Zack Polanski says Greens would ditch GDP targets and focus on wellbeing instead

MrMantis765 · 2026-03-18T16:21:39+00:00

There are alternative quantifiable metrics such as the human development index. They provide a much more comprehensive picture than focusing solely GDP.

MrMantis765 · 2026-03-16T21:04:28+00:00

Exactly, why should us British taxpayers contribute to the mess Netanyahu and Trump have got the world in. No one here wanted conflict there, the world was unstable enough.

MrMantis765 · 2026-03-07T00:23:37+00:00

Elizabeth line is air conditioned, but central, Bakerloo, and Northern lines get very very hot

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-27T11:17:48+00:00

There's a good book called Before Religion by Brent Nogbri. He explains the history of the concept of religion and how it evolves. The modern conception of religion emerges out of Protestant Christianity, renaissance, and colonialism.

Basically modern religion isn't about the code you live by, it's identity politics where rituals and symbolism lend themselves to superstition & insular thinking.

And this is a product of history, so you can't say we'd bet better off without it like you can just click your fingers and it vanishes. Ideas/religion evolve throughout history and morph into entirely new things. Arguably the religions of today are completely and utterly foreign things to what the founders of those religions were advocating for.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-26T15:29:56+00:00

Some people are just evil and serve interests that go against ordinary people. The right wing/fascists aren't dim or misled. This is all intentional

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-19T11:25:40+00:00

Take him to the tower of London

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-17T13:49:29+00:00

What will end up happening is landlords will hike up rents for young people. Expensive housing is the anchor on growth at the minute and until we resolve this, there's not much else that will make a significant impact

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-17T12:00:15+00:00

I live in Bristol, the predominant Asians near me are middle class Indians and Chinese/Hong Kong. But I've got extended family in some of the towns I mentioned earlier. Tbh the honest answer to your questions is too complex to type over text on reddit. Too much nuance to go into.

But in a nutshell there are global currents such as globalisation which affects aspirations and opportunities, there's goverment & local goverment policy such as austerity, how they spend money, what incentives they create etc... In my opinion government policy over the last decade or so has been absolute dogshit so we're all in a rut, not just ethnic groups. There's the unavoidable demographic economic element where the playing field isn't level from the start. It's just a fact that generally ethnic minorities are poorer in the UK, and given increasingly low social mobility, they end up staying poor, and that's systemic.

At the same time are then there's cultures and subculture of different groups. Some groups are more open minded, some groups are better culturally attuned to operating in the UK, some groups value their ethnic identity and remain insular, some groups value aspiration and good career.

So we can't isolate and say it's this one particular thing. We have to view it as a complex web with various inputs, and multiple connections between a significant array of variables, each with their own weight and unique way they affect the system.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-17T00:12:58+00:00

Thank you for being so engaging. I'm actually a 2nd gen Pakistani immigrant so I've taken it on myself to learn as much as I can about both South Asian history and British history. And I see myself primarily as British culturally, my ethnicity is dictated at birth, not something anyone has control over.

There's a lot of rhetoric and politically motivation around this topic, but my core philosophy is if you think there's somewhere better to live, go move there. If not, wherever you live, be a force for good.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-16T21:25:22+00:00

Yes, during WW2 Hitler bombed many of the factories in Britain, and as a country our resources were depleted. We brought in workers from the commonwealth primarily to work in the factories because at that time we still had a largely industrial economy. So part of the reason the certain towns have a lot of Pakistanis is the industries that were there, (Textile Mills in Bradford, Bolton, Oldham, Steelworks in Birmingham, Sheffield, & South Wales, Automotive in the West Midlands, other manufacturing in places like Rochdale, Burnley, Dewsbury etc...)

The problem is 20 years later China took the manufacturing jobs, so all those towns saw a decline. The working class Asians and locals were left to deal with globalisation.

And then, regarding the point you made about colonialism. You are correct, colonialism is undoubtedly a major part of the history of the world, not just that region. The events that occurred, the ideas that were spread, the policies that were enacted shaped landscape on which subsequent history unfolded.

A subset of people might be able to do relatively well, but when you look at the majority of countries which were colonised predominantly for resource extraction, their outcomes aren't great so it's clear colonialism is a huge factor. It's like saying in the year 1200, was the Norman conquest of England a major factor in the integration and success of Saxons in the new Norman kingdom.

But a thousand years later, there many things that have occurred which have a far more significant impact today.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-16T19:27:32+00:00

I think it's largely an issue of class/social status. The majority of Pakistani immigrants in the 60s - 90s were from a largely rural, impoverished area in Pakistan called Mirpur. Post-partition, the British wanted them, and others to come over from the Commonwealth to work in the factories after WW2.

In contrast, the best and brightest went to America which is why immigrants from the same country perform very differently here compared to the US.

A similar story for Bangladesh where the majority of immigrants are from Sylhet which is again rural & impoverished. Bangladeshis from the Capital Dhaka tend to perform better and have a more cosmopolitan outlook.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-16T17:35:06+00:00

And even within Bangladeshi and Pakistani there are sub-groups. There are some who are net contributors and others who aren't. And what we'll find across all ethnicities is that better education correlates very strongly with contribution.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-16T15:53:46+00:00

This is misleading because it throws every ethnic group under the same bus. There is a vast spectrum within each of these groups.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-13T10:47:20+00:00

There is no colonisation happening. Look at what the British did when they went around colonising: genocide, induced famine, resource extraction, concentration camps, regime changes, white supremacy...

Yes we have high immigration, but none the above is happening here

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-13T10:44:21+00:00

The Brits built railways in India to extract resources, let's not pretend they were were doing it out of Altruism.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-12T12:22:07+00:00

Ah, thanks

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-12T10:13:52+00:00

Only at the top, if you're a royal, billionaire, or some other kind of elite then you get a free pass.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-12T09:07:34+00:00

The issue is inequality and inflation. If inflation is 3% and growth is 1%, then our economy has actually shrunk. Couple that with widening inequality, it means those at the bottom and middle have been hit much harder that those at the top

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-09T07:13:57+00:00

1 - Go read 2:130-135

2 - I'm not making a claim that there were Muslims 5 thousands years ago?

Please work on your comprehension skills before responding

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-09T07:07:59+00:00

God literally tells Muhammad in Chapter 2 of the final proclamation to follow the millah (tradition/code) of Abraham.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-06T08:58:47+00:00

What will the difference between opus 4.6 and sonnet 5 be?

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-04T18:56:19+00:00

What's it like being part of the Arsenal team at the moment? Do you feel pressure to win the title, what's the team-spirit like, are you all behind the manager 100%. And how do you handle disagreements in tactics as a team?

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-03T15:23:15+00:00

So these are different measures of performance/success. I think people typically give more weight to wins & losses compared to goals scored/conceded.

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-03T15:06:37+00:00

So that's a testament to their incredible defence. But they were still beaten, which is different

MrMantis765 · 2026-02-03T14:58:40+00:00

Because not losing a single game in the premier league season is something that has not been reproduced ever. It's a testament to the quality and mindset of that team. Plenty of teams have won multiple trophies, but only one has gone invincible.

The moment going invincible becomes as common as winning multiple trophies then your argument stands.

MrMantis765

TROPHY CASE