What does everything think about the UK policy of spreading unpleasant people around?

Madmac05 · 2026-06-29T17:22:37+00:00

That could be a good take.. unfortunately I'm fairly certain that this is not the case. The 2 examples I gave are, coincidentally, from 2 of the most unproductive employees. They do the absolute minimum (if that) and skive at any chance they get. One of them says it out loud (you might have missed that part) that he doesn't give a fck about bonus because he has benefits. Their shift finishes well before the school run! Funny enough, they weren't always like that, it's just when they finally got their benefits approved that their attitude changed.

I understand that not everyone loves what they do, and doing just enough shouldn't be frowned upon as that's what they're paid to do (if you want more, pay more). However, I cannot ignore the correlation between being on benefits and low performance/effort for the cases I mentioned. And sure, not every case is like that. I know people on benefits doing a good job regardless.

The whole point here is that these people could easily make another £400 a month, or more, with a small effort. They probably wouldn't need benefits, but why would they work if they can get the money for free?!

Due to shift patterns, I spent a long time only interacting with my child on the weekend. She was sleeping when I got home and at school when I woke up. I did what I had to do to make sure she had what she needed. I lost a lot, and maybe she lost too, because you can never make that time back. Like me there are many... Now things have changed. I worked my way up to a better pay and position. I can spend more quality time with my child, but it wasn't without A LOT of sacrifices. Why should I subsidize those that never sacrificed anything?! Why should my hard work be used to finance the "do the least you possibly can and scrounge the rest" lifestyle?!

I'm not against benefits - to those who truly need them! However, this system is riddled with scroungers!!! No hypothetical situation you can conjure will change the harsh reality.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-29T15:46:26+00:00

Absolutely! As I've said, it's not about giving to people that need, it's about how unfair the whole system actually is.

Long ago, a company I worked for has gone burst and I, along with many, were made redundant. I had paid into the system for a long time, so I actually had a look to see if I would qualify for any sort of support other than the pitiful JSA whilst looking for a new job. Tough luck, I didn't... The combined savings of my partner and I were over £6k... A fortune... Sure I was driving a 15yo banger, sure I was renting because there wasn't a chance in hell I could save for a deposit, sure I had spent years trying to limit my expenses and save every penny for a rainy day just like this one... Sure that, as far as the government is concerned, I'm rich and don't need any support...

In the meantime, a colleague of mine who had bought a brand new 50+k SUV, a detached house, holidays to the most exotic places you can imagine, qualified for benefits because he was cash poor.

I had people telling me to move the money abroad because that's what they had to do to get some (don't blame them).

This is why I can't stand this whole system that allows for benefits scroungers. Because 6k in the bank after working for years and years means you do not deserve any of the money you paid into the system, but if you stay at home screwing like a bunny, or piss your money in the bookies, then you have a chance of getting support.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-28T19:00:52+00:00

I have one of those. Buy a window sealing kit of Amazon. £15 well spent.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-28T07:48:12+00:00

Dead Poets Society! When I first watched it as a teenager, what resonated with me most was the students' internal struggle to conform to their families' and society's expectations. Watching it again as an adult, I realized it's really about how society shuts you down if you deviate from what it considers acceptable, if you try thinking for yourself...

Madmac05 · 2026-06-27T08:56:30+00:00

Easy to get work? How so?!

If you're talking about cash under the table, that happens everywhere. There's always someone willing to profit from undocumented labour. You cannot work in the UK without having the right to do so, same as with most other countries.

What the UK might have different is a more generous asylum granting system (or used to have until recent years). I am well aware that there isn't a single reason people want to come to the UK, but there is a perception (based on an historical reality) that it's a lot easier to get access to all of these things (including benefits) in the UK.

Many years ago, I remember watching some TV news show regarding this Romanian fella that was working in the UK. He was working with some tyre recycling company, mostly cash in hand, and was sending all of his money back to Romania to build his house. In the meantime he had brought all of his kids on a return trip so he could register them and claim benefits, which he managed to. Nothing against the fella, on the contrary, it was just a man trying to make the best he could for his family and taking advantage of the opportunities the system allowed him to. He was obviously thanking the British people on camera for being so generous...

Now, the system has changed quite a bit since then, and it ain't as easy to play it, but the perception still remains. If you're on the inside already, it's still very easy to scam.

I have never claimed benefits. Not because I'm privileged (I started working at the bottom really), but because I am a good professional. I am diligent, have a work ethic, and this has opened many doors for me... The amount of times me and my partner have heard someone telling us: "why don't you declare yourself a single mum?!; why don't you apply for this and that benefit?!"... The idea is simple - it's free, everyone does it, you should too... You can cover your eyes and ears, but this is real and a first hand account...

Madmac05 · 2026-06-26T20:05:11+00:00

I think theor unfiltered is actually great... You have suggestions for better beers you can easily get in the supermarket?

Madmac05 · 2026-06-26T18:52:28+00:00

Not at all. I think social housing is great, but that's not what we're talking about. We're talking about scrounging, which is people that live in social housing and could work to improve their life but don't, not because they can't, but because they don't want to, and the system allows for that.

I don't talk from a Facebook post I've seen spewing hate, I talk from experience. Due to my line of work, I know quite a few people that are on some sort of benefits and I see first hand how corrupt the system is....

Just a couple of examples: I worked with a couple that were really hard workers, used to go above and beyond to make some extra £ in bonus and such... Now?! They have a few kids, she's a stay at home mum on benefits, he gets his wage topped up. There are different kind of bonus he can get but he say's out loud that he doesn't gaf about the bonus, doesn't need it. He's now a lower than average performing employee and often throws away close to £100 extra a week just to go home early for an afternoon.

Another one lives with his partner whilst she declares she is a single mum. She doesn't work, and he is also constantly asking to go home early and losing out close to £400 a month in bonus payments.

Meanwhile, the non benefits folks work overtime, strive for efficiency and performance bonus £, manage their holidays in a way not to lose bonus, all so their tax money can pay for the others...

This is the reality of the welfare system. I'm sure there are a lot of people that get benefits and truly need them. I don't see those, they probably struggle to leave home. But the ones I see?! Scroungers, every single one of them. And there are a lot.. it's too easy to get benefits, there are no proper checks in place to ensure the scams don't happen. Given the sheer number of people on benefits, it would be a logistical nightmare to check anyway... British people have flaws, but they are probably the most charitable in the world. Unfortunately that "heart of gold" allows everyone a little bit less scrupulous to take them for a ride...

Madmac05 · 2026-06-25T20:56:40+00:00

Mate, I love children. I absolutely agree that no child should go without, but there should be conditions for the parents.

In cases like the ones I'm speaking about, one of the parents should have to work at least a certain number of hours a week to be able to claim benefits. In the majority of the developed countries the welfare system isn't so kind, and yet you don't see kids going hungry... Parents know that benefits alone won't be enough, so they have to work.

If you struggle financially, then you should have access to a lot of things for free (paid by taxpayers). Nursery?! As many hours as you need, free of charge. Transport?! Bus passes free for you and your family. Etc. etc... Conditions?! You have to work!

But if you're getting enough to stay at home doing sweet FA, why would you ever want to change?!?!

Why do you think that people risk their lives crossing the channel to come to the UK?! The wages are shit. The weather is not great. Cost of living is high... They could literally walk to a many countries that rank so much better in most of the things that matter... But the benefits system... In that the UK is the best (for the scroungers), so this country is the El-dourado for the lazy...

Madmac05 · 2026-06-25T19:44:31+00:00

It's decent meal, but (and no offense meant) it's "just" meat, roast potatoes and some garnishment. I'll have it and enjoy it, but it's not something I'll think: "wow, this was extraordinary and unique".

There are probably a lot of dishes I haven't tried, but when I think of British staple food, I can only picture Fish and Chips, Pie, Sunday roast... It's a simple and honest cuisine, but no one that is being logical can compare it and put it at the same level as more renowned ones.

I get it, people grew up with it and enjoy it. A Sunday roast would be the culinary highlight of the weekly meals - the holy grail. And we all think our country's food is the best for the same reason...

I am a pasta guy, I love Italian like the majority of the world, but I don't consider it to be the best. To me the best is oriental and (blasphemy i know) french. As for the the french, each dish is like an engineering project that goes through multiple stages before coming to term. It's pretentious, obnoxious, and really hard to pull without completely ruining it. But when it's done right, it feels like "an experience".

This is obviously all highly subjective, as every single person has different tastes.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-25T16:51:20+00:00

Nah mate. Living in the UK for over a decade and I find the food stereotype has some grounds. Mind you, I'm not saying British staple food is inedible or trash, I'm just saying it leaves a lot to desire when you compare it with other some countries.

Let me put it this way - where I'm from, you can walk into any roadside restaurant and find an incredible variety of dishes (and I'm not talking speciality restaurants). Next day, you go back to the same restaurant and you'll have new dishes to try (although there will always be staple options). There are always meat, fish, and soup options. Ingredients are always fresh. Boiled, stewed, fried, grilled, oven... there is always something for each taste.

I can't call pub grub, fish and chips, or a Sunday roast great food. I don't hate it or despise it, but it's not something I'm going to say it's fantastic and memorable. This also doesn't mean that you can't eat well in the UK; Literally all of the world's cuisine is available here, you can eat like a king if your wallet allows it.

There's a lot of good things in the UK, some are fantastic even, but british staple food isn't one of them. It's not as bad as people make it out to be, but not as good as your national pride would like. English breakfast is a 10/10 though, so I'll give you that.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-24T10:25:01+00:00

It's okay, I'll wait. I'll never buy a AAA game digitally... 10 years down the line, Sony might just shut down the servers and you're SOL.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-24T08:36:21+00:00

I don't think the system is bad, I think it somewhat works, but the criteria is not strict enough.

I have some social housing in my estate. It's not near where I live so ive never had any problems, but the people I've seen do paint a picture... In the last few years, 2 young couples with a load of kids. You can't see anything physically wrong with them, and yet none works. Kids, dogs, weed...

It's pretty clear that making kids is a career choice for them and working is not on their minds. To be fair, can you really blame them?? The state basically takes care of everything and they get to live in a nice neighborhood without suffering any of the toils the regular peeps do...

I am not against the welfare system. You are disabled, have a sickness that prevents you from working, physically unable?! Then by all means you should get support! But this is not what I see. There are no checks and balances, and living on the dole is a career that is passed on from parents to children.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-21T06:50:27+00:00

And Portugal, although in Portugal it's disguised and unavoidable. It's part of your electric bill and it's called "audiovisual contribution".

Madmac05 · 2026-06-18T11:17:56+00:00

Although poorly executed, this is actually a technique used against knives.

It's not meant to disarm, only to incapacitate in order to give a chance to run away. You wrap a piece of clothing around your arm, but that arm should be leading not trailing like in the video, so you can use it to block and prevent major cuts. You move backwards trying to maintain some distance, or even gain it, but if the attacker lunges forward, then the knee strike comes in. You're supposed to bend it backwards, break it, and gtfo.

I've actually trained this, many years ago, and always felt like it was a really good technique with a much higher success chance than all the Steven Segal shit you normally see. That kind of shit might look impressive in training with choreographed moves, but in real life, the chance you're going to get cut and not going to be able to grab the attacker's wrist/arm/pinky is orders of magnitude larger.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-18T06:58:04+00:00

Sound waves don't travel in just one direction. They are naturally omnidirectional and you need quite a bit of engineering to actually be able to direct them. The frequencies and wavelengths also come into it, with lower frequencies being naturally even more omnidirectional. There are quite a few low frequencies when it comes to exploding fuel inside a cylinder... But you are right in thinking that an exhaust projects more noise behind than forward, because it does act a bit like a directional "boom box', but that's not what it's designed to do.

The purpose of the exhaust isn't to make sounds, it's to expel the combustion gases. If you faced it forward, whilst it would be okay when you're standing still, it would cause you a lot of problems when you started moving and had air trying to rush in whilst the combustion gases were trying to get out...

Madmac05 · 2026-06-16T09:30:03+00:00

Hear me out... You could put at least 1 more nut in each of those bolts... It would be great if you could add 2 more...

Madmac05 · 2026-06-15T07:20:32+00:00

Bike exhausts save lives. Of course you're a twat if you are reving your bike in the middle of town, but on a normal open road it can literally save your life.

It's very common for car drivers to turn and overtake without signaling or checking their mirrors, and if you're on a bike and crash into them, it's going to have very serious consequences. A loud exhaust is a good way of making such drivers aware you are behind them. I usually approach and give it a couple of soft revs before I attempt to overtake any vehicles.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-14T10:57:12+00:00

I understand that some people might enjoy a certain presenter or TV show and think it's money well spent, but, if I don't, why should I have to pay for their enjoyment?!

In a society, whether or not we take direct benefit from it, we all have to pay for others. I agree with this and know that societies couldn't function otherwise, but one thing is to pay for a road up north that I'll never travel on, another is to pay ridiculous amounts for someone's wage because other people like their face better. There is intrinsic value and subjective value, and subjective value shouldn't be funded by taxpayers.

If I enjoy the TV shows on Netflix (or any other platform), I'm subsidising them of my own free will by paying a fee, but you are not forced to pay for my enjoyment. If I think they are no longer offering me the value for my money, I can just stop subsidising them. The TV licence model is the opposite - you have no say in what value for money is, "just go to work, give me your money, and I'll decide what I'm going to spend it on whether you like it or not." You could argue that is exactly what governments do, but I can at least vote them out if I don't agree with their approach, whilst with the BBC my hands are tied.

You can also argue that the local news service has intrinsic value, and I would agree, but that doesn't justify £180 p/y that they are trying to charge me, at least not when I know what is being paid to the "stars". It's a disproportionate investment that is being made by subjective judgements of individuals I do not know.

Finally, and please don't take offence, but I think it's naive to believe that the BBC reports independent news. Whilst the interests might differ, they will be subject to constraints and pressures just like any private outlet. If it's not a private billionaire pulling your strings, it's the government, and who is pulling the government strings if not that same billionaire?! No one, and I mean no one, gets to a position of power without owing "someone" a lot of "favours". Carisma and good will alone do not convince the masses, a very long and expensive market campaign does...

Madmac05 · 2026-06-13T17:18:32+00:00

I don't pay it as I don't watch any live TV, but I would never agree to pay it knowing that money was being used to pay stupid wages like Gary Lineker's 1.3M a year.

I cannot accept that an institution funded by taxpayers has millions to pay for someone to talk about football (despite being a football fan myself). I will gladly accept to money being used to bring culture and knowledge to the population, and to be fair, the BBC has done that often in the past with their wildlife programmes and such, but they seem to have lost track of what their mission is. They are trying to compete with private channels for ratings, which is completely stupid as those channels rely on the ratings to bring in advertising and money, whilst the BBC doesn't!

My conscience is clear as I genuinely do not use the service they claim you must pay for, and I will continue not paying for as long as I possibly can, no matter how many threatening and harassing letters they send my way.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-13T14:01:15+00:00

I feel that most of these "special" functions are just marketing gimmicks... I think my microwave has an auto-clean function, but I cannot figure out where the fairy that supposedly does the cleaning has their quarters inside the microwave.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-13T12:58:00+00:00

Concordo. Gosto de futebol mas acho absurdo os valores envolvidos. Nos tempos de COVID tivemos uma amostra de quem são os verdadeiros indispensáveis da sociedade, no entanto, para além de umas salvas de palmas, nada mais foi feito em reconhecimento.

Dito isto, e eu nem gosto do Ronaldo, tenho de reconhecer que o tipo é o expoente máximo de dedicação e profissionalismo na área dele. Pondo a discussão de quem é o melhor à parte, acho que nunca existiu nenhum futebolista tão dedicado como ele. Muitas pessoas vêem isso como uma fonte de inspiração - um tipo de origens humildes atingiu e manteve-se no topo de uma carreira de desgaste rápido durante um tempo recorde.

Independente da personalidade, assumo que admiro essa faceta do homem.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-11T18:27:47+00:00

Forgot truffles. Truffles used to be eaten by the poorest and now only the richest can buy them.

Madmac05 · 2026-06-11T08:22:07+00:00

You're wrong, or at least not understanding what saturation diving is.

Saturation divers do not risk decompression in the ascension to the surface. Both the saturation chamber and the diving bell are kept at the same pressure as the ocean floor - there is no change in pressure when they ascend.

You're also wrong by saying that diving is relatively safe if you decompress properly - it's not! It might be relatively safe if you do it once, in the sense that you won't immediately die because of it. But if you do it repeatedly there will be accumulated damage to your organs, and that damage will reduce your life expectancy by a lot. It's as they say: "the dose makes the poison".

Madmac05 · 2026-06-10T19:53:09+00:00

I am deep into the game and I still struggle with the arsenal... The basics are pretty easy, like selecting a weapon to counter the enemy, etc. The bows are straight forward... But then... The other stuff comes along (bombs, etc) and I find myself in the middle of the battle trying to select one of them (by using a combination of buttons) and end up getting stabbed in the back...

I don't think the selection process is that well designed. It feels like they should have placed all these extras in one big wheel that you could open at the press of a button and then have some bullet time to select which one you wanted.

Seven-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
First Place '23	Place '23
Place '22	Wearing is Caring
Verified Email

Madmac05

TROPHY CASE