What has the UK become?

Rascal said:
www.york.ac.uk

Children in the North most vulnerable to cost of living crisis

A new report, co-authored by a University of York academic, has warned that children living in the North of England are among the most vulnerable to rising living costs.
www.york.ac.uk www.york.ac.uk

Was in a meeting yesterday with a health economist who worked on the above report.

If you go north from london on the west or east coast main line your chance of being in poverty increases the further north you get.
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I don't doubt that at all, but I do wonder how much some of the obscene wealth in London/the South East inflates the average. I live in East London and it's not all bread and roses. That said, my folks live in Blackpool, and things are notably shitter there.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
Don’t believe the hype on this forum about how bad Britain is. This country is bloody brilliant, I love living here and wouldn’t even think of living anywhere else.

Yeah there’s a handful of shit things, a minority of cunts and it could be better… a lot better! But day-to-day none of them have much impact on my life whatsoever. The few that do are maybe the shit roads and the litter/graffiti but they’re mainly Manchester problems because the roads and litter/graffiti situation in other places in this country are miles better. Oh, and the media (especially the sports media), they’re all cunts.

But other than that, the people I surround myself with, the people I listen to, the people I respect, the people who really have an impact on my life, the things I do in my spare time, the sport, the music, gigs, pubs, clubs, fashion, the weather (yes, I love the changeable weather and seasons), the countryside, the seaside, our cities, our villages, our history and historic sites, the food (yes, honestly, the food!), the low crime (especially murder) rate, our traditions, our humour, our stoicism, manners, helpfulness, kindness from - to reiterate - the fantastic people… all make this country great.

This miserable country hating bollocks from a minority of our own citizens is an embarrassment to be honest. Miserable people speak volumes about themselves, not about the country they live in. People who constantly pay attention to the wrong things, things they place importance on when they aren’t important, picking out negatives, dwelling on the negatives, are all part of their own problem with the country.

The only things that really matter are health and laughter.
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Misery loves company.
 
joe123 said:
I don't doubt that at all, but I do wonder how much some of the obscene wealth in London/the South East inflates the average. I live in East London and it's not all bread and roses. That said, my folks live in Blackpool, and things are notably shitter there.
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He went to great pains to point out that parts of London are amongst the most deprived in the country and London's wealth is an issue as it draws in more wealth, he even went to city that to some extent so does Manchester.

It was more concerted deprivation though than pockets.
 
After the last few days of total RW media and Tory hysteria over Gary Lineker daring to express an anti government opinion I am more than concerned about the future of our country than I have ever been.

Patriotism as described by Orwell is a love of ones country, it is a devotion to a place and way of life. It is by nature defensive rather than aggressive.

Mark Twain however described it as "your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you born in it"

Jocelyn Harmon for me describes Patriotism superbly.

Patriotism, is on the best sense of the word, is love of justice and democracy for all your fellow citizens

therefore study history and grapple with inequality, care for the weak and poor. If need be engage in civil disorder and fight racism and homophobia.

We as a country are losing the very ideals that made the UK a great country. The Tory right plough on regardless thinking the country is with them

I hope to fuck they aint, because otherwise we are fucked.
 
Rascal said:
After the last few days of total RW media and Tory hysteria over Gary Lineker daring to express an anti government opinion I am more than concerned about the future of our country than I have ever been.

Patriotism as described by Orwell is a love of ones country, it is a devotion to a place and way of life. It is by nature defensive rather than aggressive.

Mark Twain however described it as "your conviction that this country is superior to all others because you born in it"

Jocelyn Harmon for me describes Patriotism superbly.

Patriotism, is on the best sense of the word, is love of justice and democracy for all your fellow citizens

therefore study history and grapple with inequality, care for the weak and poor. If need be engage in civil disorder and fight racism and homophobia.

We as a country are losing the very ideals that made the UK a great country. The Tory right plough on regardless thinking the country is with them

I hope to fuck they aint, because otherwise we are fucked.
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I think the last few days have admirably demonstrated that Right Wing Conservative folk are the dumbest people alive and are an evolutionary dead end.

So, yes. The UK is fucked.
 
“I realise that patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.” Nurse Edith Cavell, before her execution, in 1916.

The problem with patriotism is it seems to be as much about hating the other as it does about loving one's own. I have come to despise nationalism, in all its forms, for that very reason. It leads to evil. If you can find a form of patriotism that is positive, and excludes hatred of 'other', then that is a noble thing. It amounts to wanting the best for your country and its people.

I don't hate this country. I want it to improve. To draw a parallel, if I had a son or daughter at school who was pissing about and falling well short of their capabilities, my wanting them to buck up would not mean I hated them. Au contraire, in fact.
 
Psychedelic Casual said:
Don’t believe the hype on this forum about how bad Britain is. This country is bloody brilliant, I love living here and wouldn’t even think of living anywhere else.

Yeah there’s a handful of shit things, a minority of cunts and it could be better… a lot better! But day-to-day none of them have much impact on my life whatsoever. The few that do are maybe the shit roads and the litter/graffiti but they’re mainly Manchester problems because the roads and litter/graffiti situation in other places in this country are miles better. Oh, and the media (especially the sports media), they’re all cunts.

But other than that, the people I surround myself with, the people I listen to, the people I respect, the people who really have an impact on my life, the things I do in my spare time, the sport, the music, gigs, pubs, clubs, fashion, the weather (yes, I love the changeable weather and seasons), the countryside, the seaside, our cities, our villages, our history and historic sites, the food (yes, honestly, the food!), the low crime (especially murder) rate, our traditions, our humour, our stoicism, manners, helpfulness, kindness from - to reiterate - the fantastic people… all make this country great.

This miserable country hating bollocks from a minority of our own citizens is an embarrassment to be honest. Miserable people speak volumes about themselves, not about the country they live in. People who constantly pay attention to the wrong things, things they place importance on when they aren’t important, picking out negatives, dwelling on the negatives, are all part of their own problem with the country.

The only things that really matter are health and laughter.
Click to expand...
Cheers mate. I'm glad you're happy with the UK. For peace of mind and psychological well-being.

That said, I support Gary Lineker's humanitarian stance and his posts that recently got him fired by the BBC. That the UK government even proposed the very law about which Lineker objects - speaks volumes.

The massive pushback on Lineker's stance and his dismissal from the BBC indicates to me, that the UK remains a country deeply divided. Is the UK really such a great, great place to live? - as you think? For you, it certainly seems so. But for the newly arrived immigrant? Or those needing temporary government assistance to get by?

It seems, rather, to me, that the UK is exactly the same as most of the world - full of hateful xenophobes, mistrustful of immigrants, hoping to Make America The UK Great Again. And yeah, I take your point that none of the people you personally interact with are this way - and yet - politicians pushing far right positions are elected to office in the UK and subsequently propose laws such as the recent one to which Lineker objects.

In terms of the BBC's firing of Lineker - I guess that's inevitable - as much as I agree with Lineker's position, the BBC is a commercial enterprise. Politically polarizing opinions made public by its employees will certainly impact the bottom line.

Playing Devil's Advocate here for a moment, though - what if the BBC simply decided to ignore Lineker's posts? Might that have been - in the long run - more profitable? There's bound to be financial impact from firing Lineker, thus seeming to take the side of conservatives.
 
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