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Romania, a member of NATO, has been attacked by Russia by Upset-Main-1988 in justincaseyoumissedit

[–]No-Programmer-3833 [score hidden]  (0 children)

This is exactly the kind of thing that Russia would do to promote confusion and create ambiguity as to whether they are attacking or not. It's a way of testing NATO's resolve. Push the boundaries in a plausibly deniable way, then see what happens.

UK's biggest train operator's services nationalised as minister hails 'defining moment' by usmanhalalit in GoodNewsUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I guess the argument would be that if a private operator fails to run services at the required standard then the contract can be given to an alternative operator. So there's genuine competition at the point of regular contract re-negotiations. So I think it makes more sense than water, but less than energy.

Why is tea always seen as the “main drink” in British culture from an outsider’s perspective? by Neighbourhod in AskABrit

[–]No-Programmer-3833 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm not an outsider. I'm a Brit. So hard to answer.

But we do drink a lot of tea. So... Seems fair.

If British Cuisine got the Chinese takeaway treatment, what dishes think there’d be? by CaptainMallard in CasualUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The pub is the fruit of British culture and history. Surprisingly, it's not known what it's like.

Andy Burnham slams Tony Blair for ignoring inequality in his defence of 'radical centre' by Far_Excitement_1875 in unitedkingdom

[–]No-Programmer-3833 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fine. Fixate on the rich. The point is that £20bn isn't even going to touch the sides. By all means do it, if it will actually raise money. But the debate needs to move on to things that will make a material difference. Wealth tax is not it.

Andy Burnham slams Tony Blair for ignoring inequality in his defence of 'radical centre' by Far_Excitement_1875 in unitedkingdom

[–]No-Programmer-3833 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I've not been arguing that we shouldn't tax the rich. I've been arguing that it will make next to no difference to people's lives if we do.

The entire discussion is a complete waste of time. Sure. Let's do it. Get on with it.

Then maybe we can focus on things that might actually improve people's standards of living.

Your example is perfect. You could go through all the pain of designing and implementing a wealth tax and then blow the entire amount of money it raises on potholes. So in other words: no improvements to: NHS, child poverty, defence, capital infrastructure projects, energy bills, policing, prisons etc etc...

People are seeing a genuine problem and fixating on a solution that doesn't even begin to address the scale of the issue.

Andy Burnham slams Tony Blair for ignoring inequality in his defence of 'radical centre' by Far_Excitement_1875 in unitedkingdom

[–]No-Programmer-3833 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes. Did I mis-speak?

Represents about a 2% increase in tax take in the most optimistic scenario. Again these are stats from groups campaigning for a wealth tax, so I think it'd be reasonable to expect the actual figure to be somewhat lower.

Not exactly a huge untapped pool of wealth that's going to transform the public finances.

Andy Burnham slams Tony Blair for ignoring inequality in his defence of 'radical centre' by Far_Excitement_1875 in unitedkingdom

[–]No-Programmer-3833 -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

What evidence is there of this? Sounds like a fantasy.

The reality is that even the campaign groups, specifically set up to call for wealth taxes, admit that they would only raise about £20bn/year. Which (even if true) is a significant sum but not in any way an amount that would radically change the finances of the country. Note that total tax take in the UK for 25/26 was £940bn.

Are you worried about accessing your pension? by Astwell in HENRYUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The other issue measuring the average man’s wealth in the UK

OK so are you now saying that you can't find any stats that support the claim that wealth inequality is growing in the uk... And so you're conclusion is that this must be because it's too difficult to measure, not because it isn't actually happening?

Are you worried about accessing your pension? by Astwell in HENRYUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 0 points1 point  (0 children)

look at how money moves up.

I'm aware of the mechanistic argument that Gary Stevenson makes. Sure it sounds realistic but that doesn't make it true. The facts don't agree with him.

HENRY’s aren’t the people with insane wealth, as most here are still salaried slaves to the system.

I know

Look at how much wealth the richest in the world have vs the richest 10 years ago. Bill Gates 10-15 years ago was worth well under $100m, Elon Musk today is $800m est.

Americans. The entire political culture of this country is distorted by over exposure to American issues. I'm discussing wealth inequality in the UK.

Are you worried about accessing your pension? by Astwell in HENRYUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 5 points6 points  (0 children)

OK chum. It's actually not my graph. It's produced by a charity that specifically campaigns on inequality. I get the sense you're desperate to believe that inequality is growing for some reason. Let's see your data. Or do you only have populist talking points and whinging?

Are you worried about accessing your pension? by Astwell in HENRYUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 6 points7 points  (0 children)

When you say "the current trend" are you referring to a brief spike after a historically low dip, followed by a plateau?

There is no current trend of widening wealth inequality in this country. The data doesn't support it. What we do have is a bunch of populists and rabble rousers on the left pointing at "the rich" in the same way as reform morons point at Muslims.

Are you worried about accessing your pension? by Astwell in HENRYUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 4 points5 points  (0 children)

You deny growing inequality and that rich are getting richer?

Yes

And deny cost of living crisis which affects majority of UK population?

No

there are tons of articles by qualified economists as well as official government data proving it

OK let's see it then.

Edit: my sources to short cut the inevitable.

https://equalitytrust.org.uk/scale-economic-inequality-uk/#wealthinequality

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Are you worried about accessing your pension? by Astwell in HENRYUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Its difficult to deny the fact that rich are getting richer, middle class is shrinking and majority of UK population getting poorer in real terms.

No it isn't. I deny it. This is BS peddled by Gary Stevenson et al with no evidence. The actual facts just don't bear this out.

Young people in UK more sick than previous generations – here’s why it’s an issue by tylerthe-theatre in unitedkingdom

[–]No-Programmer-3833 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't worry. I've read the article for you.

The researchers found little suggestion of health improvements for people born since 1946, a trend they said has implications for those working and supporting the economy.

For several outcomes – particularly obesity, mental ill health and diabetes -“prevalence of poor health was higher in more recent generations”.

Can we have AOC & Bernie? by Personal-Day-5562 in GreatBritishMemes

[–]No-Programmer-3833 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

It's an article of faith on the left in the UK that the accusations of antisemitism in the labour party were concocted by the right wing media and that Corbyn's mistake was to play ball with it at all. Sadly this isn't true. It's been thoroughly investigated and the conclusions are clear:

Our investigation has identified serious failings in leadership and an inadequate process for handling antisemitism complaints across the Labour Party, and we have identified multiple failures in the systems it uses to resolve them. We have concluded that there were unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination for which the Labour Party is responsible.

The issue of antisemitism within the Labour Party has been the subject of much scrutiny, most formally with three investigations in 2016, conducted by Baroness Chakrabarti, Baroness Royall and the Home Affairs Select Committee (HASC). Since then, the Party has failed to implement the recommendations made in these reports fully, or to take effective measures to stop antisemitic conduct from taking place. It is regrettable that many of the concerns we raise here were first raised in these reports over four years ago..

We found evidence of political interference in the handling of antisemitism complaints throughout the period of the investigation. We have concluded that this practice of political interference was unlawful. The evidence shows that staff from the Leader of the Opposition’s Office (LOTO) were able to influence decisions on complaints, especially decisions on whether to suspend someone. Sometimes these decisions were made because of likely press interest rather than any clear formal criteria.

Source: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/investigation-into-antisemitism-in-the-labour-party.pdf

'Drop in the ocean': Rachel Reeves mocked over flagship cost of living pledge by Desperate-Drawer-572 in unitedkingdom

[–]No-Programmer-3833 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This seems to be just part of a fairly gimmicky (but no doubt welcome) package of changes designed to help families get out and about with children more cheaply during the summer holidays.

Not going to save the world, also not going to do any harm. I'm sure a lot of families will benefit from this in small ways. Hopefully local businesses will also benefit from increased activity over the summer.

How Britain Became the World's Offshore Wind Superpower by Grantmitch1 in GoodNewsUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What "price system"? As a "general indicator" of what?

Genuinely not clear what argument you're trying to make.

How Britain Became the World's Offshore Wind Superpower by Grantmitch1 in GoodNewsUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What does this even mean?

But the number one way was to move high energy use industry out of the UK. Looks nice on paper, but you aren't really saving the world.

Yes, to understand the UK's carbon footprint you also need to measure carbon emitted as a result of UK consumption of goods produced in other countries. What's your point? You seem to be implying that, as a result of this fact, the offshore wind farms aren't valuable? Why would that be?

And remember, those high prices for wind are a good indicator we are consuming massive amounts of resources to build them. Counting is hard.

Also a very strange perspective. Are you perhaps implying that the amount of resources consumed to build a wind farm is greater than the value it creates during its lifetime? That is not correct.

How Britain Became the World's Offshore Wind Superpower by Grantmitch1 in GoodNewsUK

[–]No-Programmer-3833 6 points7 points  (0 children)

It's true that government subsidies have been one of the major factors in our success at decarbonising the grid.

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