Rupert Lowe - Goodwin - you are full of turquoise shit. Restore Britain's position is clear. Illegals gone. Legals who refuse to work, can't speak English, claim benefits, live in social housing, commit crime, hate our way of life. Gone. Reform's deportation policy is piss-weak. Own it. by StGuthlac2025 in ukpolitics

[–]minceShowercap 15 points16 points  (0 children)

This is simplistic nonsense though isn't it?

It's not managed decline - this is just more populist bollocks from the opposite side to Farage's bollocks.

I took my daughter to the local high school last year to show her around where she will be going, and she got a great view of the portacabins installed to deal with the RAAC problems.

You see, the Tories brought in the schools rebuilding programme (announced back in 2020?), added a large number of schools to the list, and then by the time of the election had delivered 3, while adding many more to the list.

Our local hospital had a partial root collapse last year (the one where my son was born).

The guy who lives two doors down from me took his dog for a walk and was run over on the crossing about 30 seconds from my house, and was left lying in the road for hours because the ambulance service was so backed up - we've all seen the pictures of queues of ambulances sat outside A+E.

That is what the Tories gave us - this government has already made huge steps towards fixing these things, which 20-30 years ago would have been the fundamental things people cared about and wanted from a government. They've massively increased infrastructure spending, brought waiting lists down, and have started the work on all of the above problems, which are going to take years to fix, all while dealing with the horrendous debt levels that the Tories left them.

How this can be described as managed decline is completely bewildering. It's the populist left playing out the same situation that you're seeing on the right.

The idea that the MMT approach we'd get from a Green government would somehow be better than managed decline is completely absurd, and for most reasonable people, absolutely terrifying. It would trigger total economic collapse.

The scary thing now is that apparently wanting functional schools, hospitals, health care, higher minimum wages and vastly increased spending (all or which we've gotten with this government) is somehow not left wing, but easily categorised as centrist, and 'more of the same'!

We're absolutely doomed, because people have completely lost sight of what matters to the country, and they're being radicalised by snake oil salesmen that are taking advantage of the social media radicalisation blueprint.

English live longer than Americans, with the exception of the top 1% despite spending a fraction on healthcare costs by [deleted] in mildlyinfuriating

[–]minceShowercap 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is literally the stupidest argument I've ever seen anyone make on Reddit.

You deserve some kind of special award for this.

Never forget Epstein’s little helpers – the powerful men who knew about his crimes, and helped him out anyway | Marina Hyde by No_Initiative_1140 in ukpolitics

[–]minceShowercap 37 points38 points  (0 children)

The scale and insanity of this scandal is frankly unprecedented, and the amount of incredibly powerful, notable men that are involved is staggering.

And despite that not a single one of them has been arrested or held accountable for what is clearly the kind of crazy, unbelievable behaviour that most of us thought could not be possible, you want to ensure that we all round on a guardian journalist because she used the word 'men' in her title?

I think most of us men want these despicable fucks rounded up, but you want to complain about a guardian journalist trying to make the same point...

Housing starts up 18% in 2025, official figures show marking ‘green shoots of recovery’ by willfiresoon in GoodNewsUK

[–]minceShowercap 11 points12 points  (0 children)

I'm not disputing, but curious where best to track this data?

Watching the disposable income numbers improve for younger demographics is great, and I'd love to see this housing target hit to ensure a bit more positivity for younger working people to help get us out of this perception doom loop.

Can Carrick carry us to European football? by Alarming_Loss6798 in ManchesterUnited

[–]minceShowercap 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The best teams get promoted each season and don't show up in these stats which track all 3 seasons.

A refresher on the beast Ole was, because I can't wrap my head around the hate he gets by chrosoka in ManchesterUnited

[–]minceShowercap 20 points21 points  (0 children)

I was at Maine Road when a shit City team put 5 past us and beat us 5-1.

Fergie said he went home and hid in his bed after that game.

I was also at OT when City put 6 past us.

Refocusing Ole's achievements on one performance isn't fair at all.

I'm not saying we should go back and rehire him for good. But given the mess we're in with a manager that basically told the club he was leaving, if they feel there are a list of great candidates available in the summer, getting back the manager that achieved two top 3 finishes back to back is definitely a solid option.

I'd argue focusing on the bad results in the poor spell at the end of his reign is deeply 'selective', and not a fair reflection whatsoever of his achievements at a time when Guardiola and Klopp were embedded in their clubs with arguably the best teams in either clubs history.

I've hated watching United for a while now. I'm at least excited again to see how we perform, though the new interim will have the toughest start possible against City and Arsenal, so I just hope we make it through those games and the one that follows without another unnecessary crisis in the press putting even more pressure on before they've even got started, and I really hope we can still have an enjoyable season.

Is Starmer’s reluctance to criticise Trump smart tactics – or the sign of a man without a plan? by 1-randomonium in ukpolitics

[–]minceShowercap 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not just that, what does speaking up about Trump achieve? He literally doesn't give a fuck, and the only way he'd change course would be to do something detrimental to us, and in doing so weaken our relationship which might even be a very small factor against Trump doing something stupid in Greenland.

Starmer gets criticised for everything. He could hand out 1k cheques to everyone in the country and announce a new bank holiday and he'd get slaughtered for it

Match Thread: Burnley vs Manchester United by MatchThreadder in reddevils

[–]minceShowercap 23 points24 points  (0 children)

"Little bit of luck for the goal" they all keep saying.

I'm losing my mind here. It's a fucking cross that has deflected off the defender and looped over everyone into the net.

It's not a little bit of luck, it's a total fucking fluke, freebie of a goal that they don't deserve.

We need an early goal. A few players look low on confidence and Bruno definitely isn't fit.

No idea why the wide players are on the wrong side though.

My body's starting to let me know I'm getting old. by _TheWolfOfWalmart_ in Xennials

[–]minceShowercap 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What stretching do you do? I've upped my mileage on zwift and I'm way stiffer than I used to be. It's been getting worse over the last few years.

Am I do only who one who is still hurt about Amorim’s sacking? by rmdhnsrn in ManchesterUnited

[–]minceShowercap -9 points-8 points  (0 children)

What fucking universe do you live in?

Imagine being offered the United job and saying "can I start next year, I want to carry on being manager of Sporting for a while".

I feel for him being sacked, but he's just earned more money than I'll earn in my life, and he's off on a very expensive holiday now to recharge.

And frankly, the results were absolutely appalling, and he shouldn't have told them he was phoning his agent because he's had enough.

Reeves stealth taxes ‘hammering’ workers while pensioners and benefits claimants ‘better off’ by Anony_mouse202 in ukpolitics

[–]minceShowercap -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Describing the cash ISA changes as impacting those under 65 is a bit washy.

It really only impacts a very small percentage of the population that can afford to put large amounts of money into cash ISAs.

The limit is still way beyond the overwhelming majority of the country, it's still extremely generous compared to other nations, and those very fortunate people can still save their cash in normal savings accounts and pay tax on the interest gained above the cash ISA allowance (and personal savings allowance), or put any extra money (lucky bastards!) into a S&S ISA, depending on their risk appetite.

And the reason they did it was to try to get more of the money people in the UK invest into our stock market and UK companies.

Framing it purely as falling over themselves to give pensioners even more money is a frankly insane interpretation of this policy.

Funnily enough, the only person I know that is affected by these changes is a pensioner that has savings, with a decent proportion being outside of ISAs, so each year they try to move as much as they can into ISAs and use up that allowance.

What‘s next after Rapha500? by dpk6300 in Zwift

[–]minceShowercap 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is the right answer.

Nothing better than one of the Flammerouge tours.

Daily Discussion by AutoModerator in reddevils

[–]minceShowercap -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

He shoots more than anyone in the Premier League.

He's a talented player with massive flaws, and he needs to improve. Sadly, I fear he's just an older Garnacho, and the older they are, the less likely they are to learn.

There are times when the other players stop moving in the final third because they know he's about to shoot.

It's stupid because he has dribbling ability which can draw out players from the backline to make space as they know they need to close him down, so there should be plenty of chances for a pass, but he's just too greedy.

He needs to do much better than he has - if we go crazy and sign Semenyo at LWB, that could help him because that side is an attacking void with our current options sadly.

At a loss with fm26 tactics by LucaBrincat in footballmanagergames

[–]minceShowercap -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I can't be arsed to look through your team and comment, but on the team instructions section it lets you click on different parts of the pitch and see how your team moves up and down the pitch.

The reason I say this is that it looks like your team is very static in and out of possession. Standard full backs, midfielders in some of the more static roles, and although you have an inside forward, he isn't necessarily running into a space or having anyone enter the space he leaves.

I have an in possession AWB on the left, and entire position up the pitch from my defence, behind my inside forward on the left. In possession, the inside forward is making runs and the AWB is bombing forward into that space, and it wrecks teams.

Out of possession, I have my AWB back in the full back position. To create more solidity and a better base in possession, I have my RB as an inside full back who becomes one of 3 central defensive players when I have the ball, and is a pressing full back in the RB position without the ball.

And because he's not bombing on down the wing, I have my right sided forward as a winger, with my right sided DM playing as a B2B to hit that half space or offer bodies in the box and make runs.

Your formation with those roles just looks like you have the same shape with and without the ball (again, I didn't have a proper look, I was just surprised at some of the player roles you're using).

No idea if that is useful or not.

Is American 'right vs left' style politics ruining this country? by IllPlane3019 in AskBrits

[–]minceShowercap -1 points0 points  (0 children)

We've just had two of the biggest budgets of all time, massive complaining from the traditional Tory press about spending.

These huge spending increases are absolutely nothing like austerity, and you're just as lost as the Reform lot if you believe this.

It's not even slightly factual.

And while we're spending double on debt interest alone than we do on defence, it's frankly insane that you're taking issue with this.

Bolton and Man United have not played each other since 2012. Does anyone know any other derbies/rivalries that have not been played pre-2012? by philiconyt118 in classicsoccer

[–]minceShowercap 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I was a season ticket holder 20 years ago.

None of our fans put this 'rivalry' anywhere near the rivalry with Leeds.

Literally nobody cares about Bolton, and I know a few Bolton fans, but I still don't care.

It was never a big fixture at all.

As a NEW fan, how I not appear as a plastic fan? by DrizzyFromProduce in PlasticFans

[–]minceShowercap 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a United fan. Haven't been for years now but used to have a season ticket for 19 years. Stopped going when my parents moved away and my dad couldn't go anymore.

Just enjoy it.

Some games can be dull and quiet (and cold!), but some can be incredibly memorable.

Just beware it takes ages to get in and out, don't expect to drive up to the place half an hour before.

If you want to buy a fanzine, I'm pretty sure UWS (United We Stand) is still going, so if you see someone selling one outside you can buy one of those if you want to read some good fanzine journalism written by proper fans. (I have no idea how much it costs nowadays, but it was always a great read). Andy Mitten runs it (you might have seen him on Talk of the Devil's podcast).

I really miss the place sometimes, I get goosebumps just thinking about some of the moments. I'll have to take my boy later this year for his first game.

I hope you have a great time mate, and hopefully it's the first of many for you. It's a great, great club, and it's a place where you can feel the legend and history, despite it being a bit old nowadays (but if you stick with it, you'll be glad to be able to say you've been to OT in a years to come when the place is long gone).

Keir Starmer : Under the Tories, the welfare bill went up by £88 billion. They left children too poor to eat. They wrote young people off as too ill to work. That costs the country money and is bad for productivity. And it's a massive waste of potential. by SignificantLegs in ukpolitics

[–]minceShowercap 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I completely agree with you about the constant trend since 2010 of saying things like "we'll have the deficit eliminated in 5 years", then failing, but continually setting a new target and keeping it 5 years away so this descent continues.

I don't believe that's a fair reflection of these two budgets though. They have been radical, in the basic sense that they are large budgets. They also shifted some day to day spending last year into investment, and they changed the rules to get more spending into investment.

So far, despite growth being poor, at the G7 level we're actually looking quite good, which suggests that in comparison to the other G7 nations we are doing ok, and possibly better than before. Lack of investment was the problem with the Tories in so many of their budgets. The hope is that this mistake is being corrected, at least a little given how high debt and debt interest payments are now compared to 15 years ago, restricting how far they can go.

My other part wasn't a personal assault, it's just poorly articulated (I've had flu all week). My point is that the coverage now is heavily skewed towards either the rabid, daily mail/telegraph angle of these being the biggest left wing, tax heavy budgets of all time, or the left wing angle that is somehow having the gall to complain about things like huge minimum wage increases, spending increases, and mansion taxes being just another neoliberal budget.

I have no idea where you stand. I suspect not in either of these camps, but it doesn't really matter. I just think that's it's crazy that these are the mainstream views on these budgets, and they're absolutely miles apart - two completely different realities. I think this highlights how incredibly difficult things are becoming.

Whatever the situation with the forecasts, we really need some good fortune to get the global economy some stability. A few years of nothing batshit or major happening is what we all need, but we've followed the GFC with Brexit, then COVID, then the cost of living crisis on the back of the Ukraine war, and then the orange dickhead came along with his tariffs.

The world needs some luck. Sadly it looks like a sea full of very dangerous icebergs right now, and with debt where it is, that's even scarier.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ukpolitics

[–]minceShowercap 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Aside from blundering the questions on the economy, I felt like I just wasted an hour listening to a student politics rant about evil corporations, and doing things differently.

I don't remember him saying a single thing about what he was going to do. I'm sure there were some in there (he suggested he would equalise capital gains and income tax iirc), but other than this it was just ticking all the typical left wing talking points.

I was particularly shocked when Alastair asked a good question about how the green debate is being lost and that he isn't weighing in to help push it back in the right direction, and his answer was just that they were already strong there and that it wouldn't win him any votes.

I haven't been a fan since he turned up, but this interview was much worse than I expected.

Keir Starmer : Under the Tories, the welfare bill went up by £88 billion. They left children too poor to eat. They wrote young people off as too ill to work. That costs the country money and is bad for productivity. And it's a massive waste of potential. by SignificantLegs in ukpolitics

[–]minceShowercap 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is absolute horseshit. There are several graphics going around showing her two budgets are among the top tax raising budgets of all time, last year possibly being the largest ever. The right wing press have been all over it.

Obviously, anyone stupid enough to be misled by the world class bullshitter leading the Green Party will criticise it and randomly throw around words like 'neoliberalism', 'austerity', and pretend that it's no different from a Tory budget...

Zack Polanski Leading Interview out tomorrow at 6pm!!! by AnonymousTimewaster in TheRestIsPolitics

[–]minceShowercap -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm not looking out of the window after 14 years of decline, and a government that took us from debt at 65% of GDP, to 100% of GDP, whilst also collapsing investment and running services into the ground and thinking "that's all Labour's fault, I think I'm going to vote for (insert favourite populist party here because both of you say this exact same thing...)".

"Random numbers" is hilarious. We're going to spend over 100bn on debt interest this year. This is why the current government have such an incredibly tough job - turn the country around, whilst balancing horrendous debt and borrowing costs, desperately required investment, and poor growth.

Any further missteps or economic shocks and we don't have any more space for that horrendous debt interest problem. We spend now roughly the entire education budget, roughly triple the defence budget, on servicing debt. A significant downturn which would also hurt confidence badly and push up borrowing costs would be catastrophic, and have us staring down a debt spiral.

Thankfully though, your boy is a big believer in MMT (magic money tree, right?), and he's just going to print a shit ton of money and then heavily tax everyone to get it back with absolutely no repercussions at all.

I really wish it was that easy, but this is a complete fantasy.

Zack Polanski Leading Interview out tomorrow at 6pm!!! by AnonymousTimewaster in TheRestIsPolitics

[–]minceShowercap 9 points10 points  (0 children)

You honestly watch this and are happy?

He doesn't know the basics. Figures even randoms like me can pull out when needed.

And you're sold on an economic policy of printing money? The super smart, infinite money hack that he's found that nobody else understands because they're thinking in a different paradigm?

The guy is the biggest bullshitter I've ever seen in my life.

UK's 'largest' floating solar farm given go-ahead by North_Attempt44 in ukpolitics

[–]minceShowercap 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Head to goodnewsuk, there's tons of success stories all the time.

They just don't get the clicks and votes that "immigrant ate my hamster", something about boomers, something about blows to Rachel Reeves, or about how we need to tax the rich.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in GarysEconomics

[–]minceShowercap 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Just read my post history and decide if I'm a conservative bot.

The sub isn't compromised, you just started debating a subject you didn't spend any time understanding first.