Current Affairs 2025

[Ray B]

The man is definitely for turning.

[Portsmouth]

He admitted to being an anti-monarchist when he was younger ...but I guess he is allowed to change his mind

( You have to respect republicans like the painter LS Lowry who turned down 5 awards including a knighthood...at least he was true to his beliefs
Unlike Graham Watson who accepted his knighthood although he was anti royalist because so he said he didn't want to offend the queen. )

[Onelife]

Rest in Peace Daniel...a loss beyond words.

Total respect for Grace and Dr Ebenezer Anjorin for the dignity displayed in paying tribute to their son Daniel murdered in the most horrific of circumstances.

"No verdict or sentence will bring back our son Daniel who we loved so dearly”
. Dr Ebenezer Anjorin

Respect also to the police officers who displayed bravery way beyond the call of duty.

Facing up to a nutter wielding a samurai sword with little but a baton is one of the bravest things I have ever witnessed.

[Stephen]

Smug self centred.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 6128780391

[Onelife]

Smug self centred.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_ ... 6128780391

Yeah! But what he doesn’t appear to realise is that they are playing him as much as he is playing them.

[screwy]

After all the shenanigans at Westminster with the Welfare Bill. Should the author of said Bill be sacked.?

And what sort of ministers have we got.? Rachel from accounts in tears because the speaker told her off.! Grow up woman.

[towny44]

I still think my idea of Sir Keir threatening to make it a confidence vote, and call a GE if they lost, was the better idea, we desperately need to find a way to slow down the growth in benefit claimants before the UK is bankrupt. Now having tested him out and won on this issue, what chance does Rachel from accounts have of increasing taxes to fill the govts self inflicted black hole in her next budget.

[david63]

I am not sure if this is the next most incompetent government after Liz Truss but it must come pretty close.

They started off by cutting the winter fuel payment to pensioners thereby alienating that section of the electorate. Then they tried the same with the disabled in the Benefits Bill - fortunately their own side realised that their lucrative MP jobs could be on the line!

They criticised the Conservatives for overspending and creating a black hole but are doing exactly the same - how big is the black hole (or is it a chasm) now?

Rachel from accounts has just realised that two plus two does not equal five - not sure if that was what she was blubbering about or the fact that the headmaster had told her off, but whatever she managed to create a run on the pound!

How many times have we heard a PM say that a minister has their full support only for that minister to be sacked the following week? The problem is though that Starmer has the impossible task of either keeping somebody who is incompetent and out of their depth in a job or replacing her and risk the effect on the economy.

Then yesterday we had "the other woman" Raynor spouting a load of garbage on the TV - "we have committed to building more affordable housing", yes you have "committed" to it but the construction industry say it cannot be achieved. "We have added thousands more appointment in the NHS" - does she not read the news? Last week the NHS said that those targets were unattainable with the current staff levels and funding. (Our local NHS trust has been told to cut £60 million from their budget)

Why can the PM not answer a straightforward question at PMQs - when asked what the savings would be from the benefits system the response was a load of waffle about something else. They should be made to give straight answers - especially to straightforward questions.

The even bigger problem is that all of this is playing into the hands of Reform and do we really want Farage as PM?

[Onelife]

“Our political system is broken”
Onelife

As the conservative party fades into the past there are still those who can remember what a load of shite they were, and as such the labour party have a long way to go before they catch up with Conservative party where U-turns are concerned. At the end of the day both parties are shite, so perhaps Farage is the answer….there is no point in keeping on building on top of old shite, which our main two parties continue to do - best clear away the muck heap and bring in some fresh manure until such time that the other two piles of shite have cleaned up their backyards.

[oldbluefox]

OL is sounding distinctly Trumpian.
I am annoyed with the Tory party. Fourteen years ago they had everything going for them and they blew it all away on parties and dilly dallying about, failing to fulfil their promises about 'levelling up '. They literally gave it all away and now we are landed with another load of incompetents who are rapidly losing control. Another four years seems a long way off but I fear what our country will look like by the time they have finished. Having backed down once to the rebels I wonder what they will change next in order to hang onto their narrow majorities. Like it or not Farage could be filling those gaps.

[oldbluefox]

I don't enjoy seeing anybody upset to that extent. It was not pleasant.
However this lady "look at me. I'm the first female Chancellor (all clap)" has displayed such arrogance and has dug herself into a mighty hole. She showed little sympathy for pensioners who lost their winter fuel allowance, farmers who are struggling to cope with her inheritance tax rules, some having committed suicide or those who have had to shut their businesses down as a consequence of her raising NI which has also meant people losing their jobs. Whilst she has not put up taxes for "the working man" he/she has been hit with a hike in the cost of living as a consequence of her policies. And now her attempt to reduce the benefit bill which is totally out of control has been hijacked by her fellow MPs all looking to save their own skins. It looks like she is being attacked on all sides and indeed she is "under a lot of pressure".
Sad to see but much of it is of her own making and it is hard to feel compassion for somebody who has displayed such little compassion to others in her first year.

[david63]

Would I take it Foxy that you are not a member of her fan club?

[Stephen]

I vote Foxy for chancellor.

[oldbluefox]

Would I take it Foxy that you are not a member of her fan club?

I suppose you could say that.
I look at health services in Europe and Scandinavia which are far and away better than ours but they pay for them through their taxes. We expect the same levels but nobody is prepared to pay for them, governments are too afraid to raise taxes and we have too many freeloaders who are taking but not contributing.

[oldbluefox]

I vote Foxy for chancellor.

Maggie Thatcher turned me down cos I was too harsh.

[david63]

Don't worry folks, all is well - Rachel from Accounts was just having a "bad day at the office" yesterday!

[Onelife]

If you watched the BBC report about illegal cigarette being sold from high street shops (hull) then you will be as disgusted as I was. What has this country come to when these criminals can sell these imported goods, without, it would seem, any fear of being arrested. If that isn’t bad enough many of these shops are giving jobs to asylum seekers who now work for our ever-growing black market job centres. Yvette Cooper has said she will bring in new laws that prevent this from happening …well good luck with that. Perhaps she should do the more sensible thing and close any shop selling illegal good and deport the shop keepers back to…well, I don’t give a sh*t where they send them as long as it’s out of this country. If we don’t start doing something about these criminals/illegal asylum seekers, this country is going to descend into the same sh*t holes from whence they all come from.

Goodnight

[Ranchi]

Cashless society would help & perhaps increase tax income at a stroke.

[Onelife]

Cashless society would help & perhaps increase tax income at a stroke.

Hi Ranchi, whilst it may not be appropriate in all circumstances I think there is a case to be made for cashless transactions in retail outlets.

[david63]

What's cash? Don't even use cards now - all done via app on the phone!

Cannot remember the last time I used cash

[david63]

What planet are these people from? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93901n9z0qo

thousands of people across Britain wake up tomorrow to find they had been criminalised overnight for supporting a domestic protest group which sprays red paint on warplanes and disrupts Israel's largest weapons manufacturer

Causing £7 million of damage!!!

[Onelife]

Ms Ammori, told the court banning the group would be "ill-considered" and an "authoritarian abuse" of power.

There will be many in this country who think free speech has been abused for far too long.

I personally would like to see more authoritarian use of power.

[Onelife]

So, the people-smugglers have changed tactics by launching dinghies from nearby rivers and canal, thus picking up illegal asylum seekers just off shore. I think the French are finally starting to realise that the only way to stop asylum seeker ending up on their shores is to deter them from ending up on ours…slashing the dinghies is a step in the right direction but they should also consider placing marksmen with high powered rifles along known pick up areas of the French coastline.

Operation “Rubber Duck” would I believe put a massive hole in their illegal activities.

[screwy]

Walking round M&S this morning with the wife,it struck me that all the mannequins,both sexes are slim.! In this world of diversity why don’t we have ones that show the true shapes of peoples shapes.? I didn’t see any that represented fat people and let’s face it there are plenty of fat bastards walking the streets.! Nor were there any covered in Tattoos.!

Or am I just talking Bollocks as per the norm.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Wasn't sure whether to post this here or wait for Stephen's Friday joke thread, but.......

Trump nominated by Netanyahu for the Nobel Peace Prize. Really?

Okay then I'm nominating OL for Literature, Foxy for Physics and Screwy for Chemistry. And I'm buying a lottery ticket. Must be in with a chance.