Boris 2.0 Operating System

hirsute wrote:

Had to subscribe to avoid the ads.

That's capitalism for you.

Ad-blocker - that's techno-anarchism for you

hirsute wrote:

Had to subscribe to avoid the ads.

That's capitalism for you.

Not sure if that was a very serious remark but how do you think the people who provide road.cc's service should be paid for their work?

Dnnnnnn wrote:

Not sure if that was a very serious remark but how do you think the people who provide road.cc's service should be paid for their work?

"road.cc's vice ..." ?

I need to pay a visit to Bath sometime soon to find out exactly what they're getting up to in the office these days 

Let them eat cake?  (Having been able to test ride the bikes to work up an appetite).

hirsute wrote:

Not sure why you edited after my reply but didn't take account of it

road.cc did something weird to my comment - I restored it to its original state.

This is a personal favourite:

https://newsthump.com/2021/03/17/britain-is-awful-you-people-are-scum-th...

Rich_cb wrote:

This is a personal favourite: https://newsthump.com/2021/03/17/britain-is-awful-you-people-are-scum-th...

Quote:

I mean, everyone knows that people didn’t vote for Jeremy Corbyn because they’re all dreadful or stupid.

I'd blame media character assassination and division within Labour along with the general level of stupidity

Can't recall where from but I loved the starting line "Jacob Rees-Mogg, minister for the 19th century..."

These protections for workers clearly aren't in keeping with the vision of some folks to level back up to the days of Empire.  However at the end of that century cycling was starting to make a major impact - how no return to that great era?

Bonfire of laws - well they could probably thin down the road ones and spend the money saved on actually prosecuting them more often.  How about:

1) Hit or nearly hit someone.  Applies to all modes with sliding scale of penalties depending on speed / weight differential.  (Comments from physicists / physicians welcome on this).  To cover aggrevating factors such as "previous convictions", "while carrying out an activity requiring training / a licence", "carrying out activity professionally" (eg. doing it for money, whether or not that requires additional qualifications), "using an unsafe vehicle / not having requisite insurance" and "leaving the scene".  I'm not sure whether outcome should be a factor since the difference between near miss, causing injury and causing death with a motor vehicle can be chance.  If the Crown thinks it can prove "deliberate" that should be over in the existing bodily harm / murder / manslaughter section.

2) Breaching conditions of your licence.  Speeding, driving illegal or unroadworthy vehicles etc.  Tariff would be suspension of licence for some period with aggravated offences meriting a retest or possibly permanent ban and confiscation of any illegal conveyance.  Might give those who complain about bikes without lights / scooters etc. something to cheer.

3) P. L. A.C. or "anti-social BOLAS"

Thoughts?

In the last 45 days, the centre of the Conservative Party seems to have woken up a bit. That is to judge from all the wailing on Twitter from its right wingers that the party has lost its soul and there's been a left wing coup. 

David9694 wrote:

In the last 45 days, the centre of the Conservative Party seems to have woken up a bit. That is to judge from all the wailing on Twitter from its right wingers that the party has lost its soul and there's been a left wing coup. 

It's incredible there are those in the party, who think Sunak is a socialist and that the government we have is in any way left wing.

They seem to be working hard to take the party so far from the centre gound as to be uneletable, but so many of their voters either didn't notice or are extremists.

wycombewheeler wrote:

It's incredible there are those in the party, who think Sunak is a socialist and that the government we have is in any way left wing.

They seem to be working hard to take the party so far from the centre gound as to be uneletable, but so many of their voters either didn't notice or are extremists.

Sunak's a reverse socialist - take from the poor and give to the rich: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/aug/05/video-emerges-of-rishi-sunak-admitting-to-taking-money-from-deprived-areas

Taxation is on course to be the highest as a share of GDP since 1950.

Despite this it is still being outstripped by government spending.

Tax and spend.

How could anyone mistake that for a left wing position...

Debates on subjects like this are wholly pointless as it depends so much on where you view yourself on the political spectrum as to whether something is left or to the right of you, to a left winger anyone who disagrees with them is far right.

All I'd say is Tory governments have been traditionally low tax,pro business/free market/deregulation and low state intervention.

The current government presides over the highest tax percentage take for over 50 years, public sector net borrowing (aka the money tree) is at its highest for 20 years, the national debt is now 2.4trillion pounds, any attempt to promote cutting of red tape is seen as lowering standards and there are so many state interventions on many topics on energy bills, cost of living, covid that people have lost track of where the money is being spent, even the opposition cant keep up.

Liz Truss in her short time as PM was criticised for not authorising some multi million pound nationwide leaflet campaign that just told people to it might be cheaper to not use so much energy and switch a light off occasionally.

And theres a national radio ad at the moment, funded again by the government, that literally says everyone is entitled to money from the government to help pay their bills just goto to the website and claim it.

Neutral political observers have been quite happy to label Johnsons government, and Sunak as left of the traditional centre of British politics.

Awavey wrote:

Debates on subjects like this are wholly pointless as it depends so much on where you view yourself on the political spectrum as to whether something is left or to the right of you, to a left winger anyone who disagrees with them is far right.

...

Awavey wrote:

Neutral political observers have been quite happy to label Johnsons government, and Sunak as left of the traditional centre of British politics.

I don't think you can have this both ways. It also depends somewhat on your definition of "traditional". If you include the era that seems to inspire JRM, with lots of opportunities to climb the inside of chimneys and get paid a farthing for it, perhaps you are right.

I would argue that a progressive government would do as much as possible to improve the lives of as many people as possible. Trickle down doesn't do that, and I've seen very little from Sunak to suggest that he's a builder up from the bottom and out from the middle, to quote Joe Biden.

I can't find the article now but I did read that the proportion of our GDP we spend on health care (globally) has generally been increasing over time.  There isn't an obvious ceiling to this because no-one wants to see their relatives suffering and/or dying for lack of money.  We currently have a system where the state provides some or all of that cash.  That's one of the major state outgoings.  In addition many people already live beyond their previous "natural use-by dates" and looking after them at that point is costly.  So taxes will likely continue to increase unless we "cure age", declare "we've improved medical care enough" (very unlikely) or we change how we fund the NHS or abandon it.

The NHS simply can't continue in its current form.

The Australian and German models are both far more successful. The German model, crucially, almost completely removes politicians from the equation.

It's time to abandon the NHS.

... or politicians.

levestane wrote:

... or politicians.

Or right leaning semi-trolls mindlessly repeating the lies of their masters. Looking at Rich_CB here.

I suspect a big part of Germsn healthcare being better is that they spend more money on healthcare.

This is a good source, a bit dated but that keeps Covid effects out.
https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/...

It may spend money efficiently, unlike the US, but it spends more per head.

I don't think that's entirely the case.

The NHS has consistently underperformed relative to international comparators even during the New Labour years of enormous spending increases.

The system simply isn't fit for purpose.

Removing political interference and allowing more patient choice will drive standards up far faster and ensure they remain high.

That's what Germany and Australia have done and it works very well. Instead of continually trying to fix the NHS we should just copy a system that we know works.

Rich_cb wrote:

I don't think that's entirely the case.

Maybe not, but I don't think you can ignore it.

Only Italy of the G7 countries spends less per head than the UK.