Current Affairs 2025

[david63]

Carnival shares down 12% today - I wonder why that is?

[Stephen]

And dropping

[david63]

Looks as if Trump has achieved one of his objectives - to make the rich richer.

US stock market falling so Trump's mates can buy shares at a "knock down" price and reap the rewards later

[Mervyn and Trish]

The US markets love Trump like ours loved Truss

[Onelife]

https://www.itv.com/news/2025-04-06/two ... -to-israel

Seems a sensible move by Israel considering their House of Commons speeches…. they are clearly Palestinian sympathisers and would no doubt have reported with bias.

[oldbluefox]

Is this what taxpayers is meant to pay for? What exactly were they expecting to achieve?
Seems to me it was a jolly to forward their own political ideals. Perhaps their time would be better spent dealing with some of the issues faced by this country and leave international affairs to Mr Lammy & Co.
I'm not sure why politicians get into power and concern themselves with issues which have no relevance to those who voted for them. I once gave our own MP a hard time when he was out on the election campaign because he spent all of his time in Russia whilst his own constituency was in a downward spiral and he was nowhere to be seen. He was rescued by one of his aides.

[Onelife]

Exactly Foxy, it is obvious that there is death and destruction wherever you look in Gaza, so we don’t need to send a couple of politicians to tell the world what is plaintively obvious. I actually think all this news generated propaganda has prolonged the suffering of the Gazanian peoples. lasting peace will only be achieved when Israel has eradicated the threat of Hamas…which, let us not forget are designated as a terrorist group. The historic long-term differences between the two states are complicated but the ingrained ideology of Hamas where only one state can exist is never going to be a pathway for peace.

[towny44]

I wonder if extending the school leaving age to 18 could be influencing the rise of anger, rage and misogyny in teenage boys. As low achievers progress through high school and realise that they are unlikely to achieve high enough grades to get a college place must be dispiriting. So no wonder they become disillusioned with school and begin to question whether they could ever find a worthwhile job, and have a normal family life.
We desperately need to create millions more apprentice training jobs catering for those unlikely to obtain sufficient GCSE grades to go into further education, instead of just catching the surface.

[david63]

Raising the school leaving age is, I suspect, for two reasons - to reduce the unemployment figures and to reduce the number of benefit claimants.

We desperately need to create millions more apprentice training jobs catering for those unlikely to obtain sufficient GCSE grades to go into further education, instead of just catching the surface.

You mean like we had in the 1960's - if you got GCEs you went in one direction and no GCEs then went the other way down the apprenticeship route. The only caveat to that approach is that there has to be jobs available at the end of the apprenticeship otherwise it is just moving the problem down the road and creating more disillusionment.

[Onelife]

You make a good point John, one which should be given more consideration should we not want to see more disillusionment amongst school leavers. Whilst I don’t agree with the way Trump is going about things I do think the theory behind his “produce and buy American” is the right way to create jobs. We in this country have all but lost our manufacturing base and without them it is difficult to see where we are going to create apprenticeships on the scale that would allow kids to leaves school at 15/16 and peruse trades which fit with their educational abilities.

[david63]

I do think the theory behind his “produce and buy American” is the right way to create jobs

It may be for America but at the same time it will have the total opposite affect in the rest of the world, unless he expects those who loose their job in, say, China emigrate to America to do the same job there.

[towny44]

Raising the school leaving age is, I suspect, for two reasons - to reduce the unemployment figures and to reduce the number of benefit claimants.

We desperately need to create millions more apprentice training jobs catering for those unlikely to obtain sufficient GCSE grades to go into further education, instead of just catching the surface.

You mean like we had in the 1960's - if you got GCEs you went in one direction and no GCEs then went the other way down the apprenticeship route. The only caveat to that approach is that there has to be jobs available at the end of the apprenticeship otherwise it is just moving the problem down the road and creating more disillusionment.

You are right David, there have to be jobs for these young people, and with jobs we reduce so many of today's problems, not only misogyny and rage, but knife crime, drugs and theft.
So this should be the number one job of the govt maybe even more so than the NHS and social care.

[towny44]

I do hope that the ill-informed high court judges, can now see the error of their decision to quash the planning ruling in favour of a new coking coal mine in Cumbria.

[Happydays]

towny, you are having a laugh judges seeing the error of there ways that's a good one

[Stephen]

If he doesn’t know by now he never will.

Judges to announce ruling on definition of a woman https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg7pqzk47zo

[Portsmouth]

Does that mean Kier Starmer will now be able to answer the question " What is a woman ? "

[Ray B]

Now that woke stupidly is out of the way, Man and Woman can continue our existence .
We did have a case of a bloke who always dress as a woman at our local who used the ladies. After some complaints to the landlord, he was told to use the gents. He still continued to use the ladies, so the landlord banned him.
In the village he still dresses as a woman with his handbag, but hell , he would be the most ugliest woman you would ever want to meet.

[Stephen]

In the village he still dresses as a woman with his handbag, but hell , he would be the most ugliest woman you would ever want to meet.

Sounds like the sort of girl friends Onelife would go out with

[Ray B]

I've been told he did.

[Stephen]

……or was it Onelife himself touting for business

[Onelife]

You two are heading for a clout around your lugholes…I just need to find where I left my handbag

[Ray B]

I'm not getting too excited over a trip to the newly discovered planet K2-18b.
At 700 trillion miles away or 124 light years, traveling to the planet at the speed of the Apollo spacecraft, it would take about 27 thousand years to cover just one light year.
I will stick to cruising.

[Onelife]

I'm not getting too excited over a trip to the newly discovered planet K2-18b.
At 700 trillion miles away or 124 light years, traveling to the planet at the speed of the Apollo spacecraft, it would take about 27 thousand years to cover just one light year.
I will stick to cruising.

Been there, done it…going there again next week if I can find a supplier

[Ray B]

Scotlands First Minister John Swinney declined to directly answer whether his government believed a trans woman is a woman, but said he accepted the court's judgement.

Obviously his government has less in thier heads than they do under their kilts.
Let me help him out, a trans woman will still have the genes they were born with. Do I need to elaborate more for him.

[screwy]

Rumour has that the Pope has died.? Well, I think I’d want to leave this mortal coil if I’d had a visit from JD Vance.!

BTW. Is there no other news other than the Pope.? Me being non religious I’m finding it all a bit monotonous.!