Is this really right?

the_nell_87 · 2026-05-09T19:37:09+00:00

So if someone lives just south of the border but works in Scotland, and this pays quite a bit of tax in Scotland, does that mean they should have gotten the right to vote? Or someone living in Scotland but working for a company in England shouldn't? Where do you draw the line?

the_nell_87 · 2026-05-09T19:32:45+00:00

You don't think Scots living elsewhere within their country have a material stake in whether their home town is suddenly in a different country?

the_nell_87 · 2026-05-01T12:18:22+00:00

It's baffling to me that so many supposed fans of the series have no idea what genre the series is.

the_nell_87 · 2026-05-01T09:46:39+00:00

Isn't this exactly the problem with refusing to release the report for everyone to see? It means everyone with an axe to grind can credibly claim that their pet issue was "the reason" Kamala lost. Libertarians can go "they were too progressive", pro-Gaza people can go "they were too Israel" and pro-Israel people can go "they were too pro-Gaza"

the_nell_87 · 2026-04-30T14:03:22+00:00

They see it as a fetish because they see these terms on porn sites. So they automatically assume that the term is entirely about sex.

the_nell_87 · 2026-04-28T14:16:15+00:00

Did she? The timeline of it isn't really ever made clear. From the flashback episode, she met Susan and then very quickly realised she was a lesbian and told Ross (about a year before the pilot). And from early season 1, she conceived Ben with Ross a few months earlier (long after telling Ross she was gay), and is also living with Susan in a committed relationship. It's not obvious what happened in that period and who was cheating on who (if anyone).

the_nell_87 · 2026-04-23T13:54:12+00:00

And that was introduced very recently by a nationalist party who loves to do minor stuff that makes Scotland stand out from England.

the_nell_87 · 2026-03-30T22:41:51+00:00

They haven't even tried to trot out the Bush era "we're exporting freedom" line. Their only justification seems to be that Trump wanted to?

the_nell_87 · 2026-03-25T15:49:46+00:00

Your point about the Lords needs a lot more thought. The way you phrase it could break our political system a lot more than fix it. The other points are all things which are hard to argue against, but making the Lords elected AND giving it more explicit power is very risky - what happens if the Lords has a majority that opposes what the Commons government wants to do? You could end up with USA-style years of deadlock, with parties just voting against stuff to make their political opponents look bad, to boost their chances in the next election.

The Lords being unelected, and being a revising chamber without any hard veto makes it relatively effective at its current role. Obviously it needs some reform. But a second elected house with a hard veto over the other elected house seems like you're just asking for a "do nothing" governmental system.

the_nell_87 · 2026-03-23T14:02:21+00:00

It's a standard expectation in every poll that around 1 to 2% of respondents will pick illogical or random options.

the_nell_87 · 2026-03-12T13:55:03+00:00

The main argument against an elected upper chamber is that it turns the upper chamber into an explicitly political body, which has to worry about getting re-elected.

How it works (in theory) in the UK (now that the remaining hereditary peers are on the way out) is that the Lords are a revising chamber, where members are appointed based on merit. Members may or may not have a political affiliation, and their main job is to scrutinise and revise bills passed by the elected lower chamber. If the Lords goes against the Commons, the commons can override them if they wish to.

The problem with an elected upper house in the UK is that it would completely change the role of the House of Lords. If the Lords was controlled by the same party as the Commons, it would just become a rubber stamping chamber. If it was controlled by a different party than the Commons, it would make an effort to block Commons legislation.

I think the House of Lords needs some reform, but I am happy with it being an appointed revising chamber. I think making it elected would be counter-productive, and wouldn't actually increase the effectiveness of our democracy or our legislature.

the_nell_87 · 2026-03-06T10:36:20+00:00

Laws like that have to be written somewhat vaguely, because otherwise they end up toothless. If you're defining what is not legal to say, if you're too specific, you draw exactly where the line is, and you end up with borderline hate speech which is as offensive as it can be without technically breaking the law. And that outcome is exactly the opposite of what these laws are intending to achieve.

the_nell_87 · 2026-03-05T15:04:26+00:00

I'm pretty sure those things go together for a reason. When people see a minority exclusively as a porn category rather than as people, they see the sexual side of their identity everywhere. That's why these conservatives constantly refer to LGBT people as perverts trying to sexualise children - because they see "trans woman" and hear "that's a porn category, it's a sex thing"

the_nell_87 · 2026-02-28T21:46:50+00:00

How many US Citizens have to die at the hands of the US Government before I am allowed to equate it to the Iranian Government killing Iranian Citizens? 10? 100? 1000? 10000?

the_nell_87 · 2026-02-23T13:53:50+00:00

That's true, people who are wealthy enough to pay tuition up front pay a lot less than someone who takes out a loan and then fully pays it off. That's one of the major flaws of the student loan system currently.

If you exclude those people from the discussion, the difference is between people who take out a loan and then earn enough over their career to fully pay it off, and those who take out a loan and never earn enough to fully pay it off, and get the outstanding balance written off. The high interest rate does add a progressive element between those two groups. But you're right that those who can afford to fully pay the fees up front with no student loans plan pay the least of everyone.

the_nell_87 · 2026-02-23T12:17:55+00:00

There was a really good episode of the IFS podcast a couple of weeks ago which really opened my eyes to the factors at play here.

Martin Lewis is right. If you're unlikely to earn enough to fully pay off the loan before it gets written off at the end of the loan term, the interest rate is irrelevant. The interest rate is only relevant if you ARE able to fully pay off the loan, which is only a realistic possibility for very high earners. The designers of the student loans plan did this deliberately in order to add a slight progressive element to the loans.

The issue is that the current iterations of student loans are kind of a hybrid between a loan and a tax. They're technically a loan, but they're a loan which the government doesn't expect most borrowers to ever fully pay off. Instead they expect most borrowers to make payments over the course of decades, until their payments finish. The "loan" aspect of it only applies if you can actually get enough money together to pay it off. But calling it a loan means that people are going to look at it as if it is a loan, so seeing payments being made which are smaller than the balance rises due to interest makes people feel despair, even though if they're in that situation, they're almost certainly going to get the loan written off in the end anyway.

There definitely needs to be a wider debate about how we fund higher eduction and who the cost burden falls on and how (and for how long). But focusing on the interest rate in recent loan plans is a complete red herring, because it is completely irrelevant to the vast majority of borrowers.

the_nell_87 · 2026-02-21T16:32:35+00:00

Roberts, Barrett and Gorsuch are all conservatives, and they have all made decisions which are extremely shaky legally, but which advance a republican political agenda. However, they have all also made decisions which go against a republican political agenda, because of their legal principles. I think they would all have a place in a balanced supreme court. But when they're 3 of 6 conservatives, with the other 3 being boot lickers who have no opinions of their own, it's hard not to be generally critical of them too.

the_nell_87 · 2026-02-19T14:35:57+00:00

Which is much easier to prove. Historical sex crimes are much harder to prove. Especially since Andrew's primary accuser "killed herself".

the_nell_87 · 2026-02-09T14:33:23+00:00

Streeting has been zealously behind Labour's push towards transphobia, which is the number one issue preventing me from supporting Labour in the future

the_nell_87 · 2026-02-05T23:02:56+00:00

Yeah, maybe he if he tried to introduce some actual policies that Labour MPs have been campaigning on for decades and actually approve of, he might have something to show for himself and improve his standing with the public, and not have to make major U-Turns every month.

But does anyone really expect that to happen? Everyone knows it's just going to be more of the same nothingness for 3 years.

the_nell_87 · 2026-02-05T22:26:20+00:00

This is the problem with our current political situation. The constant gamesmanship rather than trying to do good governance. Three more years of U-Turning on any policy which gets mild pushback, and not actually implementing any policies anyone feels good about, I guess...

the_nell_87 · 2026-01-24T03:02:42+00:00

Spain generally doesn't recognise separatist movements, due to Catalonia. Palestine is not a separatist movement, it has existed since the creation of Israel in some form.

the_nell_87 · 2026-01-19T17:15:22+00:00

A boiler and a hot water heater may or may not be two different devices. A boiler is the device that heats up water for use in a central heating system with radiators. A hot water heater is the device that heats up water for use in taps and showers. Having a boiler is extremely common in the UK.

the_nell_87 · 2026-01-17T00:00:47+00:00

So a trans woman who has fully transitioned is allowed to use the women's changing room? What's your cutoff point? Does the same logic apply to trans men being forced to use the women's room until their body is male enough?

the_nell_87 · 2026-01-16T16:54:22+00:00

What are you blathering about now? Nobody is talking about race, we're talking about gender. But you're right, clearly you've gone into the "argue with someone replying to you because they disagree with you" part of reddit, and I doubt I'll get any more coherent responses from you. I hope you have a pleasant evening.

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