussions into primary schools is appropriate. Nor do I believe that young children should be encouraged into puberty blockers etc at a young age. People change hugely during puberty and big life changing decisions shouldn't be happening before that, let alone encouraged.

My lad mentioned the other day that there's a boy in his class that wants be a girl and that he finds it weird. It's fine to think that way imo and I told him so as long as he's respectful towards him. I also think that's lots of these things are 'phases' which should be allowed to play out, and not a permanent life choice where drugs or other treatment is needed.

When I was a kid there were loads of young girls who went through a 'tomboy' stage. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and most grow out of it, these days girls like that will be told they have gender dysphoria or something else equally ridiculous to label a pre teen child.

I've nothing against the trans community and it's good they are receiving more rights and equality these days. However some of the rhetoric and pushes by extreme parts of society is outright dangerous imo such as the laws that the Scottish Farage tried to push through. On that as well I'd say that sort of lunacy has far more chance of pushing people against this than the 'far right'.


If that all makes me a fascist, then **** it, I'm a facist.

Talking about gender issues with preadolescents is yet another facet of the sexualisation of children which has been slowly creeping into society for many years. Whether it’s encouraging kids to think about what gender they want to be when they have no idea what sex actually is, or selling training bras and makeup to 8 year old girls, or the horrific “beauty pageants” in the USA, it’s all completely unnecessary and creepily prurient.

The tiny, tiny percentage of genuinely gender-dysphoric children aren’t helped at all by the overkill attitude of trying to force it all into open discussion, when the majority of parents don’t want it. Of course there must be help and support for that tiny minority, but it shouldn’t be a topic of public discussion.

 

[SaintStu]

Aside from current inflation issues, the long term issues is lack of new stock in the housing market, and more particularly low-cost housing because there is limited land to build upon due to planning and when it comes up it is bought by developers who concentrate on building the larger and more expensive housing as it gives them more profit, which then cycles around. In the 90's you could buy a house for 2-4 times your annual salary, now it is more like 8-12 times. Getting started on the market is a lot more prohibitive and renting has kept apace too.

 

[Libby]

Talking about gender issues with preadolescents is yet another facet of the sexualisation of children which has been slowly creeping into society for many years. Whether it’s encouraging kids to think about what gender they want to be when they have no idea what sex actually is, or selling training bras and makeup to 8 year old girls, or the horrific “beauty pageants” in the USA, it’s all completely unnecessary and creepily prurient.

The tiny, tiny percentage of genuinely gender-dysphoric children aren’t helped at all by the overkill attitude of trying to force it all into open discussion, when the majority of parents don’t want it. Of course there must be help and support for that tiny minority, but it shouldn’t be a topic of public discussion.

Agree completely with all of this.

 

[EasyBreezer]

Didn’t we, the taxpayer, bail out the banks about 15 years ago?

Yep.

But we have subsequently sold back lots of the shares to NatWest for a figure less than 50% of the bailout price paid in 2008.

In Crazy Kwateng's budget he removed the limits on bankers bonuses, one of the only policies not subsequently reversed by Hunt & Sunak.

Banks were warned on Monday against profiteering from increased interest rates and this rise will further increase this. Customers now paying 5%+ on their mortgage, despite the initial borrowing from the BoE being substantially lower.

We now have uncontrolled greed in the private sector, under supply led inflation and rising interest rates. A triple whammy **** you to the middle classes.

 

[EasyBreezer]

Im not sure people mortgaging themselves up to the tits over the last few years is the governments (and would say the same under a Labour gov) problem. I get cost of living, rising inflation and such, but when I had a mortgage I always made sure i could afford repayments if the rate shot up.

I know plenty of people who loved being furloughed and working at home during lockdown, some even went and got bigger mortgages on larger houses as they weren't paying for travel. Problem there was that was always a temporary measure, and they are complaining now how unfair it is.

I think people need to take responsibility. Isn't inflation also caused by increased wages, that have presumably gone to many people who have problems with mortgages?

I do agree with looking into taxing the bastards who caused the issues in 2008, albeit we need to keep the investment and incentives into the UK otherwise they will go someplace else. Or maybe that would be a good idea, bit like the Football Superleague.

Anyhow, look forward to the 1%er problems/insults coming my way, just my 2'penneth,

Wages in this country have fallen relative to the cost of living in the last 15 years so it can't be that...

The current inflation is under supply led.

Yes COVID is a major contributor to this. But again that is just another example of people exploiting the current issues, or disaster capitalism. They tugged on heartstrings and appealed to our good nature and ripped us off whilst we were mindlessly clapping.

The issue is corporate greed at an industrial scale.

Businesses are recording record profits in a time when most are struggling. Why are big businesses with governmental connections immune to this suffering. Why is only small business and people that are shouldering this suffering, for the 3rd time in 15 years.

 

[Billy Bates]

Wages in this country have fallen relative to the cost of living in the last 15 years so it can't be that...

The current inflation is under supply led.

Yes COVID is a major contributor to this. But again that is just another example of people exploiting the current issues, or disaster capitalism. They tugged on heartstrings and appealed to our good nature and ripped us off whilst we were mindlessly clapping.

The issue is corporate greed at an industrial scale.

Businesses are recording record profits in a time when most are struggling. Why are big businesses with governmental connections immune to this suffering. Why is only small business and people that are shouldering this suffering, for the 3rd time in 15 years.

Well wages still can be and are likely a contributing factors, and yep agree with the rest of your post.

I’m not sure what the answer is, as balancing business to be attractive enough to invest also drives the economy so we can’t just be tough to deal with, and unattractive for investors so there does need to be some balance.

But I do feel this Gov has been the worse on record for feathering their own nests, and are the problem and not the likely solution.

 

[thereisonlyoneno7]

I don't believe bringing trans discussions into primary schools is appropriate. Nor do I believe that young children should be encouraged into puberty blockers etc at a young age. People change hugely during puberty and big life changing decisions shouldn't be happening before that, let alone encouraged.

My lad mentioned the other day that there's a boy in his class that wants be a girl and that he finds it weird. It's fine to think that way imo and I told him so as long as he's respectful towards him. I also think that's lots of these things are 'phases' which should be allowed to play out, and not a permanent life choice where drugs or other treatment is needed.

When I was a kid there were loads of young girls who went through a 'tomboy' stage. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and most grow out of it, these days girls like that will be told they have gender dysphoria or something else equally ridiculous to label a pre teen child.

I've nothing against the trans community and it's good they are receiving more rights and equality these days. However some of the rhetoric and pushes by extreme parts of society is outright dangerous imo such as the laws that the Scottish Farage tried to push through. On that as well I'd say that sort of lunacy has far more chance of pushing people against this than the 'far right'.


If that all makes me a fascist, then **** it, I'm a facist.

Agree 100%. All too often we are encouraging things so we don't appear to be against it.

IMO kids are too young to think about being labelled and it is our job as adults to not label them or make them think they are labelled. Support them in whatever they think and see how it pans out. This isn't a question of it being normal or not normal if you get what i mean (quite often what is thrown out by adults to each other and causes the friction) - there is no normal, we are all different. IMO totally inappropriate to teach kids at a young age trans discussions.

I think I am making a mess of what I mean, but what I am trying to say is that there are no issues with being gay, trans or whatever and I would never judge anyone by what they are, just let children be children and discover themselves without confusing them.

 

[EasyBreezer]

We now have uncontrolled greed in the private sector, under supply led inflation and rising i

Well wages still can be and are likely a contributing factors, and yep agree with the rest of your post.

I’m not sure what the answer is, as balancing business to be attractive enough to invest also drives the economy so we can’t just be tough to deal with, and unattractive for investors so there does need to be some balance.

But I do feel this Gov has been the worse on record for feathering their own nests, and are the problem and not the likely solution.

The current climate is incredibly fabourable to business and it doesn't seem to be benefitting people all that much. Absolutely the current government won't do anything. They are almost certain they won't regain power for a good stint so are going to use this next year to benefit as much as they can.

Hiking interest rates to further weaken peoples spending power would only reduce inflation if it were demand led.

 

[Schad]

This is one of those things where the left and right labels muddy more than they clear up. It is extremism of thought at both ends which is causing this- and both acting in ways people could easily call fascist.

The left needs to be stronger at dissociating from those loud voices that make threats when people transgress their perceived moral high ground. There is no moral high ground in the gender roles of children. We are too early into this and it feels a little too much like a fad. Ideas are dangerous. It was once okay to be a boyish girl who liked girls. Now that needs a label. Too many young people are transitioning and then transitioning back. All of this should be available for debate, but the right is empowered by the extreme left as the right appear to champion free speech. They have been put into a position where their normally insane point of view looks comfortable and sane and safe. Put there by the left.

I am open-minded and open-hearted too. This thing will work itself out over time. But if we tell people that men are women and women are men and people can be cats, it undermines everything socialists and ideological lefties are aiming for.

But that's not the conversation that IOAG wants, nor the people pushing it. They want negation. IOAG said it himself: he does not believe that trans people exist, full stop.

And there is some irony in citing the rate of detransition, given that by far the most common cause of detransition is social pressure:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8213007/

The NIH in the US did a massive study, and found that 84% of those who detransitioned did so for reasons other than fluctuations in their gender identity. In other words, they didn't do so because they ceased being trans: they did so because other people didn't accept them as trans. So further stigmatizing trans people isn't exactly going to make things better. It's just going to hurt more innocent people who are already being targeted for ostracization and violence.

(If you do the math, the number of trans people who i) detransitioned and ii) cited something other than external pressures (even just in part) for detransitioning is 357 out of 27,715, or 1.3% of the overall population of trans people surveyed. Which is not particularly much!)

 

[Shandy_top_89]

Because I’m a sadist I still watch Question Time and because I’m a mentalist I watched the Brexiteer only edition tonight (where’s the rejoin only edition Beeb?)

I don’t subscribe to the BBC being particularly biased one way or another on the whole, but the producers of QT should be on coals for letting a panel member who accused Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney of threatening violence against the U.K. go completely unchecked.

Just to emphasise the state of the show he was applauded for that comment. (the jist was he wanted a hard border on the island of Ireland)

 

[StJabbo1]

Because I’m a sadist I still watch Question Time and because I’m a mentalist I watched the Brexiteer only edition tonight (where’s the rejoin only edition Beeb?)

I don’t subscribe to the BBC being particularly biased one way or another on the whole, but the producers of QT should be on coals for letting a panel member who accused Leo Varadkar and Simon Coveney of threatening violence against the U.K. go completely unchecked.

Just to emphasise the state of the show he was applauded for that comment. (the jist was he wanted a hard border on the island of Ireland)

I watched and was appalled, will complain about the bias, the unchecked hard border comment and ask why a rejoin/remain show isn't planned.

30% of the leave voting audience have changed their minds. Replicated across the UK it would mean a huge majority for closer ties with the EU. If not rejoin then join the customs union and single market with a deal similar to Norway and other European neighbours of the EU.

I'm dismayed at the Labour stance, they long ago lost my support.