UK Politics #6

[Miss Begotten]

100%. I don't care who's defecting where. If you change parties then it should automatically trigger one.

Well yes.
However, bearing in mind that in the last few years Anderson has gone from Labour to Conservative to Reform, by the time they organise a by election he could conceivably have been through another 3 or 4 parties.

 

[Jen667]

I think a lot of these working age people not working due to mental health, ADHD, autism (those with anxiety) is due to their consuming 24/7 doom and gloom news.
They're worrying about overseas wars and seeing graphic images and being brainwashed by the eco nuts saying the world will be on fire. That kind of thing must really affect growing brains.
When I was a kid all there was was TV and newspaper, my family didn't listen to radio and when the news came on I went out to play as it was very boring to me. Though I seem to recall a couple of sensational headlines that worried me at the time. As an adult I've never sought out news but obviously you can't avoid it all the time.

I think it's more to do with social media and people self-diagnosing themselves with conditions they probably don't have or catastrophising things that are perfectly normal (anxiety etc)

 

[Ndrangheta]

David Cameron spotted entering No.10, on BBC news.
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Rumoured he'll be Foreign Secretary

Sweet Jesus. What happens when there are no dregs left in the bottom of the barrel, what are you scraping at exactly?

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

Seems as though the assumption is if you're doing a postal vote then you're not around in Rochdale enough to have a say.

But a postal vote only means someone wasn't able to get to the polling station on that particular Thursday for whatever reason.

Could be due to age or work.

They might just be as much a part of Rochdale as anyone else. All constituents have a right to vote.

The low voter turnout is a bigger worry, I'd say. Just from a point of political engagement.

I always do a postal vote and yet my polling station if literally around the corner from where I live.

I suspect this is just a protest vote because the war in Gaza has been dominating the news. I hope come the general election the voter turnout is much higher but so many are disaffected with politics at the moment I'm not hopeful.

 

[Moth]

I got my hands on the info mentioned:-
"I work in the IT department of a very large, renowned insurance company - headquartered in Germany. Unfortunately, what I tell my circle of friends and relatives about my projects, they dismiss as "conspiracy theory". Many people don't see or understand what will happen to us with this great digitalization revolution - especially the possible dangers/misuse.

Here is a small excerpt of the pilot projects we are working on Topic: Digitized car (pilot projects are already underway): In the next 10 years it will no longer be possible to insure "old hams"/ ”old car” (I drive one like that too). You'll be forced to buy a "digital" car (otherwise you won't get insurance). These cars are "online" 24 - 7 and in real time in touch with the insurance/traffic authorities/remote maintenance/surveillance/authorities etc... (that's no joke!). Depending on your driving style, time/speed/driver, your insurance premium will automatically adjust. I.e. If you drive too fast/risky -> you not only pay a fine to the magistrate, but your insurance premium automatically increases. Let's register you as a night driver -> higher premium. If you have more passengers in the car -> higher premium. If your premium is not paid -> you will no longer be able to start your car.

We are already in discussions with several major automotive brands to bring a Europe-wide, standardized technical “one-size-fits-all” solution onto the market. Many people don't know that fully integrated breathalyzers (Alcoguard) will be MANDATORY in the coming vehicle generations. This means that if you are drunk, you will no longer be able to start your car. Even if you are below the "minimum alcohol limit", this data will be passed on to the insurance company and you will be penalized with a higher premium. If you are drunk beyond this limit, the relevant authorities will automatically be informed and your insurance will be canceled immediately. Transparent customer We are also relying on the upcoming digital ID to access personal data such as health, traffic, home, etc. The background is that all the necessary customer data is already stored somewhere and as long as it does not leave the EU, everything is fine for the insurance sector with the GDPR. Nowadays, customers also carelessly give their OK under the “small print” that we can collect their personal data. In real time, we collect medical records, living conditions, vehicle data, etc. in the event of damage.

Upcoming pilot projects are planned with credit institutions/banks to "reward" a "healthy" lifestyle and punish an unhealthy one... in which we monitor shopping behavior (temporarily limited to districts, but only a matter of time until it is delivered about individual people). If you live in a district where a lot of unhealthy stuff is consumed -> it does affect your life insurance/pension/death insurance etc... We already check the liquidity of ALL customers, but it's still quite old-fashioned. With the coming technological advances (digital ID, digital currency) we will be able to check the liquidity in real time via interfaces with banks/credit institutions/etc..., as well as the tax circumstances of each customer. Security: Also planned and already scheduled as a pilot project for 2025 - a cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Defense/National Security. If a vehicle is registered to a politically exposed person and there is a suspected case, this person will no longer be able to start their vehicle (it will be deactivated via remote monitoring). This applies to all private vehicles in which the politically exposed person sits (except officially registered ones e.g. police cars). A powerful RFID chip will be built into these digital ID cards. This enables a close coupling of 10 m, but monitoring/localization with an accuracy of approx. 1000 m. This is of particular interest to the insurance company because, in the event of damage, we can more easily locate the people/acts of damage/crimes/those involved. We are already in negotiations with the “European digitalization and data protection managers”. to also be able to access this data in more detail. Justified under the name of “security”, “customer friendliness”, “digitalization”. The background is the boom in accident insurance, whereby we are of course interested in how often, when, how and, above all, where each customer moves.

Our pilot projects with the connection to AI are particularly interesting - here in ongoing cooperation with Google and Microsoft. In the next 5-10 years, if not much sooner, there will be a revolution (both in the areas of digitalization and AI) that will make the invention of the Internet look like the invention of the "pencil". This is not a conspiracy theory/joke; these are projects that we are already piloting in the implementation/testing phase in the insurance sector.

Side notes: In the coming years, owners of electric cars will be prepared to pay a battery tax instead of an engine tax. Reason: Batteries pose an increased risk (fire) and are harmful to the environment (disposal). Payment is made on a sliding scale - watt hours per kilogram. Already in are insurance for “autopilots”. Here, the higher your insurance amount, the “safer” your autopilot will act. Don't be under any illusions that the autopilot will act the same in all vehicles in the event of an accident. At every point in time we know who, when, how, why... is in the car."

"We are already in discussions with several major automotive brands to bring a Europe-wide, standardized technical “one-size-fits-all” solution onto the market". What?

"Many people don't know that fully integrated breathalyzers (Alcoguard) will be MANDATORY in the coming vehicle generations". Actually in the EU the facility to fit an integrated breathalyser has been a mandatory requirement for all new cars for the last 2 years and was agreed and announced publicly in 2019 so no big conspiracy there. The UK decided to adopt the ruling even though we were in the throws of leaving the EU. I have that facility in my car but I don't have to blow into a tube to start it and there's no suggestion that I will have to in the future. Some might say if it prevents habitual drunk drivers from risking lives it might not be a bad thing.

"The background is that all the necessary customer data is already stored somewhere and as long as it does not leave the EU, everything is fine for the insurance sector with the GDPR". Not sure what that means. Anyone interested should probably read more about the European Data Act that was finally adopted by th European Parliament on 9th November and the recent comments about it from Allianz (large German based insurance company).

"If a vehicle is registered to a politically exposed person and there is a suspected case". What is a 'politically exposed person' and what do they have a case of?

"In the coming years, owners of electric cars will be prepared to pay a battery tax instead of an engine tax. Reason: Batteries pose an increased risk (fire) and are harmful to the environment (disposal)". VED (road tax) etc is not based on risk . The reason that it will be introduced for electric vehicles is simply that it is not sustainable for a government to continue to exempt electric cars from VED (road tax) when revenues from ICE (internal combustion engine) significantly reduce.

Mostly a bit vague, poorly expressed and CT-ish along the lines of '15 minute cities' and the dreaded 'WEF'. If it tells us anything it's that the insurance industry will continue to rip us all off (as if they haven't been doing that for years).

 

[thegirlscout]

i agree in general bc hs2 wouldn't reach me but i'm only 30/40 mins from manchester by train so would still benefit somewhat. but what i can basically guarantee is that they wouldn't pull 36bn from the london leg if they had started in the north

A lot of money still ends up going to London which I understand partly because it’s the most populous. But I find it frustrating because where I live in the West Country it feels like we hardly get anything. We are sorely in need of local transport, especially in rural areas, but we have nothing. So many train stations were removed in the 60s by Beeching. And as someone who can’t drive due to medical reasons it’s really difficult to get around unless I take a taxi. Plus the trains we do have are so outdated.
I don’t get why we struggle so much with having a functioning public transport system - other countries manage to do it well.

 

[Bobby Chariot]

Worrying because Kagame enjoys funding very unpleasant militia groups in South Sudan, as well as his own lifestyle of course.

Yeah, for sure, a lot of that cash will end up in the wrong hands.
£1/4 billion could build a decent amount of affordable housing for people in the UK.
You couldn't make it up

 

[Blueblue123]

Whatever you think about her politics, this is utterly, utterly appalling.
“The Conservative party’s biggest donor told colleagues that looking at Diane Abbott makes you “want to hate all black women” and said the MP “should be shot”, the Guardian can reveal.

Biggest Tory donor said looking at Diane Abbott makes you ‘want to hate all black women’

Exclusive: Remarks by Frank Hester, who has given £10m to the party in the past year, raise questions over his workplace behaviour

www.theguardian.com

But what about protecting MPs from threats???

How is this not hate speech too?



Oh, false alarm. It's not racism or misogyny because he said so. Move along, nothing to see here

 

[HelloStereo]

They just seem to be having these hairbrained schemes (Bibby, Rwanda) which cost a lot of money and don’t actually do anything of value. It’s really frustrating because it’s not doing anything to reduce the boats coming over and reduce the human trafficking. More people get hurt, more money gets wasted and what is there to show for it? So when any politician says they are going to reduce the number of boats I’m very interested in how because they are all just throwing money they don’t really have at the problem.

They could become more efficient in processing asylum applications. They're roughly half of what they were 20 years ago yet asylum applications processed within 6 months has decreased from 90% to 4%.

Of course if they got efficient at processing applications they can no longer fall back on "look, all of the problems are due to people coming here on boats."

I guess they're trying to change the narrative now to blame it on trans people trying to use bathrooms that mirror the gender they identify with...

 

[CrackingOwlSanctuary]

Why is the government teasing announcements like a brand or football club?

 

[Moley1]

Well …

Will this be the first recorded case of an anus eating an anus?

 

[thegirlscout]

Too right Alison. I don't know what the acceptable percentage of postal votes but it can't be 75%?

Are people insinuating that this is voter fraud? I’m not sure what’s wrong with postal votes

 

[FenellaTheWitch]

God knows what’s going on.
He has brought this on himself. He’s only the PM by default, and if he wanted to assert himself he should never reinstated her after she was sacked by Truss, immediately proving his government of integrity, professionalism and accountability was the utter horseshit most people knew it would be.
You’d think he has no choice but to sack her after the Times article, but any sane person would have sacked her 10 times over already. He says she has his full confidence. So either that’s true, or is similar to when football chairmen claim they have full confidence in their managers a couple of days before they axe them and draft in Sam Allardyce until the end of the season.

At this stage I think Sam Allardyce would make a better HS than Braverman.

How on earth did we get to this?

 

[Bobby Chariot]

"Honest Bob Jenrick" gone lol.
Fuck off & don't come back.

 

[Miss Begotten]

People will warm to his honesty!View attachment 2795219

Honesty? From George Galloway? Do me a favour.

 

[Miss Begotten]

Still absolutely nothing from Sunak condemning the vile remarks about Diane Abbot. Which tells us everything we already knew about the weasel faced little shite.

 

[Miss Begotten]

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Why is the government teasing announcements like a brand or football club?

They’ve either hired Jose Mourinho as their new manager or 30p Lee is going out on loan to Outer Mongolia United?

 

[Ndrangheta]

He is not interested in Rochdale, nor dealing with its many issues. This election win is all about him.

Come on, there are a lot of MPs like that. Including my own, couldn't give a toss about local issues and has a couple of well-paid side-jobs, one linked to Russia and one linked to China. George is symptomatic of the melding between showbiz, politics and US-style political coverage in our media. Plenty of politicians (and media commentators, ie: Piers Moron) are vile, nasty pieces of work ... it goes with the territory sadly.

Keep your chin-up people ...

 

[Ennui]

The Lancet:
This should lead to uproar but it won't.

 

[HelloStereo]

Provided they’re operating within their own laws , what could Britain do if he met with an accident?
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I’m sure there’s lots of London boroughs that have extremely high levels of crime.

You said "London" not a particular London Borough. I'm sure there are areas of Leeds and Liverpool that are more dangerous than others too.

It doesn't take away from the fact that in comparison to other larger cities, London doesn't outdo itself on crime. Also as you say, crime doesn't happen in a vacuum. A lack of access to youth services, education, a good standard of living also contribute. But education and youth services seem to have had their funding cut by the Conservatives.