Off Topic The Politics Thread

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Should the UK remain a part of the EU or leave?

  • Stay in

    Votes: 56 47.9%
  • Get out

    Votes: 61 52.1%

  • Total voters
    117
  • Poll closed .
Foreign aid outrage as YOU PAY to help CHINA'S factory workers quit smoking
THE Government has come under fire after handing out cash for a project to help Chinese workers quit smoking - after pledging not to issue money to developed countries.
 
Very true. They develop female plumage and keep it for life so that they can be less visible to other males. It also allows them to "sneak up" on females, as it were, during the mating season. I have no idea why 40% do it and the rest don't.
Marsh Harriers are now doing well after years of low numbers. They have adapted their nesting habits and there are now quite large numbers in the UK, especially in the South and East.

I think they should review the migration policy of all birds
 
When are all the Brexit-supporting ex-pats or emigrees coming back to the UK to help make a success of it, I wonder? Anyone?
Well I won't be back anytime soon
Before I left the firm I worked for went mad hiring Romanians
Some of them were great people but once they were made permanent staff they turned into really lazy ****ers
(They were great for the cheap smuggled ciggies though..2000 a week I was buying and selling on...paid for my habit)
I am better off living here
Kids have a better life
Not that they appreciate it
 
Well I won't be back anytime soon
Before I left the firm I worked for went mad hiring Romanians
Some of them were great people but once they were made permanent staff they turned into really lazy ****ers
(They were great for the cheap smuggled ciggies though..2000 a week I was buying and selling on...paid for my habit)
I am better off living here
Kids have a better life
Not that they appreciate it

I've travelled a bit around North Island (2004) and thought it was a lovely place - if you had enough dosh to be comfy. My sister lived in Pirongia for 5 years before coming back to the UK. Where are you?
 
You are right
Not the cheapest place in the world to live
But if you get a half decent job it's one of the best places to live
Luckily me and the wife both work and the lifestyle is far superior to anything I could of dreamed of living in London
Which is a bloody shame
Anyway I live about 20 minutes from Wellington in lower hutt
 
You are right
Not the cheapest place in the world to live
But if you get a half decent job it's one of the best places to live
Luckily me and the wife both work and the lifestyle is far superior to anything I could of dreamed of living in London
Which is a bloody shame
Anyway I live about 20 minutes from Wellington in lower hutt
How long have you been there Kiwi? I spent a month or so travelling around and walking the tracks way back in 1987. Stunningly beautiful country and the best place in the world, back then, to hitch hike. But back then still stuck in the 1950s. Getting a pint on a Sunday or after 10 in the evening was a struggle. Not sure if it was NZ or Australia where at one time the pubs closed at 6pm, leading to the 'six o'clock swill' a rush to drink so desperate that some bars had a trough in front of them so people could piss without losing their place at the bar or stopping drinking.

Which brings me to an excellent radio programme The English Fix, which has looked at patriots like Orwell and Barbara Castle. Today it was the turn of the conservative philosopher Roger Scruton. Really interesting, as it slowly emerged that his vision of Englishness was essentially that of a country gentleman hobby farmer, dressed up in praise for the common law, and the idea that physical isolation has made us different to other places. His yearning for an imaginary past actually made me feel sorry for him after a bit, as did his constant referencing of Orwell, who was a great patriot and an internationalist democratic socialist at the same time. He did have the grace to admit that once we are out of the EU (of course he can't wait) there will be other people to blame for our woes. Worth a listen.
 
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How long have you been there Kiwi? I spent a month or so travelling around and walking the tracks way back in 1987. Stunningly beautiful country and the best place in the world, back then, to hitch hike. But back then still stuck in the 1950s. Getting a pint on a Sunday or after 10 in the evening was a struggle. Not sure if it was NZ or Australia where at one time the pubs closed at 6pm, leading to the 'six o'clock swill' a rush to drink so desperate that some bars had a trough in front of them so people could piss without losing their place at the bar or stopping drinking.

Which brings me to an excellent radio programme The English Fix, which has looked at patriots like Orwell and Barbara Castle. Today it was the turn of the conservative philosopher Roger Scruton. Really interesting, as it slowly emerged that his vision of Englishness was essentially that of a country gentleman hobby farmer, dressed up in praise for the common law, and the idea that physical isolation has made us different to other places. His yearning for an imaginary past actually made me feel sorry for him after a bit, as did his constant referencing of Orwell, who was a great patriot and an internationalist democratic socialist at the same time. He did have the grace to admit that once we are out of the EU (of course he can't wait) there will be other people to blame for our woes. Worth a listen.
I listened to that today.
 
How long have you been there Kiwi? I spent a month or so travelling around and walking the tracks way back in 1987. Stunningly beautiful country and the best place in the world, back then, to hitch hike. But back then still stuck in the 1950s. Getting a pint on a Sunday or after 10 in the evening was a struggle. Not sure if it was NZ or Australia where at one time the pubs closed at 6pm, leading to the 'six o'clock swill' a rush to drink so desperate that some bars had a trough in front of them so people could piss without losing their place at the bar or stopping drinking.

Which brings me to an excellent radio programme The English Fix, which has looked at patriots like Orwell and Barbara Castle. Today it was the turn of the conservative philosopher Roger Scruton. Really interesting, as it slowly emerged that his vision of Englishness was essentially that of a country gentleman hobby farmer, dressed up in praise for the common law, and the idea that physical isolation has made us different to other places. His yearning for an imaginary past actually made me feel sorry for him after a bit, as did his constant referencing of Orwell, who was a great patriot and an internationalist democratic socialist at the same time. He did have the grace to admit that once we are out of the EU (of course he can't wait) there will be other people to blame for our woes. Worth a listen.

England is full of dreamers dreaming up ideas of cricket on the green
The reality of it is to be better explained to me by the Sex Pistols and better still by the reaction to the Sex Pistrols by the cricket dreamers

Which dream is more real ?

Where exactly does the English dream now actually exist ? And if someone was to give me an example would that dream survive examination?

People eat too much countryfile in the UK. From a farming family I can say it's not at all real. I state this because I strongly believe that farmers are the last of the honest U.K. People
 
When are all the Brexit-supporting ex-pats or emigrees coming back to the UK to help make a success of it, I wonder? Anyone?

I think the plan is for all the ex-pat OAPs and bank robbers currently on the Costa Brava to come back and take fruit-picking jobs in Kent.
 
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Well, no. There's only one statistic there that quotes an actual number, and that's correct. The others might need a little digging, and are far less obviously comparable due to the changing size and make-up of the job market, but you can't simply dismiss them as 'fake news' without any proof.

Start here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentan...eptember2017#main-points-for-may-to-july-2017

It's off a Government website
So I will finish immediate
They are cherry picked statements imo so of course I don't believe them at all
Believe me I do these PPTs for a living for main and local government as well as for the private sector

The only people in my experience that release all news is John Lewis

I am willing to bet that previous reports of failings never see publication
 
The big clue on these reports are usually contained in the first three lines

Estimates predict etc etc

In truth they have no idea about people on the black

I tend to question statistics based on estimates
 
It's off a Government website
So I will finish immediate
They are cherry picked statements imo so of course I don't believe them at all
Believe me I do these PPTs for a living for main and local government as well as for the private sector

The only people in my experience that release all news is John Lewis

I am willing to bet that previous reports of failings never see publication

The Office of National Statistics is a non-ministerial department that reports to - but is NOT a part of - the Government. That means that none of the reports and statistics they generate are in any way dictated to by any government minister or political party.

Come on - you should know this stuff...