cubby
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doesn't get subtext
Posts: 6,113
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Post by cubby on Oct 4, 2023 21:37:30 GMT
On the News Agents this evening, they were saying that Sunak has brought back Cummings as an advisor. Not sure if that's true or not but I hadn't heard it mentioned before. This would probably explain some of the weird shit that's been happening recently, he seems to have taken a leaf out of Russian official Surkov's playbook by turning the government into a confusing pantomime that renders any fact checking powerless by constantly confounding it's critics with too many targets. It was prevalent during his reign with Boris and if it's true he's now with Sunak it helps explain the last couple of weeks.
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Post by Dougs on Oct 4, 2023 21:40:32 GMT
Because at the moment they only ID spotty kids. 10 years after implementing it, it'll be 25 year olds and so on. If you want to ban it, just ban it. But they know most of the tax take is from older people which they daren't lose. The take from younger generations is probably negligible in the whole scheme of things.
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Post by Dougs on Oct 4, 2023 21:53:03 GMT
Anyway, I've only really just read some of the other stuff in the speech. How the fuck can he claim to be the change candidate? It's astonishing. And the attack on trans people's rights is vile, if not unsurprising.
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Post by stuz359 on Oct 4, 2023 21:57:46 GMT
Regarding the smoking thing, I'm a smoker, I'm also a hypocrite.
I don't think it's the worst policy TBH. I have lot's of little people, Nieces, Nephews and other hangers on, who would never legally be allowed to buy cigarettes under this policy. I never want them to start.
Myself, I keep telling myself that quitting would be an effective pay rise of £85-£100 a week.
But, I do my best thinking when I go for a smoke. It's me time, get's me away from my desk. It's a weird way to think but I am an addict.
I think as time has gone on, smoking has gone off a cliff anyway, I think we all know that it's time to call it for the tobacco industry.
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Post by Danno on Oct 4, 2023 21:59:22 GMT
The only reason this is a policy is because Sunak dislikes smoking on a personal level. He doesn't give a fuck about public health.. because you should have insurance anyway.
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Post by stuz359 on Oct 4, 2023 22:02:13 GMT
However, if you're argument is that smoking has a deleterious effect on the NHS, then you can extend that argument to Alcohol, which is where it becomes interesting for a libertarian party.
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Post by Danno on Oct 4, 2023 22:04:35 GMT
The libertarian party that had an actual pallett of Pol Roger carted into conference on evening 1
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geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Oct 4, 2023 23:53:00 GMT
A smoking ban is something I'm against, even as a non-smoker. Want to make something unappealing to people? Make it difficult and not worth it.
- tax the fuck out of it - make it a pain to get hold of - ban disposable vapes (or add a 200% environment tax) - fund education
See also for illegal drugs and booze. Job done.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Oct 5, 2023 1:21:23 GMT
Like meat.
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Onny
Junior Member
Posts: 1,137
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Post by Onny on Oct 5, 2023 4:29:29 GMT
A smoking ban is something I'm against, even as a non-smoker. Want to make something unappealing to people? Make it difficult and not worth it. - tax the fuck out of it - make it a pain to get hold of - ban disposable vapes (or add a 200% environment tax) - fund education See also for illegal drugs and booze. Job done. They’ve been trying that for decades though and people still smoke. Christ, packets literally say stuff like “THIS WILL KILL YOU” in big letters.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Oct 5, 2023 4:44:32 GMT
This is so infuriating. Sunak is going to a European Summit to call for europe-wide solutions to combat immigration. Because: "When it comes to facing down the threat from Putin, confronting the risks and opportunities of AI or dealing with illegal migration, there is strength in unity.
"These issues transcend national borders and require creative Europe-wide solutions - that is what I will be discussing with my fellow leaders at the European Political Community summit in Spain today."
Geez. Yah think? And he wants to crack down on the root cause, which he considers to be "criminal people smugglers", not anything like the war in Ukraine, the situation in Syria, etc.. www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67007683
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Post by manfromdelmonte on Oct 5, 2023 5:23:33 GMT
Prohibition has turned turned weed into skunk, speed into meth and cocaine into crack. Once the smoking ban becomes effectively prohibition, there'll still be smokers, being exploited by criminals for vast profit, consuming far more dangerous product.
Until then, there'll be the ever more ridiculous situation of people in the 20s/30s being asked for ID, to make sure they're not the wrong side of the arbitrary ban line.
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Post by Dougs on Oct 5, 2023 5:35:10 GMT
Indeed.
This is a remarkable thread on HS2.
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Rich
Junior Member
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Post by Rich on Oct 5, 2023 5:46:05 GMT
It's all pointless and just another trap laid for Labour. Everything that Sunak as this wretched government does should only be looked at through that lens.
They now have to commit to Sunak's plans or commit to a huge amount of money restarting HS2 whilst being attacked by the right wing media for 'betraying northern motorists' or some bollocks like that. Reports are that the government have already started the process of selling the land it purchased for HS2, which will make it near impossible for Labour or any other future government to restart.
Same as the smoking thing. It will be voted in by Sunak's government but left to Labour to work out how to actually implement and enforce it.
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Post by Dougs on Oct 5, 2023 5:50:21 GMT
I would be very surprised if they can get that through before a GE. Powers for HS2 expire soon too.
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Post by djronz on Oct 5, 2023 6:11:58 GMT
It's disgusting, party politics being put before the good of the country once more by this putrid stench of a zombie government. They are mearly trying to fuck the UK up further for the next government so they can blame them when it all doesn't instantly get better. The HS2 cut back makes a mockery of the whole project and the country as a whole. It's a few hundred miles of modern railway ffs. It's desperatly needed, not to shave off journey time but to free up capacity and allow space for more local services and freight that will otherwise end up on the roads. But it has been so badly mis-sold to the public many will think it's a good idea to scrap it.
Absolute shambles.
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minimatt
Junior Member
would you like us to assign someone to butter your muffin?
Posts: 1,592
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Post by minimatt on Oct 5, 2023 6:13:35 GMT
something remarked upon overnight has struck a chord - that a person who wasn't even a full cabinet member at the time of the last general election (he was chief sec to the treasury, Sajid Javid was chancellor), who wasn't even elected to head his own party by its members (he lost to Liz Truss, who lost to lettuce), can without consulting the parliament which authorised construction, just snap his fingers and cancel the country's biggest infrastructure project fifteen years in the making
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Rich
Junior Member
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Post by Rich on Oct 5, 2023 6:19:08 GMT
Yea, that is absolutely ludicrous. Same with the net zero policies and being able to set the country back decades. On a whim.
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Post by Dougs on Oct 5, 2023 6:29:19 GMT
Yep, very good point. So much for sovereignty.
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Bongo Heracles
Junior Member
Technically illegal to ride on public land
Posts: 4,375
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Oct 5, 2023 6:45:22 GMT
Like I said a few pages ago, they now consider changing the PM a general election, which comes with the ability to do whatever they like and ignore pledges made by the previous government of five minutes ago.
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Post by elstoof on Oct 5, 2023 7:17:42 GMT
When my wife first floated the idea of moving abroad a couple of years ago one of my arguments against it was that we’ve got through the worst of it and this shower of cunts couldn’t possibly fuck up any more than they had done. Boy do I feel stupid
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Post by Vandelay on Oct 5, 2023 7:34:22 GMT
Feels like we need to bring back that Johnson thread, updated for ARE new leader.
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Post by Bill in the rain on Oct 5, 2023 7:35:35 GMT
Given the leanings of the UK press, it seems to have generated him a lot of positive front pages. 6/10 Positive 2/10 Not bad 2/10 Not really covering it (including the Sun, significantly?) www.bbc.com/news/blogs-the-papers-67013662I'm still confused what exactly is "ending 30 years of 'political status quo". Anyone have any idea? Can't be cancelling HS2 or Banning Cigs.(?) At least he "gave Tories a reason to believe he can save us from Keir's wokery" by cancelling a train line and banning cigs. *so confused*
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X201
Junior Member
Posts: 4,884
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Post by X201 on Oct 5, 2023 7:41:19 GMT
Sunak asked if this is just another load of transport promises.
Sunak: "You'll see the benefit in just a few weeks. Bus fares were due to rise to £2:50 on 1 November, thanks to this money they won't go up."
er... isn't subsidised travel a socialist policy?
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Post by Vandelay on Oct 5, 2023 7:43:03 GMT
That was what confused me so much about the speech. It was billed as being all about changing the way we do politics, but there didn't seem to be anything about constitutional reform. They keep saying they are going to be making long term decisions, but I'm not seeing any announcements that aren't about not doing things (canceling HS2, pushing back electric car requirements), headline grabbing policies for no real effect (banning cigarettes... very, very slowly) or education changes that will be scrapped in 2 to 3 years time, like every other education upheaval that is announced every few years.
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geefe
Full Member
Short for Zangief
Posts: 8,323
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Post by geefe on Oct 5, 2023 7:56:12 GMT
A smoking ban is something I'm against, even as a non-smoker. Want to make something unappealing to people? Make it difficult and not worth it. - tax the fuck out of it - make it a pain to get hold of - ban disposable vapes (or add a 200% environment tax) - fund education See also for illegal drugs and booze. Job done. They’ve been trying that for decades though and people still smoke. Christ, packets literally say stuff like “THIS WILL KILL YOU” in big letters. We're down to about 12% of people being regular smokers, which is pretty low. You'll never get rid of it because people like it and they make the choice to do it. But we limit their impact on others. Other countries are well over 30%. A ban serves absolutely no purpose and makes it harder to get data.
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Post by Whizzo on Oct 5, 2023 9:09:13 GMT
The smoking ban is worth it for this horrendous tweet from the Tories.
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Post by gamingdave on Oct 5, 2023 9:12:42 GMT
Nice of Sunak to announce they are going to upgrade the A1 in Northumberland, and make the main road connecting England with Scotland a dual carriage way and not a single lane for miles at a time. Odd though that it's been an election campaign policy since 2010, good breakdown of the farce here (ad blocker recommended, local news site full of ads)
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Post by elstoof on Oct 5, 2023 9:27:31 GMT
Kentucky is closer to where he lives though, easy mistake
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Bongo Heracles
Junior Member
Technically illegal to ride on public land
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Post by Bongo Heracles on Oct 5, 2023 9:28:02 GMT
I like that, while photoshopping him into that photo, they had the ability to do anything and they still made him much shorter than the youths.
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