byron78
-
Posts
8,304 -
Joined
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by byron78
-
-
12 hours ago, MarkG said:
Who is Britain at war with?
Itself since 2016.
-
51 minutes ago, Timm said:
1. My opinion on the matter.
2. Your opinion on the matter.
Lol. True!
-
8 hours ago, A.steve said:
🙂 Nice try.
Why don't you survey British statute since 1975; scrutinise each bill - and establish an objective assessment yourself? You could rank them by some measure of their efficacy and by a measure of similarity with prior EU publications... then you could plot a nice scatter plot for everyone's entertainment.
It's astonishing to me you can't - off the top of your head - think of 3 clear things Brexit has improved.
I'm not trying anything. I am simply seeing a lot of chaos and businesses going to ruin around me right now. I don't know what statutes you think you've freed them from, but so far you have helped free them from EU exports worth 40 billion a year (literally the drop off in the UKs exported goods now and a record trade deficit).
I think it's perfectly valid to ask people still wedded to this what they think it has achieved apart from all the hardship.
If you can't answer then you can't answer. That's fine.
I suppose the open border trade deal with India that it's hinted is incoming will help businesses and supress indigenous wages, but again - didn't most moan about EE workers with regards this? Or do you still think Brexit can work, but just not under hard right populist governments?
-
1 hour ago, winkie said:
We don't have a public transport system here that is good enough to do away with the car nationality.......London fair enough, can more easily live without a car........Europe is huge, the roads are excellent mostly and free to use mostly, the trains are modern fast and electric mostly and not expensive......even small villages have regular buses for those that don't own a car and are well used.
I remember in the 70s the Germans west Germany then always had more money to spend than the Brits, maybe it was something to do with the Mark v Pound exchange rate, they got more for their money, don't know?
From what I know of Denmark having visited it, the houses are built insulated better are warmer, childcare is excellent for mothers who want or need to work, open sandwiches and clean.
Most of that is socialism as well.
Denmark, Germany, and central Europe in general tend to pay more tax (and therefore do tend to have better public services).
That really does add up over 50+ years as well.
It feels like the UK is at the end point of a neolib experiment that started 40+ years ago now to me tbh. We were told wealth would "trickle down". Well, our services are crumbling, and most of our citizens will have to choose between food and heating this winter. Hell of an odd look for 40 years of trickled down wealth that...
-
2 hours ago, A.steve said:
That was not my claim. I did tell you that the EU pushed an incompetently defined vision of data protection policy.
I did not tell you that it was excessive. I did not tell you it was insufficient. I told you it is not fit for purpose.
I didn't tell you that it was "one of my top 5". I also told you why I rejected your request to name my top 5. I gave you a single example of one piece of legislation that was adopted, after EU recommendation, when even the most cursory, competent, scrutiny would have quickly shown that GDPR failed to establish a coherent vision - let alone justify legislature.
GDPR has been an epic own-goal for anyone who wants strong data protection... and, simultaneously, places absurd and onerous burdens on the decent, honest and law-abiding... while creating a smoke screen that benefits the unscrupulous and unethical. It just so happens to be a piece of primary legislation that I have recently read - which made it a good choice for me. I don't think I've read 5 statutes in the past decade - so... as I am sure you can appreciate... I am not in any position to rank the five worst pieces of EU inspired legislation.
Could you manage 3 things if 5 if too much for you?
-
1 hour ago, MarkG said:
The local militias have been doing most of the infantry fighting since 2014, and were expected to be absorbed into the Russian forces now that they're part of Russia.
Martial law presumably means that Russia is about to get serious about eliminating Ukraine. And everyone who's been blocking peace agreements and yelling "MOAH WEAPONS!" for the last few months will be responsible for that.
I'm pretty sure most people think the country invading the other country are responsible for said country presently being invaded.
-
34 minutes ago, Si1 said:
Absolutely this!
-
Open borders with India!
Hahaha!
The Brexit dream!
-
33 minutes ago, kzb said:
You are only allowed 8 (?) items to exclude from VAT. So it is a difficult choice. What is Spain going to charge VAT on to replace the tampon VAT?
The loans and grants come with a cost unfortunately. There are several new EU taxes to help pay for them.
I mean, you're wrong as usual, but sort of close.
There are seven new categories of goods that countries can choose to exempt from VAT in the EU. There are no restrictions in how many items in those categories they do or don't exempt.
So our great Brexit tampon win... er... oh.
-
12 minutes ago, IMHAL said:
This. I have no issues with criticising our authorities (still do), but to opportunistically use our present and past flaws to justify Russia's actions is sick beyond words. I am now very suspicious of the motivations behind some of the posters. I constantly wonder that their real motivation is not for the benefit of the UK, it's to jeer on and create instability by dividing opinion and polarising.
100% this.
It's utterly sick in my opinion.
It's like trying to defend a rape by saying "well... someone from your country once raped someone who looked just like this as well."
It's not a defense. It's just flagging up to others that they're morons.
-
20 minutes ago, Si1 said:
that's literally a quote from the Russian general in charge of the Ukraine operation
it's basically rapist logic
Holy shit. That is beyond bonkers.
-
Just now, Si1 said:
they want Ukraine to voluntarily be friends with Russia and not the west, and if they don't they'll kill them
Sounds reasonable...
🤔
-
4 minutes ago, kzb said:
Did you miss my comment about VAT on tampons?
OK here is another. We are not on the hook for about 13% of the €750 billion EU Covid Recovery Fund, which otherwise we would be.
Oh no. No access to low cost grants and loans!
How has Spain managed to reduce its VAT on tampons below the EU rate already (with a view to scraping it completely soon) I wonder?
The problem is a lot of this is spin. And a lot of it is just nonsense.
We could always have removed VAT from tampons. It was just a lot easier to imply we couldn't...
-
I think it needs removing.
You can't have a huge block of people voting for cuts when they themselves are largely protected from these.
(Why I don't think they will remove it btw. Why would you want pensioners - our last big voting block now - being subjected to the same crapness as everyone else?)
-
Six pages.
Not one clear demonstrable benefit?
Wow.
-
11 minutes ago, Si1 said:
must be scared of local militia
Surely the local militia are fighting to join Russia in Putin's odd little narrative?
How is he even spinning this nonsense now?
Are Russian people the thickest citizens on the planet?
-
17 minutes ago, IMHAL said:
Sick of watching Tories on TV telling us how they have sympathy with those suffering a cost of living crisis, they only botched up big time and made it twice as bad for everyone! Two face idiots.
Can't see the Tories being in power for at least a generation. People were having a hard time before, now they have been pushed past the edge. They are done for.
The boomers who got cheap council houses will probably be the last significant working class chunk of population to ever vote for us.
All we have left are the nutters and the simpletons from the poors now.
-
10 minutes ago, Si1 said:
It's interesting that universities like to have some flexibility in recruiting students. From first hand conversation with a few lecturers. They'd rather have a talented student with Bs from a state school than a moron with As from a private school with tuition etc But the Tories and the telegraph are pushing hard to force universities to accept students based on exam grades alone. Wonder why....
I have lost count of the number of people I've met who also have an Oxbridge education that were put off by just how elitest and exclusive they are.
I think it's got better (it was still largely separated by skin colour when I went!) but if anyone thinks a lot of the Bullingdon lot get there on their smarts and not their ability to simply write cheques (often for someone else to do a lot of their work)...
-
2 hours ago, A.steve said:
I don't agree that all I need to know about a vast and complex situation is an allegation that one disgusting crime happened to be be perpetrated there.
I don't know why you are asking for me to select 5 things. Are you asking me to pick 5 items of statutory legislation that followed guidance from the EU? If you are, there are thousands to choose from. I know that 'my top 5' lists are a thing - but they're not my thing. 🙂
You might note that I haven't commented - one way or the other - if I think any of these statutory instruments (that Britain slavishly introduced) were good or bad for you, or I, or Britain. The devil is frequently in the fine details - both for laws initiated by the EU and those arising otherwise. Britain certainly can't blame the EU for every deficiency in its statute. My observation is that the House of Commons assumes the position of the institution for law-making for Britain... and the vast majority of the laws they made (at least while the UK was an EU member - counting number, but not attempting to measure substance) extended UK statute to implement EU regulations in UK law.
One specific example of an incoherent and inept law, that I find noteworthy, is that arising from GDPR. The legislation is vague to the point of being incoherent and is - to all intent and purpose - unenforceable (or, at least, is only selectively enforcible) and - as such - is an affront to justice. There are MANY other examples. I don't think that what came before the legislation implementing GDPR was adequate or satisfactory... but the problems with it were not even considered by the relevant British institutions... responsibility was delegated to the EU... who delegated back the responsibility for implementing a half-baked vision of supposed improvements... and, after the dance, it's not clear who should be responsible for resolving which aspects of the debacle.
One of your top 5 things the EU pushed is excessive data protection?
Those bastards!
(I mean, if you don't have an easy 5 bad things the EU pushed that's fine, I guess. As a former "slave" it would nice to know what they imposed on me that you think is still worth all this nonsense is all. Brevity is the sister of talent and I really do think it helps if people who know what the big issues were/are could help lay them out simply and directly to make them accessible etc. Helps separate all the propaganda and spin etc. I've asked a lot of people still wedded to Brexit the same question - "the top 5 things we have reversed since we left the EU". It should be a very easy list to compile, surely?)
-
37 minutes ago, Pebbles said:
@msiis just an anti tory labour fanboy hence their obsession with Toryboyz .They are a bigger user of straw man and ad hominen attacks as anyone else on this site.
I do still support the conservatives, i actually think we haven't had actual conservatives like thatcher or Major since then. They needed to stop splunking money in furlough and Covid loans (supported by labour who actually wanted more spent) and should have chocked off what little growth we had by returning interest rates to normality. I just dont feel labour really matches my belief in supporting oneself and not relying on the state to do it for you they are to concerned with woke (e.g. look at the public reaction to just stop oil and insulate Britain and compare that to labours opposition to the public order bill yesterday).
Have they improved your life and ability to progress this past 12 years?
Or are they simply pandering to, and encouraging, your particular prejudices?
Both are fine. But voting for someone who has raised the tax burden to record levels for all but the most affluent and increased immigration to record levels probably aren't things you personally agree with? You just like it when they say "this is all someone else's fault!"?
-
11 hours ago, MARTINX9 said:
We still of course have selection in the state sector. It’s no longer by ability via an exam at age 11 but by property prices based on catchment areas. After all why do houses near the best schools command large premiums. It’s the middle classes big secret.
Watch those oh so right and virtuous ‘anti private school’ socialists send their kids to the best state schools by using their property purchasing power. Camden school for girls being a prime example as to where many Labour politicians have sent their kids over the years - cue the article below.
At least those who pay for a private education directly are honest about it - and not hypocritical! And for all it’s faults at least the 11 plus meant poor intelligent kids had a better chance of a good state education than less gifted middle class ones whose parents can afford expensive homes in the right area.
This is absolutely true.
I'd add the same thing happens with houses near private schools as well.
Educating kids based on how much money their parents have rather than how smart they are (or could be) just seems like such an obviously flawed system, I'm amazed we are having to try and explain why this is tbh!
-
28 minutes ago, Si1 said:
you might enjoy reading 'the laws of human stupidity' by Carlo Cippola. I keep recommending it to anyone, short read, you'd enjoy it. It's all true. Also the foreword by Nasim Taleb is essential too.
Will have a look. Thank you!
-
8 hours ago, A.steve said:
I don't place my trust in the electorate to become better at making good decisions. Hoping for that is an exercise in futility.
My hope is that, when MPs need to implement policies... rather than slavishly doing what the EU tells them (because it is easier than doing the job associated with their role) the public may find contempt for incompetence - and this may have a positive effect on democracy itself. Essentially, I would like to (re)establish the accountability feedback loop... so, when politicians do badly, the electorate notices then cares. Perhaps it is impossible to hold the political class to account, and democracy is doomed to fail... but, while there's any chance at all, I think it a good idea to hope that democracy can work.
You have. I believe that one needs to go beyond exercising a right to free speech in order for any action to qualify as "interference" - c.f. "influencing". The distinction is critical... If we decry any attempt to influence others, we're accepting the worst form of totalitarianism in which no-one has freedom of speech. Another problem with it, at a different level of abstraction, is that the West (and Britain, especially, with proudly proclaimed 'Soft Power') makes extensive efforts to extend influence around the world. It would be despicable hypocrisy if we were to decide that no other group should have a similar right.
Election interference, of course - has a more specific interpretation in (inter)national laws. I'm aware of several prominent allegations of "interference" (which always seems to involve foreign, and seldom national, stakeholders... presumably as other sorts of interference might well be both ethical and legal). My observation is that the allegations have been raised by the losing parties in elections - and seldom (in the West) has solid evidence been shown (that would convince me, beyond reasonable doubt) that the influence arose as a consequence of conscious plans by foreign governments that also happened to be both unethical and effective.
Despite my bias for low-octane interpretations when it comes to "interference" (in a legal sense) - I do believe that shenanigans connected with elections dramatically undermines democracy - and seem endemic. For example: I believe that central banks are put under undue political pressure to keep interest rates low... as politicians know that - empirically - when interest rates rise, incumbent politicians lose support. Another example would be gerrymandering... and there are lots of examples of changes that certainly look as if that was the motive. I take an even bigger issue with the way in which political parties manage allocating 'safe seats' to members - preventing the public from expressing their dissatisfaction with an MP they know... by moving them to a different seat where they are less well known. I don't think we should seek to eliminate foreign influence when it comes to national politics... in the unlikely event that any claim of success could be taken seriously... it would weaken critical thinking by the electorate - and likely result in diabolically poor outcomes.
I've followed the debate about voter identification and elections... I'm aware that the Trump camp came across as rather unhinged - raving about voter fraud... but I do suspect that there were potent shenanigans... though, quite likely, nothing like what was alleged. It might only be a delusion that I suffer (after thinking about technology and information security in other contexts) but I do feel that the checks and balances, when it comes to casting votes in elections, seem *extremely* flimsy. No... I'm not alleging any wrongdoing... but I am noting that, if determined people were to set themselves the objective of a particular result... it feels to me as if it would not be especially, technically, difficult.
Could you remind me of 5 things we have slaveishly followed the EU on?
I know that's a pretty small list given how long we were members, and I'm aware we had to follow rules etc, but honestly... most of the rules I can remember the UK opposing either related to water quality or exposure to random chemicals, etc.
I mean, it's great I'm completely surrounded by raw sewage since Brexit and all, but it does seems a strange place for them to have started...
-
Lizzy has hours, not days
in House prices and the economy
Posted
Boris doesn't want it. Doesn't remotely want it.
I think the "bring back Boris!' shouts are from desperate Tories who seem to have forgotten he was also inept and incredibly corrupt.
Anyway... he's off writing his memoirs and counting his money on the tour circuit. Doesn't give a toss about Britain. Never did.