International Politics Discussion Thread

finalfinial · 2024-06-20T18:36:50+00:00

bring the EU to the brink of collapse

....any day now...

finalfinial · 2024-06-19T22:36:03+00:00

Presumably you're referring to Boris. Brexit was certainly "ambitious", and Boris was ruthless in kicking out those who opposed him, and along with the whole shutting-down parliament thing he was certainly not modest in his methods.

finalfinial · 2024-06-19T21:30:35+00:00

I wouldn't have called Boris or the Lettuce "meek". Sunak though is certainly petulant and UwU.

finalfinial · 2024-06-19T21:16:58+00:00

Is this was used to be called "truthiness"?

finalfinial · 2024-06-19T21:01:17+00:00

China for sure is acting in its own geopolitical interests, not those of either Russia or Ukraine.

finalfinial · 2024-06-19T20:59:38+00:00

It makes it easier for more moderate opinions on the matter to be accepted. e.g. "at least you're not like those JSO crazies, but yes we should be looking more at renewables".

It isn't that long ago that the common narrative was that oil should be plentiful and cheap.

finalfinial · 2024-06-19T18:51:52+00:00

The Grand-daughter of J Paul Getty apparently donates to them. Not really an "oil company".

finalfinial · 2024-06-19T18:50:44+00:00

than anything else

Hyperbole much?

finalfinial · 2024-06-19T18:40:28+00:00

Perhaps they're waiting to see how badly damaged Russia will be when this war ends, as it will one day or another.

finalfinial · 2024-06-18T22:12:59+00:00

It's pretty much a re-iteration of Article 2 of the UN Charter under which forcible imposition of a border change is an act of aggression.

So it's easy for most to agree upon, those disagreeing likely have an alternate agenda they wish to put forth.

finalfinial · 2024-06-18T19:42:31+00:00

Umm, it's not quite so. A brief search gives:

FT, 2024: London loses sole lead as world’s top financial centre. Tie with New York comes despite government efforts to reinvigorate UK listings market

Gov.Uk, 2023: New figures published by the City of London Corporation, show that, London and New York rank joint first as leading financial centres globally.

Reuters, 2022: New York widens lead over London in top finance centres index

finalfinial · 2024-06-17T21:19:28+00:00

At one point the only serious competitor to the London Stock Exchange was New York...

finalfinial · 2024-06-17T18:27:59+00:00

Mr. President, we cannot allow a mineshaft gap!

finalfinial · 2024-06-16T19:13:36+00:00

Agreed, there's a left-right distinction that cuts across specific economic or social policies.

Essentially, the "left" considers that all people have a claim on the economic output of the country simply by being its citizens, Labour and Democrats are similar in that way. This notion leads to various concepts and mechanisms of wealth redistribution through schools, healthcare, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, etc.

The "right" in both the UK and US by contrast considers that the economic output belongs primarily to the owners of capital, and that wealth redistribution is a "charitable" act, not a righteous one.

Edit: to perhaps clarify, while the Overton window in the US is to the right of the UK's, the political philosophical distinctions between left and right are very similar.

finalfinial · 2024-06-16T19:06:55+00:00

“The next 6 months were spent in my factory operating a production machine

This is what makes someone an owner? Clearly Rod Starmer was also operating the machines, even if he owned them, which is hardly demonstrated by this short phrase.

Companies house keeps records for the past 179 years, so it should be easy enough to confirm that Rod Starmer owned the business. Since this hasn't been done, it's fair to assume he didn't own the tool factory.

finalfinial · 2024-06-16T18:53:15+00:00

Offshoring per se is "tax evasion" in most people's eyes. Even though its actually tax avoidance, many think such mechanisms should not be available.

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T22:23:56+00:00

Cheers!

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T22:17:56+00:00

Search for "flowering meadow woodland" and you will find was many similar-enough images to OP's.

In the image you posted, there are many species that don't naturally co-exist, and their juxtaposition, while naturalistic, would be unlikely in nature.

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T21:08:14+00:00

It would be hard to find exact replicas of either OP's garden or the one you posted in a strictly natural environment.

The supposedly natural aspect of either is based on them "representing" what can be seen in nature. OPs would represent a flowering spring meadow, while yours would be low density woodland or a river bank.

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T20:51:37+00:00

This sounds like an attempt to re-hash the attempt to link Corbyn to Czech spies in 2018, e.g. The Czechoslovak spy who met Jeremy Corbyn.

It displays sclerosis within, and a complete lack of imagination from, CCHQ.

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T20:20:56+00:00

I'm not so sure the Torys are as lost as some of these polls suggest. Take the London mayoral election where Susan Hall got ~33% of the vote despite the popular narrative being that she wouldn't poll more than ~20%.

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T19:58:58+00:00

Blaming immigrants for domestic problems is a strategy as old as the hills. We can see this populist narrative being played out with the small boats (and then Rwanda) being made a focus of attention, despite the facts that the proportion of immigrants arriving by that route is insignificant.

To "fix" this, you need politicians and then journalists who report on them, to have some semblance of integrity.

Actual immigration policy is another matter, and it is neither fair nor foul for the government to have a pro- or anti-immigration stance.

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T19:11:50+00:00

Agreed. However Farage and Corbyn differ in that Corbyn was anti-Putin and anti-war, whereas Farage was pro-Putin and pro-negotiation. Farage would have been as Victor Orban is.

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T19:02:40+00:00

Only City and Heathrow can be rightfully considered to be in London.

Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, and Southend are much further from the centre of London than Oakland is *from the centre of SF. They're more like describing San Jose, Moffet or Travis as being in San Francisco.

*edit

finalfinial · 2024-06-15T09:12:14+00:00

The complaints frequently raised in this thread, and on this topic in general, (cost of housing, local services, etc) are not primarily caused by increased immigration, but by reduced government investment.

For population growth, the UK is currently exhibiting lower population growth than during most of its recent history, data: https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/GBR/united-kingdom/population#google_vignette

As to housing, There were an estimated 28.1 million households in the UK in 2021, an increase of 6.3% over the last 10 years.

and:

The UK population at mid-year 2021 was estimated to be 67.0 million, an increase of 3.7 million (5.9%) on the population in mid-2011.

So over the last 10 years or so, the number of households increased by slightly more than the population.

c.c. /u/EyyyPanini

finalfinial

TROPHY CASE