newbonic

England already has one of the the highest population densities of any major country, especially the south east. And there's no reason why it should be the default destination for any or every country in the world that's experiencing a population explosion, unless you want to replicate something like Bangladesh but in the Atlantic. Let them get their birth rates down to replacement level first.

I suspect that Audi are squeezing the most out of their existing models, production lines, and technology base while they can. They have sunk billions into it. I went to the Le Mans 24 Hour race this year, and Audi (or VAG really) have been winning it year after year due to their budget and lead in diesel-hybrid tech, a tech that used to be encouraged because of its relatively low CO2 output per km. This year Toyota won with their petrol-electric hybrid because Audi have withdrawn from the race - burning diesel's just not the image VAG want to project anymore. They will be throwing vast resources into non diesel/petrol power plants. I agree with your last paragraph. I live in a supposedly deprived ex coalfields area, but he number of big 4x4s and new German cars driving around is remarkable.

Oh yes. We live like Harry and Meghan in a 6 bedroom house in the Vale of York, paid for by bennies. We do have to lock a kid in a cupboard though so he doesn't learn to talk, and another is fed exclusively on Crunchy Nut Cornflakes and Sugar Puffs to keep him hyper all the time...

True. She should have at least one with ADHD and another with autism: Autism now so over-diagnosed it will be a meaningless condition within 10 years, warn experts

Not too bad really, considering the UK population was about 62 million 10 years ago, and now it's 66 million and climbing...

There are about a dozen states in the world whose leaders are ok with executing gays and lashing women who don't wear headscarves etc.. etc., and you nominate Trump as the worlds worst human being...

The Democrats in the US are alienating much of their mainstream US supporters. Trump is on course for a 2020 win:

I live in 'the North' (South Yorks) in an ex mining town. I don't know anyone in their 40s or 50s who lives with their parents. Anyway, my UK chain eatery anecdote is that the company I work with recently had a developer come over from southern India. He bought his family with him for a hol. They went to an 'Indian' chain restaurant in Sheffield and got charged about £15 a head for a veg biryani. His wife was scandalized as she said she could knock that up at home for £1 a head in Channai! They ate Italian etc. after that. I'm only happy paying a premium price if its something worth doing it for, e.g. freshly caught fish, or something difficult to cook at home. I'd be happy if a few of the debt laden chains go bust and free up space for independents to have a go.

This would make a good Viz 'Top Tip'. Send it in.

No. The government should stay out of our lives as much as possible.

My mate was saying that they're seriously considering putting speakers behind the now redundant* radiator grills to play 'engine' noises like a kids toy car. Bin lorries and busses can spend a lot of time trundling around pedestrian infested areas. I joked that they should have a play and have selectable noises like a Stuka siren... *The actual motor is about the size of a washing machine drum, and puts out circa 400hp at 90%+ efficiency, so there's very little heat to get rid off, unlike a petrol engine that chucks out 50%+ of its energy as heat before it even starts to do any mechanical work.

I was chatting to a friend who designs/engineers electric vehicles, mostly big stuff like bin lorries and busses. I remarked that rangewise battery powered vehicles would never be able to fully replace their diesel equivalents like HGVs. He told me that they were ideal in many ways - they had loads of space to store several of the coffin sized batteries that they use. Especially when the huge diesel engines, cooling plumbing, fuel tanks etc. were removed. Even trains are viable candidates.

True. Back in the late 80s a couple of my mates jointly bought a house in Reading to get on 'the ladder'. It did cause problems when one of them wanted to get married and bail a few years later though (due to the HPC of the early 90s tanking the price).

Aaaaaand: The raffle has been closed down by the Gambling Commission as being potentially illegal, and entrants asked to apply for a refund of their £10 tickets: https://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/news/entrants-told-to-apply-for-refund-after-raffle-to-win-500-000-yorkshire-home-closes-1-9518323

Whenever socialism has been tried it's been disastrous. Among other things 'wealth redistribution' doesn't respect private property (so why work hard to acquire it) and 'workers' controlling the means of production in practice means a cabal of socialist zealots deciding who deserves what, from the USSR in the 1920s, through to Venezuala and Zimbabwe today. And they always wind up living in the mansions of the class oppressors whose stuff they took by violence, like Che did in Cuba when he wasn't shooting kneeling and bound 'enemies of the revolution' in the head.