The Politics Thread

That's interesting,Human. They used to take people on tours of the Lea Bridge Road waterworks and explain how water was recycled from our use at home/work etc (including toilet water!) and the finale was giving the visitors a glass recycled/cleansed water.
Makes your mouth water,doesn't it?

 

Spot on.
The privatising of utilities is objectionable because people need the commodities they provide and always will. You can't apply market forces.
I'd love to tell my water company to stuff their ever increasing prices, but I can't be bothered to dig a well.

 

Flooding in North London!
Can we seek international relief??

 

Laura Kuntesberg obviously hasn't got back into the swing of things after her six-week holiday (in which nobody seemed to say they missed her) as I didn't hear a single mention of the following council election results on the BBC...

 

Two things I've wanted to do. Ride the G(h)an across Australia from Sydney to the extreme north,stopping over in Alice Springs.......and visit the Florida Keys.
Well,the latter has been almost wiped out and the long journey through the Aussie Outback would probably wipe me out! Oh dear!

 

Donald Trump, Richard Branson and Milos Yiannopoulos have all had property destroyed by Hurricane Irma.

While it's no surprise at the lack of sympathy they have received, it's also a spectacular act of karma against Breitbart's former golden boy given he spent several days using the same hurricane as an excuse to take potshots at anyone who had the sheer nerve to have a different opinion than he does (but remember, it's those damn dirty lefties who are intolerant...)

 

I hear today that the unemployment rate is the lowest in decades. This should be reported with a HUGE disclaimer because otherwise it might appear the Government are doing something right. These figures should always be accompanied by equally important stats such as the proportion of the workforce on minimum wage - surely the change in this proportion would be an equally good measure of the health of the country (if not the economy - may be different things). They should also at the same time report the proportion of the workforce on zero hours contracts for similar reasons. They should report how wages are in reference to inflation - because people in work can still be getting worse off, and maybe even the proportion of the workforce that need to claim benefits. Don't forget that any job that pays under the living wage may well be one that is being subsidised by the Government (us!)

 

In more laser-guided karma, the dung beetle in human form that is Martin Shkreli has had his bail revoked because he thought ignoring his bail conditions while awaiting sentencing on charges of fraud was a really, really clever idea.

Naturally this has led to a hell of a lot of Trumpists huffing about how he threatened Hillary Clinton and went to jail while Kathy Griffin didn't go to jail for that photo of a dummy Trump head, which proves that Trumpists don't have a clue how the law works as they fail to understand that people (and Shkreli) who awaiting sentencing who violate their bail conditions tend to go directly to jail, while putting a $5000 bounty on somebody is not covered by the First Amendment.

 

They same the same in America. They've forgotten about all the increased summer jobs that have come onto the market,full time or part time or very little time!

 

In the Blair years there was a very cynical way to massage the figures: if someone had been signing on for six months or more they were dumped onto the DWP's New Deal scheme where they were put on a six month course which apparently made them "students" in spite of receiving their benefits every other week as usual, and their studentship consisted of three months of the usual pointless courses and three months of unpaid voluntary work.

Funnily enough it didn't help people into work, not least because for three months they were stuck in a local charity shop where they couldn't actually look for work!

 

I think Kathy Griffin doesn't like Trump.....like billions of others! I wonder if Hillary could sue Trump and The National Enquirer for all the bullcrap they keep throwing at her?

 

The National Enquirer falls under the First Amendment...which underlines the obvious problem with the US, namely how they think that the first Constitution they wrote is good enough, while most countries with a Constitution have gone through several (i.e. France has had fifteen since 1791, Germany six since 1815, Italy seven since 1797...you get the idea)

 

I think it is time to change the Constitution to something that is useful for the 21st century......but keep Trump's hands of it.

I hear Trump is bullying that tiny little man,Sessions,again. He must make a wonderful husband!

 

Or, better yet, make it incredibly relevant to the late 18th century - for example specifying that people have the right to own muskets and flintlock pistols, but not any sort of gun developed in the 19th century and beyond. After all that's what the Founding Fathers clearly meant...

 

Another attempted 'terror' attack in West Brompton this morning. Mrs B was due to arrive at West Brompton for a meeting 20 minutes after this device went off. It's depressing rather than worrying and it's not going to change anybody's travel plans tomorrow. I'll still be getting on a tube train to Wembley and millions of others will do the same over the weekend and days and weeks ahead. There's no point to it and presumably no end in sight either. Like death and taxes, senseless slaughter of innocent people is just another part of life...............What a world.

 

What a world yes, shoot thy neighbour.
However, it didn't go off properly according to Sky News, perhaps Allah is trying to send them a message,

 

They think allah will give them umpteen virgins etc if they blow themselves and innocents up.

The only place they will finish up is where it is very hot!...........and there ain't no virgins around....anywhere!

 

I think the only reason they had guns in those early days was because of Indians.Well,they pretty well wiped the Indians so they really don't need guns today....yes,I know.Silly me.Americans need a gun in the house like Dean Martin needed a drink.
My mates at work used to laugh when they read about shootings in America.They called them "bomb happy bastards"! At the time I thought that was a bit much. I don't anymore.

Some years ago I went to this weekend do in Mount Sterling in Kentucky called "Court Days". The whole town is a big market place for the day/s.It blew my mind when I saw men sitting on the pavement selling pistols,rifles and ammo........and young boys (16-18) walking about with pistols in their belts and rifles slung over their shoulders. The police weren't doing anything about it. Talk about "coals to Newcastle".

 

Or just go with what it actually says and give them the right to bear arms as part of a well regulated militia.
Not part of a well armed militia? Doesn't apply to you, then.

Alternatively, just have laws like they do in other countries, like Canada or even here.
People can own guns, there are just some regulations about how you store them and use them.

 

Meanwhile, on Planet Tory...

A few days ago Jeremy Corbyn posted this tweet asking to hear from public sector workers who have not had a pay increase for seven years under the Tories


This led to the James Cleverly, Tory MP for Braintree, making a direct comparison between believing that public sector workers deserve a pay increase and actual ****ing Stalinists


Cthulhu ****ing fhtagn...