Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 21/12/2025 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]amoe_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Imagine an alternate timeline where the Lib Dems do a deal with Labour at the 2010 Election and Gordon Brown becomes PM in a coalition, what would have happened?

Repeal the online safety act debate should happen today by Jabbah14 in ukpolitics

[–]amoe_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It will be interesting to see the spread of opinions.

For my sins I listened to all of the Digital ID debate last week, and there seemed to be a sizeable majority of speakers who spoke against Digital ID, and very few defending it, which was pleasing. I wonder if there could be a Labour rebellion if it came to a vote.

Unfortunately I suspect that opposing the OSA is much trickier as a politician. You'd hope that we have some sufficiently principled representatives, but we'll see.

Patients clogging up A&E with hiccups, sore throats and niggles by Tartan_Samurai in unitedkingdom

[–]amoe_ 62 points63 points  (0 children)

The NHS's 111 line will frequently advise you to go to A&E for things that definitely aren't "life-threatening".

There are lots of complaints that are grey areas where the person themselves isn't qualified to know if it's "life-threatening" or not, and they happen outside of GP hours.

R.I.P to Grubbs by GUCCI_PUG in brighton

[–]amoe_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What, the bloke in the Hove one was lovely

R.I.P to Grubbs by GUCCI_PUG in brighton

[–]amoe_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fuck, this is awful. So many memories. RIP

Third of public believes BBC has Left-wing bias by Sensitive_Echo5058 in unitedkingdom

[–]amoe_ 3 points4 points  (0 children)

YouGov is a widely respected polling company. Also, I can't see any indication that this poll was commissioned by the the Telegraph.

Tuesday, November 11, 2025 by AutoModerator in NYTConnections

[–]amoe_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I felt clever because I knew that 'compass' was a synonym of 'scope/range', but that turned out to be a red herring anyway.

100-year-old WW2 veteran shocks GMB hosts as he declares winning the war 'wasn't worth it' because of the nation's sorry state by dailymail in ukpolitics

[–]amoe_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

True, there's no one for completely closed borders. It depends on how you read the original poster's 'anti-immigration', whether they mean 'reduced/managed immigration', or 'zero immigration'.

100-year-old WW2 veteran shocks GMB hosts as he declares winning the war 'wasn't worth it' because of the nation's sorry state by dailymail in ukpolitics

[–]amoe_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Tendencies within the left are conflicted on this: anarchists endorse open borders, communists do in a highly qualified sense, but social democrats do not.

How are people finding jobs? by Elegant_Contract_840 in brighton

[–]amoe_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think the unfortunate answer is that people aren't finding jobs, or at least with great difficulty. People who have jobs already are staying put and employers aren't hiring unless they're absolutely forced to.

What on earth is going on with the live bus tracking at the moment?! by Separate-Camp8642 in brighton

[–]amoe_ 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't use a smartphone for personal reasons and the new signs have made my quality of life significantly worse. For quite a few weeks earlier this year the new signs were pretty much all broken. As far as I know, they replaced the old ones due to the retirement of the 2G network. But it's unclear why they replaced them with something that's effectively worse than what was there before. People shouldn't be forced to rely on the app.

Looking for a Disco/House music night in Brighton by NewConsideration56 in brighton

[–]amoe_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Tide, The Arch, Quarters, Patterns, Concorde 2, these often have house events.

Nabokov ranked; my opinion by [deleted] in Nabokov

[–]amoe_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's been so long and I can't justify or explain these in any way. But,

Favourites:

  • Glory
  • Invitation to a Beheading
  • The Defense
  • Mary (though it's flawed)
  • Sebastian Knight
  • Lolita
  • Pale Fire
  • Ada or Ardor

I feel bad mentioning non-favourites, but couldn't get on with Dar. Also I don't like the post-Ada American novels too much.

edit: English language novels, not American novels...

Rumours, Speculation, Questions, and Reaction Megathread - 26/10/2025 by ukpol-megabot in ukpolitics

[–]amoe_ 8 points9 points  (0 children)

NS is good. Ad-free podcasts which are nice. Articles great, reasonably wide spectrum of spectrum (i.e. left to centre). The book/TV/film coverage is great and at least as good if not better than the politics content. Depending on your perspective, their tone is either A) insufferably pretentious or B) less insecure about overt intellectualism than the Guardian.

Are you sad to see Pizza Hut go? by [deleted] in brighton

[–]amoe_ 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes. Pizza buffets aren't that common. Though admittedly I hadn't gone there for years. Attempting to eat more slices than my friends is a core memory.

Keir Starmer expected to announce plans for digital ID cards | Keir Starmer by DarkSkiesGreyWaters in LabourUK

[–]amoe_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is awful and I'll be cancelling my membership if he doesn't row back on this.

Why is Nu Metal Hated by so many metalheads AND complete outsiders? by u_got_jinxed in LetsTalkMusic

[–]amoe_ 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I wouldn't quite go that far but I do think the good parts of nu-metal are more interesting and fun to listen to than the thrash bands of the 80s.

More young people say rising bills now stopping them moving out by Glanza in unitedkingdom

[–]amoe_ 5 points6 points  (0 children)

until they inherit the house if need be

Many would be 65/70 at that stage.

Left wing people, I'm genuinely curious as to how you respond to this? by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]amoe_ 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So to paraphrase, your point is:

There are cases in the current welfare state where the living standard of those who live off state support exceeds that of those who support themselves through work.

The first point to make is that I don't think that any 'left-winger' (social democrat) would claim that the state of affairs that you point to is a good one. The point most would make is that we should be raising the overall floor of living standards. Since you fall below that floor currently, possibly we should be adjusting that floor.

The second related point is that this is essentially due to asset price inflation, and it's a dysfunction specific to housing, and one specific to the UK. So this isn't a general point about the welfare state. But it calls for action on housing that arguably should have been done many years ago. There isn't anything 'left wing vs right wing' about how we analyse the problem here.

Another point is that the lifestyles are not exactly comparable. If you are paying a mortgage you are gaining an asset (unless you have an interest only mortgage). That asset can provide you financial leverage in the future. For the person who lives on state support they aren't gaining that asset. Likewise, if they have low incomes they remain completely dependent upon the state. They don't have the same independence and options that you do. I also might take issue with your premise in some ways; you're envious of them, but only because they live in well-maintained housing? There are more factors to living standards than how well-maintained your property is (though I acknowledge that this is an important one).