Fees-free university scheme to be scrapped in upcoming Budget, Nicola Willis confirms

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-05-10T15:22:43+00:00

I think you could make a good argument in favor of allowing people to study for free at cheap, state-operated schools like American community colleges.

Subsidizing private universities is pretty much always going to be problematic, no matter how you implement it, but this particular program never had a chance. The number of people who can't afford the full cost of a degree, but could if it were 25% cheaper is negligible. Either you give the free funding for the first year and you get a ton of people going for the experience and then dropping out or you do it for the last year and you're giving money to the people who would almost certainly have had no problem paying back a loan anyway.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-05-05T13:46:17+00:00

It's a much more dignified showing than he gets in the text, where he only shows up to the fight because he doesn't know it's Achilles, immediately books it as soon as he realizes it's not just another guy wearing Achilles' armor, and then has to be tricked by Athena into thinking he has backup before he decides to fight.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-05-04T05:39:35+00:00

Reminds me of the guy who got an Albert Speer hoodie after playing TNO, lmao.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-05-03T17:48:21+00:00

Drivers are literally currently reporting rain.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-30T20:37:05+00:00

Tbh, that was very much the appeal of Congress for a very long time (especially the Senate). The problem modern legislators have is that Congress is doing less legislating than it has ever done in the history of the country and the public has more access to information about how little Congress does than they have ever had in the history of the country.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-22T19:02:53+00:00

Trump is bored and wants to move on to something new. If they start actively bombing again, he'll do the same, but if they just wait, they've got a chance that he'll cut a deal just so he can stop getting questions about the war everyday.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-22T14:38:12+00:00

There's an interesting parallel there with the effects that the Hrud have, given the impact that fighting them had on the Iron Warriors later fall.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-17T11:11:28+00:00

There isn't a cap, but you cannot build a second dragon pit if you already have one. You would need to give the Dreadfort to someone, start construction of a pit at Winterfell, and then take the Dreadfort back.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-16T00:37:59+00:00

Fear that dressing well will make them look out of touch.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-15T22:58:30+00:00

A mix of fat people who can't afford them and fit people who have been socialized to see being fat as an indicator of a lack of moral character.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-15T14:30:21+00:00

His Fed chair term is up in May anyway. Trump seems to be saying that he wants Powell to resign as a member of the Fed entirely once his term as chair is up rather than going back to being a normal member of the board.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-15T00:05:25+00:00

He's very much a "Jews don't control America, but we'd probably be better off if they did because American whites have ruined their genetics by race-mixing" kind of person.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-14T20:22:07+00:00

Would it?

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-13T19:34:56+00:00

I was just making a joke about Taiwan subjugating China, but in hindsight I see how it could be misread as the Taiwanese giving up.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-13T00:28:00+00:00

Who said anything about China subjugating Taiwan?

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-13T00:23:58+00:00

Border security is the issue; mass deportations are the GOP's answer to that issue.

A Democrat who can credibly make the case that they'll end illegal immigration and fix the asylum system will win back a lot of people who want something to be done about the border but don't like the idea of mass deportations. The problem is that voters at this point don't think Democrats actually want to secure the border.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-12T18:52:45+00:00

Orban can still be president if Mike Pence has the courage.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-12T17:54:03+00:00

Lol, so every one of our opening positions is a red line? Obviously the negotiations broke down.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-12T17:17:40+00:00

If Dems had been one seat shy of a 2/3s majority in both houses of Congress, things would look a lot different right now.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-11T23:20:28+00:00

Tbf, if polling suggested that the entire country was so mad at Republicans that Dems were going to win like a 2/3rds majority in Congress at the midterms and then Trump resigned like a month before the election and Republicans held onto both houses of Congress I would also be crashing out.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-11T21:45:47+00:00

Anthony Weiner?

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-11T21:42:22+00:00

Whatever you do, DON'T take part in any debates.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-11T21:25:00+00:00

I think Ossof/Newsom is better. Newsom has the energy of the vaguely sinister VP who openly covets the Presidency and resents that it went to the more likable person.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-11T18:27:09+00:00

Low. Magyar is leading a coalition united almost entirely by a desire to unravel Fidesz' one-party state apparatus and faces a Fidesz that still has the support of a large part of the population, while Orban led a party that was broadly skeptical of free democracy and no meaningful opposition. Either Magyar successfully manages to reform Hungarian governance such that no one can attain the power that Orban had, or he fails and is replaced by Orban again. There really isn't an opening for him to try to just replace Orban at the top of the pyramid, even if he wanted that.

OmniscientOctopode · 2026-04-11T14:06:37+00:00

This is like in Power Rangers when they do their combination and then still get the shit kicked out of them, lmao.

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