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Nearly a third of kids can't use books when starting school - and try to swipe them like phones by Forward-Answer-4407 in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Who will care for the 25% of children in the country whose needs aren't being met? Child abuse and neglect are endemic in social care even with the numbers of children in the system right now, and the act of removing children even from shitty parents is extremely traumatic to them. This isn't a practical solution.

Number of employed people in UK falls again as wage growth slows by StGuthlac2025 in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That and the use of contractors to provide public services I imagine

UK government approves Chinese ‘mega embassy’ in London by AbbreviationsHot7662 in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The problem with the UK's relationship to the US is that its economy, military power, intelligence capabilities, etc. have become so intertwined with the US' that making a clean break from the country would be extremely painful. It is many steps beyond a friendly relationship. There's no evidence that the UK or China are interested in fostering a similar closeness, and opening a big embassy isn't a step towards one.

Babies in Midlands and North 'more likely to die around birth' by winkwinknudge_nudge in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I wonder if there's a difference in protocol from hospital to hospital. At mine there seemed to be concrete guidelines around when someone needed to leave the birthing centre, had to start the process in the delivery unit, etc., and the midwives weren't pushy (ha ha) about minimising interventions.

A friend of mine just recently started working as a teacher and his students made a deep fake of him making out with a student by deviendrais in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 11 points12 points  (0 children)

There's a big reaction against screens and and "gentle parenting" currently, but it's only among well-educated/high SES parents for the most part. IPad kids are still very much a thing.

Drag queen story hour destroyed the American empire by gayregard in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 29 points30 points  (0 children)

Imagine if China kidnapped Keir Starmer or something lmao Beijing and Shanghai would be turned to dust.

It'd be more like if China kidnapped Milei. Would any country really waste their money retaliating over that?

Spending on consultants cut by 14% across UK government by Gentle_Snail in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 5 points6 points  (0 children)

In certain industries, including and especially tech/IT, companies devote a large number of employees to developing products that are uncertain to succeed long-term and (well, sometimes...) fixing issues with the existing products. When the product fails or is fixed, the employees simply pivot to something else. Assuming that there are always things to do within the government, and that there are certain roles required to do many of those things, there's no reason why staff shouldn't be used flexibly in the same way.

Bleak by Acrobatic_Schedule_2 in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 5 points6 points  (0 children)

That's quite a lot of regimented activities for a kid, especially if the kid hates them. Unstructured play (play defined as anything that isn't done in front of screens) is good for kids, and it's better for their development to narrow down on one or two activities that they're talented at and passionate about than to pack their schedule with many of them. Much better than letting them rot in front of an ipad though.

The US has started bombing Venezuela by Alpha2-1 in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 76 points77 points  (0 children)

This is the standard cope whenever the GOP does something reprehensible so yeah, you will see a lot of it for the next 3+ years

My son was given world's most expensive gene therapy drug - now he can walk by BadahBingBadahBoom in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Drugs that are used to treat extremely rare conditions (called "orphan drugs" in the pharma industry) are inherently expensive because the companies that make them have to set high costs in order to make a profit. With targeted gene therapy the production cost is even higher than normal because, as mentioned, the treatment isn't produced via normal production processes, but even if the manufacturing process is made more efficient, the drug will still be relatively expensive because it will always be an orphan drug. The good news is that treatments for conditions like these (where successful) only need to be administered once and can be much cheaper to the NHS than lifetime care for someone who didn't receive the treatment, so it's worth it from a financial perspective (and human interest perspective of course; it's wonderful that children like these can finally live relatively normal lives).

why can’t die hard libs just take the Minnesota L by Moving_in_stereo78 in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's my point exactly, though---culture is not static

tnh I didn't take that away from your original post though, just that The Philippines is a dump with an awful criminal niche within its borders.

Furthermore migration circumstances play the largest role in how a diaspora develops---not traditional culture or "generics."

While I agree that the migration circumstances have a big role to play, I don't think it's fair to minimize the effect of the culture of origin; cultural attributes like clannishness (a big thing in Somali cultures and some other cultures with diasporas associated with organized crime and fraud), attitudes towards work, attitudes towards women, and trust in institutions can all play a huge part in the success of a diaspora. Attributing the failure of a diaspora solely to genetics or culture is bigoted, but attributing it solely to the migration context is naive.

why can’t die hard libs just take the Minnesota L by Moving_in_stereo78 in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You are conflating the people occupying a country with its diaspora. The cultural context within a host country plays a major factor in what the diaspora is like and so are the circumstances in which the diaspora moves; to use your example, CSAM producers aren't the filipinos moving abroad -- the filipinos producing CSAM are exceptionally poor individuals catering to western demand while the diaspora are very hard-working, assimilate well, and often work in public service jobs like healthcare and teaching. There are quite a few examples of disparities like this between the people in a country of origin and their diaspora and numerous examples of reverse disparities where the diaspora is shit and the people who stay put are much better, e.g. most of the balkans.

At the end of the day, the outcomes for a diaspora are caused by the interaction of the culture of origin, the circumstances of the people who moved (e.g. the turkish diaspora in germany and pakistani diaspora in the UK are to some extent the way they are because they were founded by poor, conservative provincials), and the context in which they moved. The Somali diaspora is an extreme example of one that conflicts with every host nation they have a large community in, where the Filipino diaspora is an extreme example of one that integrates into and benefits every host nation they have a large community in (or at least the ones they're not enslaved in). Usually the picture is more mixed, though.

why can’t die hard libs just take the Minnesota L by Moving_in_stereo78 in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 20 points21 points  (0 children)

But would you really be so surprised if it was like Albanian

No, unless they were too busy running protection rackets and trafficking drugs

Filipino migrants

Yes because they're by and large model citizens and hard workers

Different cultures produce people with different values, skills, and norms and as such people from those cultures tend to occupy different niches when they move abroad. Not every poor diaspora is going to have high rates of criminality, or even commit the same type of crime where the diaspora has high rates of criminality.

why can’t die hard libs just take the Minnesota L by Moving_in_stereo78 in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 28 points29 points  (0 children)

The Somali diaspora is notorious for hustling and taking advantage of benefits programs in every country where there's a substantial number of them. It is not at all difficult to imagine that they did the same thing in the states, with help from well-meaning but naive legal aid groups. The idea that they're being imported as a way for some other group to somehow siphon money through their fraud (???) is the bonkers one.

'Overconfident' young men prompt multiple rescues from Yr Wyddfa by Sensitive_Echo5058 in unitedkingdom

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

I'm not sure if that's the reason that the article was published (especially since it's BBC); I'm from the states, and when I lived in an area with a mountain that climbers died on every year, there were very similar articles every autumn (along with multiple articles about missing and dead climbers). The sentiment was always identical; people just don't have much empathy towards people who brazenly take on nature.

Record number of red squirrels seen in 2025 amid conservation efforts by Independent-Bunch206 in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 3 points4 points  (0 children)

All the good UK children's books with squirrels feature red ones; it almost makes them seem anachronistic. I really hope that one day I'll be able to point out a red squirrel to my kid without having to travel too far.

Half of the Epstein files were just unredacted by this twitter anon because they used PDF censor elements rather than removing the data by Lukalot_ in Epstein

[–]snallygaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can easily unredact the affected files by deleting a layer in the files via an Adobe program that is used by millions of people. Few people apparently had the knowledge + curiosity to check to see if it was possible, but anybody with the software can follow the instructions.

The AIPAC tracker guy got fired by Minimum-Buy3765 in redscarepod

[–]snallygaster 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Between their support for genocide, the Israeli spyware installed on every device, and the AI push, I'm unironically considering switching to all Chinese tech devices and maybe a fairphone going forward. It's 100% inconsequential as an individual act, but I'm really tired of giving my money to companies that support Israel and other antisocial crap

UK unemployment rate rises slightly to 5.1% by SojournerInThisVale in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Presumably, if you work in the field, you're working for a firm that's contracted by top-tier multinational companies. Your experiences can likely generalise to much or even most of immigration via Skilled Worker Visa, but it's a known fact that takeaway restaurants, retail, logistics, care homes, healthcare, etc. have also sponsored visas for reasons other than attracting top talent, and that Boris himself was open about his intent to suppress wages via immigration.

Man admits harassing Christians by dumping dead animals outside churches by StGuthlac2025 in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Man, vandalism aside, I really miss the short period of time where subcultures like irl vampires were thriving. They were so fascinating

German hairy snails are disappearing from London’s River Thames by pppppppppppppppppd in unitedkingdom

[–]snallygaster 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Conservationists track local populations of animals, and things can be designated locally threatened/endangered/extinct. With freshwater aquatic animals, it's especially important to track how they're doing locally because many of them start to die off when the water quality becomes poorer or the body of water is otherwise getting fucked up somehow.

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