WTF is happening in the UK?

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Fox3WheresMyBanana
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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5361 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:36 pm

Take a look at Canada's unelected Senate.
It's solely a rubber stamp institution, and an expensive-to-the-taxpayer way of providing sinecure jobs for the party in government.
If you have an elected chamber, like the US Senate, then it can act as a brake on the government, but not often in a good way, and at vastly more expense.

The problem is government itself.
Politicians are not in practice accountable to their constituents between elections. It's an elected dictatorship.
The Ancient Greeks allowed this for their original democracy, but only in times of crisis, and with a one year limit (renewable by new elections).

Any second chamber, as defined, is supposed to consist solely of the wise, who have the moral courage to vote in accordance with that wisdom, even if it goes against their personal preferences and philosophy.
The current crop of second chambers are 90% full of suck-ups who possess neither quality.

The solution lies in massively reducing the power of political parties. Powerful parties always ends up as a two party system full of people whose prime talent is finagling their way up that greasy pole. And they end up having to put so much effort and time into doing that that they've almost never had a real job, have lost contact with real people, and have no practical skills to avoid or solve real crises - a corrupt idiocracy.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5362 Post by talmacapt » Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:45 pm

I haven't read the proposal, by Starmer?, but I suspect it will be stuffed with yet more incompetent politicos.

Think second grade eggs or apples, maybe the ones that have passed their sell by date.

I hate to think of the costs to set it up and the salaries of the members.

I think appointees to the second chamber should be solely from the ranks of retired BA captains.

I offer my services as a member, for free, as long as there is a cheese board in the dining room!!

Fox cross posted while I was writing.

His third paragraph about the wise would be admirably solved by my proposal.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5363 Post by talmacapt » Tue Dec 06, 2022 5:58 pm

talmacapt wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 4:45 pm
I haven't read the proposal, by Starmer?, but I suspect it will be stuffed with yet more incompetent politicos.

Think second grade eggs or apples, maybe the ones that have passed their sell by date.

I hate to think of the costs to set it up and the salaries of the members.

I think appointees to the second chamber should be solely from the ranks of retired BA captains.

I offer my services as a member, for free, as long as there is a cheese board in the dining room!!

Fox cross posted while I was writing.

His third paragraph about the wise would be admirably solved by my proposal.
My mistake.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5364 Post by llondel » Tue Dec 06, 2022 6:33 pm

G-CPTN wrote:
Tue Dec 06, 2022 2:58 pm
What do Ops-Norm members think of the proposal to do away with the House of Lords - only to be replaced by a newly-created second chamber with similar aims?
If they swap it for a second elected chamber then they ought to elect people for one 10-year term, and once you've done your term you are not eligible for re-election. Ideally it should also disqualify someone from sitting in the Commons afterwards too. It also depends on the size of each constituency and how many of them there are and whether they're multi-member. Single Transferrable Vote, not first past the post, too. It also restarts the argument over which chamber has precedence - at the moment it's the Commons because it's elected and the Lords is not, but if they are both elected chambers, things such as the Parliament Act would need to be repealed/revised because an elected Lords should have the power to block legislation.

The thing about the Lords is that for the most part it sees itself as a revising chamber, trying to turn what the Commons produces into something workable. That's why a lot of the life peers are experts in fields other than politics and often have day jobs outside of Parliament. That expertise would be lost if it was turned over to career politicians.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5365 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Tue Dec 06, 2022 6:37 pm

No modern politician, of any party, is going to hand over power (that they've had in the UK since 1911) to a body they cannot control.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5366 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Wed Dec 07, 2022 7:27 pm

We know where this leads - interest-only mortgages.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/personal-ba ... -mortgage/

It means the government knows perfectly well that interest rates aren't going down any time soon, which means inflation isn't going away any time soon.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5367 Post by Boac » Fri Dec 09, 2022 12:40 pm

'One' can begin to see why poor Sunak appeared to be so 'shocked' by this. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... 70587426-1

Now he has something to 'Mone' about :)) I expect he wants to hear the excuses from the then Chancellor!

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5368 Post by Fox3WheresMyBanana » Fri Dec 09, 2022 1:08 pm

It's possible that governments worldwide have killed the Golden Goose this time.
Canada has had at least $5 billion disappear to covid scams of this sort (that's the official story, not just rumour), and that's just the obvious ones they have found so far.
Government has always seen that its mates get the juicy contracts.
However, I think they may have taken more money out of the system than it can bear.
The taxes aren't there to fight inflation or pay consequent wage demands.
And the services are already beyond breaking point - people are dying in ER waiting rooms here.

We only ever hear the details of enough scandals to get the existing party out of government.
Labour, as they've shown before, don't actually want to change the fundamentals of these dodgy practices because they want to benefit from them when it's their turn in government.
And the same runs for opposition parties the world over.
But, the money has gone, however little we hear of it, and the amount is affecting economic fundamentals.
Considering the vast amounts already wasted and still being wasted on migrants, climate change, and diversity, there wasn't as much left to take as governments thought there was.
So, something has to give, something big.
The problem is, all the pet projects have already been trumpeted for years as life-or-death stuff, and they obviously can't have been if they are now dropped.
One awaits the first MP dying in the road because the ambulance took 5 hours to get to them. Nothing bothers MPs until it happens to them.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5369 Post by Woody » Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:30 am

Image
When all else fails, read the instructions.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5370 Post by Woody » Tue Dec 13, 2022 12:40 pm

It must take some doing to be declared bankrupt when you’re an MP :ymdevil:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63958964

He’s my local MP, known as Absent Adam.

https://twitter.com/AbsentAdam?s=20&t=E ... HIPvXG7_1w
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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5371 Post by Boac » Tue Dec 13, 2022 4:51 pm

Latest poll predictions suggest a possible 314 seat majority for Labour at the next election. That would be even more unhealthy than the 80+ Conservative majority has been.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5372 Post by barkingmad » Tue Dec 13, 2022 5:47 pm

Fox3 sez:-“It's possible that governments worldwide have killed the Golden Goose this time.
Canada has had at least $5 billion disappear to covid scams of this sort (that's the official story, not just rumour), and that's just the obvious ones they have found so far.
Government has always seen that its mates get the juicy contracts.
However, I think they may have taken more money out of the system than it can bear.
The taxes aren't there to fight inflation or pay consequent wage demands.
And the services are already beyond breaking point - people are dying in ER waiting rooms here.”

Catherine Austin Fitts has been warning about the sovereign debt and US pension funds and social care funds predicted collapses, due to happen soon, for many months but folks seem neither to have noticed nor to comment if they have.

Here’s just a short roundup of what TPTB are up to whilst we looked the other way at the ‘plague’, Ukraine and the alleged Climate Crisis;



Of course as some here might recall, BlackRock are the people who are now administering the BA pension scheme, as I posted elsewhere earlier this year, so rest easy ex-BA troops, yer money is secure!

During this afternoon’s snow shower I thought I noticed some CBDC bitcoins floating earthwards but when I caught one it turned out to be an ordinary snowflake, which quickly melted leaving me with a cold wet hand... ~X(

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5373 Post by OFSO » Tue Dec 20, 2022 7:23 pm

The Aladdin pantomime in Liverpool is at the centre of a race row due to the production appearing to feature an all-white cast and use of offensive terminology.

The stage production at Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena sees Scott Sutcliffe in the lead role of Aladdin, Coronation Street star Connor McIntyre as Abanazar and The Voice contestant Kelsey Beth Crossley as Princess Jasmine. Actor Nigel Peever makes an appearance as The Emperor.

In the classic Disney movie, Aladdin is set in the fictional city of Agrabah on the banks of the River Jordan.

A synopsis on the panto’s website reads: ‘Join our hero Aladdin, his mother Widow Twankey and his brother Wishee Washee as they embark on a magical adventure and try to defeat the evil Abanazar and his plan to become master of the world.

‘With help from the Genie Of The Lamp & The Spirit Of The Ring will Aladdin save the day and marry the beautiful Princess Jasmine?’

A trailer for the show was reportedly tweeted by the arena before being deleted, and is said to have featured a character using the line: ‘Come on down to our oriental town.’

Irvine Iqbal, who played the Sultan in the West End version of Aladdin, has said a ‘conversation’ needs to happen about casting in the theatre industry.

The Voice star Kelsey Beth Crossley makes an appearance as Princess Jasmine.
Coronation Street actor Connor McIntyre takes a central role as Abanazar.
Many in the Asian community feel the term ‘oriental’ is outdated and offensive.

Actor Irvine Iqbal – who played the Sultan in the West End version of Aladdin – was among those leading calls for a ‘conversation’ about the casting process in the theatre industry.

He tweeted: ‘An ALL white cast in a production of Aladdin where the lyrics are “Come on down to our Oriental Town”. Unfortunately @MandSBankArena have deleted their video trailer so here’s a slice of how poorly represented their production is #Shameful.’

‘ALL white cast in a production of Aladdin where the lyrics are “Come on down to our Oriental Town” in the diverse city of Liverpool @MandSBankArena. This is diverse Britain!’ he later added.

Benjamin Armstrong, who also starred in the West End show playing the character of Rumi, said he was ‘disgusted’ by the casting.

‘I speak about casting authentic actors for Aladdin pantos a fair bit, but this goes beyond that,’ he tweeted, adding that the lines in the show were ‘100 per cent utter racism. There is no excuse’.

The UK Pantomime Association called out the show and said in a statement: ‘The @UKPantomime and @panto_day are champions of pantomime and take seriously the need for innovation and progression in the sector, including the appropriate casting of performers from the global majority, and removal of racist stereotypes which have historically been depicted.

‘We have been made aware of productions of Aladdin that employ racist stereotypes. There is no place for such casting, writing and directing in the pantomime industry today.

‘The UK Pantomime Association will be holding the first of its annual Pantomime Symposiums in association with Staffordshire University in February 2023 and can confirm that there will be a panel addressing inclusivity, diversity and representation.’

According to the Mail Online, Shone Productions which is behind the panto, said their casting calls are posted on Spotlight, dubbed the largest casting resource in the UK.

They added: ‘Our adverts are open to all ethnicities. We have a diverse company of performers and backstage crew across all of our pantomimes. Our performers are cast based on their strength and ability for each role.

‘We are keen to ensure our organisation is representative, and we will take feedback on board.’

Metro.co.uk has reached out to Shone Productions for comment.

Do you think the casting for this production of Aladdin was appropriate?

OFSO: expletive deleted. I'd like see some people parading naked and having excrement thrown over them..... Oh no, that's been done already.....

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5374 Post by Pontius Navigator » Wed Dec 21, 2022 8:20 am

An aptly named thread OFSO.

A primary school in Middle Rasen deep in the Lincolnshire Wolds got a low OFSTED report for ethnic diversity as there were ethnic pupils or staff.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5375 Post by Pontius Navigator » Wed Dec 21, 2022 8:22 am

And on the front page of the Telegraph, 3 RM being supervised by a nurse as they practise moving one of their number up some stairs.

Marines carrying Marines is probably all in a day's work. Better had they practised using heavy body, the Ambulance woman supervising perhaps.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5376 Post by Ibbie » Wed Dec 21, 2022 8:23 am

How long before the family of a bereaved person, death caused by lack of attention by a striking nurse/ambulance person call for a charge of manslaughter to be brought against their union leader?

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5377 Post by Pontius Navigator » Wed Dec 21, 2022 9:13 am

Ibbie, a few months back our neighbour was in severe pain and unable to get in a car to get to A&E. They called 999 in the afternoon. The ambulance arrived at 0430.

It's been crippled for a long time.

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5378 Post by 1DC » Wed Dec 21, 2022 11:34 am

Wasn't that how Maggie T. stopped the strikes by making the unions liable if they caused harm through striking? It was T. Bliar's first decision after he got the prime job to reverse it!

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5379 Post by Karearea » Sat Dec 24, 2022 5:59 am

Neil Oliver – ‘…if it’s free you are the product’ video, 19:23
‘…writing, rising prices and the mail service – are our connections with one another being affected and limited by big tech?’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrPNVR0LJ-E
And with the morn, those angel faces smile...

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Re: WTF is happening in the UK?

#5380 Post by Boac » Mon Jan 02, 2023 8:44 am

The government has done it again - the ?'Independent'? Pay Review Board for NHS pay has been 'guided' by them in a letter that the pay award should again 'probably' be around the 2% mark for 2023. That should go down well. I hope the Board test the word 'Independent'.

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