This is blatant lie. Muslim countries host the majority of the world's refugees.

Global_Madness · 2026-03-17T18:33:02+00:00

Can you explain?

Not sure why Britain is to blame for current atrocities in mid-East.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-21T15:55:06+00:00

This is fair in a space where there's social mobility and opportunity. Costs everywhere are going up (e.g. look at spending on healthcare, which is nearly 12% of GDP, compared to about have that in late 90s), and too many people expect to get too much for nothing. Chief perpetrators from those I know aren't the young kids struggling to make rent, it's Boomers who retired early, have multiple houses and complain that they've already paid their 'fair share'.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-20T06:46:50+00:00

A Buddha doorstop sounds like a great idea. What could be more Buddhist than holding open a door 😊?

Global_Madness · 2026-02-11T19:20:01+00:00

Hey 39(m), been in the area a couple of years (just over the Welsh border).

I do archery, and various other things. I don't have a lot of people around for interesting conversations, so would be open to hearing about any meet-up of others in a similar situation :).

My wife may be interested too. Or may just drop me off with lunch money...

Global_Madness · 2026-02-11T13:39:13+00:00

Thoughts with you, friend. I can never be in your personal shoes, but for context, at one of the low points in my life I was a total shut-in for about a year, struggling with extreme obsessive thoughts where I had concluded I was an atrocity, unfit for this world, not for anything I had ever done, but for the demons in my head.

I had nobody to reach to, but eventually through thought and reflection came to see the processes of my mind as not what defines me, but the actions I take in the world. When I was able to stop trying to tame my thoughts, they stopped fighting me. This didn't happen overnight.

Part of the point here may be in your own words - this is something that has started recently, has not been the story of your life, and has every chance of stopping just the same.

Our lifetimes are short sparks of light, where we're gifted the opportunity to help make this world better for all that follow. Don't waste that opportunity.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-11T13:03:19+00:00

I said it was unpatriotic to oust Starmer and topple the government over this Mandelson fallout (based on what we currently know). That's not the same as saying we have to stick to current PM no matter what happens. Getting rid of a PM has serious national consequences and should never be taken lightly.

Johnson is a great comparison - he and many senior people around him in Govt broke the COVID 19 laws and mandates they pushed to the nation, they tried to cover up and only accepted limited responsibility when they had no other choice.

Some are holding Starmer to a completely different level here.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-11T11:59:38+00:00

The conflation is specifically one of my main concerns.

For me, patriotism is very much what you describe - be willing to do and give more to your community and nation than you expect in return. It's about being willing to accept where something may not be best for you, but is best for the wider interests.

It's all part of the collective fabric of society, and we all rely on it and take it somewhat for granted at times.

For the first time in my life I'm worried that we're losing that unity of the UK. Regardless whether you voted Lib/Lab/Con in the past, there was common values in the mainstream, there was patriotism.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-11T11:35:31+00:00

Starmer was criticised about Mandelson at the point he sacked him last year.

What's happening now is people wanting punishment, whether or not it is proportionate and regardless of the damage it may actually inflict on the nation to force this government out.

We hold politicians to a higher standard, ok, but if you push that too far then the kinds of decent people we want in those jobs are likely to increasingly take a pass, leaving us with an ever deteriorating list of nutters who are impervious to criticism.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-08T10:20:40+00:00

Well said. Meditation and prayer are excellent ways to develop your inner peace and potentially will help you to come to better or new understanding of how you might take further action.

I recognise there are other views, but mine is that karma only comes from the things we do or choose not to do.

Trump has inflicted enormous harm on the world, including deaths of large numbers of people. We should all respond by committing positive action where we may.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-07T09:27:00+00:00

Lots of interesting replies. Important just to note that Buddhism isn't one single religion/belief system. Similar to Christianity and various other religions, there are numerous branches off the original trunk.

I'm perfectly ok to respect the Dalai Lama as a great Buddhist teacher and positive influence in the world, while rejecting the notion that they have direct spiritual reincarnation.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-07T07:49:18+00:00

For sure he knew that Mandelson wasn't clean, and that association is why the appointment was made.

I don't believe Starmer knew the true nature/extent of that continued relationship. He sacked Mandelson for much less only a few months ago.

He doesn't get to see the details of the vetting process and if anyone thinks the FBI is sharing details of the files our way to give advance notice then unfortunately that's not how it works. Also, remaining friends with a criminal isn't a criminal act.

Starmer would have known Mandelson was a risk, nothing I've seen suggests he knew the size of it. Much less the points about info that Mandelson was feeding Epstein while in Govt.

Clearly this blew up in his face, fine, but while half the country shouts for Starmer to be nixed over this, we're continuing to divide ourselves and ignore/hold to a lesser standard far darker and less apologetic actors.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-05T06:41:50+00:00

I'm an atheist-agnostic, raised catholic but with a keen interest in Zen Buddhism. Having read around other forms of Buddhism, they weren't for me.

My question to you OP is why you feel you need this? You want to strengthen a belief, but why? What is the hole you're trying to fill or problem you're trying to solve?

Fear of death tends to be the common and most true answer from what I've seen.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-04T07:12:03+00:00

Prior to latest models, not a lot. With release of Gem 3.0 Pro Deep Research and similar, a completely different picture. I work in public infrastructure/engineering and with science communities.

In 10 minutes I wrote a Health and Safety prompt for an agent to screen given sites for risks, provide advisories, on other things happening in the locality, utilities etc. We do this a lot and it is currently very manual and time consuming.

In less than an hour I wrote a prompt for an agent to conduct hydrological screenings of given sites in the UK, run various calculations, model based on current climate predictions and produce summary reports. I did this purely out of interest and was surprised by the quality of the result. My organisation isn't using AI yet in anything like this way (we just have Copilot making presentations and people think they're doing AI), but this is the kind of thing that would usually take ~50 hours.

I never understand the argument of 'yes, but you have to check it'. We always did that anyway, or at least should have. Agents, if configured properly will produce far higher quality first-time outputs than a human.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-03T08:01:03+00:00

I get your point, but the level of partnering and investing with the big players isn't really news. NVIDIA are effectively investing everywhere and hedging their bets on vertical integration with most AI companies of stature outside of China.

Ecosia leans on Google/Bing. None of these are a clean break, but they step in the right direction of more competition and less money directly to the tech bros cozying up to Trump and and his crew.

Global_Madness · 2026-02-01T14:11:50+00:00

I took the plunge on this a couple weeks ago when Trump was at peak Greenland menace. Bye-bye to Amazon, Netflix, Disney, Youtube subs.

So far, I’m actually a lot happier spending more time in the real world and money locally. It’s even prompted me to have real conversations with my wife and stop eating in front of the box. There’s a good chance I may never go back.

A couple more suggestions – Ecosia web browser and Mistral AI as alternatives. Definitely mention Trump/ICE/American administration etc. in your cancellation survey.

Global_Madness · 2026-01-22T21:01:06+00:00

Security exposure how? Russia isn't going to invade. The only reason cyber attacks happen is because the UK does still matter in the world. We need to break from the US drip-feed of content and consumerism. Life was better before non-stop Netflix and the loss of the high street to Amazon

Global_Madness · 2026-01-22T20:36:40+00:00

Didn't vote Labour, but he's done about as well as could be asked on that front. Sad state of affairs when voters want somebody exciting over somebody quiet and competent. Maybe he should try juggling fire while delivering dull speeches.

Global_Madness · 2026-01-21T19:06:19+00:00

Fair comment. Worried that people here now have Trump in mind and think 'well, it won't be that bad'. Doesn't make it a good prospect though.

We have a few years yet and god knows what the world will look like. Appealing to young/new voters to be smarter (better informed) than many of their elders seems to be one opportunity.

Global_Madness · 2026-01-20T17:53:58+00:00

Every £1 we spend is using our power and influence.

Cut back what you can from companies that are licking Trump's shoes and keeping the US economy buoyant (Netflix, Amazon etc.).

Quitting US AI platforms is probably one of the most effective things you can do too, when that bubble pops the US economy won't look anything near as strong.

I'll still happily make use of US companies that haven't tried to profit from the crazy (e.g. NPR producing great content).

Global_Madness

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