Anything Political

[philmayfield 6,273]

A representative cross section of society then. 

[Brew 5,480]

You mean de Maistre was right? 'Every nation gets the government it deserves'...

[Brew 5,480]

20 hours ago, Brew said:

There are twenty three cabinet members, it appears  only two are not tainted by controversy of some sort

 

Correction, make that one!...

 

There will now be a war of attrition, possibly led by Hunt and his Saudi backers, but to survive BOJO needs not to pacify the party, but rather the press. As young Sparrow points out, it's now trial by media.

 

And where is Starmer and other opposition leaders in all this? No wonder Johnson et al. think they can do as they like.

[Jill Sparrow 10,398]

Oh, ta, Brew! You've made my day! 

[Brew 5,480]

Charlie,  thinks sending illegal immigrants to Rwanda is 'appalling'. This has caused something of a furore in the press and the failed leadership challenger Jeremy Hunt is leading the charge with dire warnings of constitutional crisis.

 

Aside from the rights or wrongs of the Rwanda policy, and diatribes against the Monarchy in general, is he allowed to voice his opinion?

[philmayfield 6,273]

It won't strengthen his position.  

[DJ360 6,759]

He's obviously entitled to have an opinion, though his official role requires some discretion.

I doubt he would stand-up and make a speech about it though and from what I gather, he made his comments within the context of a meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Govt or somesuch.

Of course the rabid vermin who pass for journalists at the Daily Fail etc., are rarely troubled by truth as they continue to rabble rouse on behalf of their wealthy owners.

[Oztalgian 3,392]

On 2/4/2021 at 11:26 AM, Brew said:

electronic surveillance is a slowly chipping away at every one of us

It has been revealed recently here that at least one "big box" electrical store and a major hardware chain is using facial recognition software on the cameras in their stores and not advising their customers. It is allegedly to alert security staff that a known thief has entered the store and to increase their monitoring of that individual and thus reduce theft. This, to use a hardware metaphor is ballcocks. I understand that you can easily half-inch a few packets of screws but to nick a lawnmower or 75 inch TV without anyone noticing is a little more difficult. I'd be interested to hear our Ben's comments. This is only to further monetise your visit to the store by linking your face to purchases you make thus allowing them to sell the data to other advertisers who can then target you. I never give these places my phone number or e-mail address despite them saying that they need it for warranty purposes, another ploy to garner data. I will no longer be using these places until they cease this invasion of privacy and if I have to I will be wearing a face mask(covid) dark sunglasses and a broad brimmed hat as my way of saying "f**k you"

[benjamin1945 16,280]

G7 leaders.......unbelievable bunch of Tossers.........bet not wearing a Tie scared the crap out of Putin..........

 

[Jill Sparrow 10,398]

I love this!  Want my opinion? I'm with the dog!

 

 

Loppy would be proud!

 

[nonnaB 4,913]

When you gotta go you gotta go. Probably what the dog thought of the meeting. Dogs are sometimes unpredictable and this is a time.

[philmayfield 6,273]

He wouldn’t be so amused if he had to clean it up himself. Merci pour les domestiques!

 

[Brew 5,480]

Whilst we've been distracted with Johnsons shenanigans and the bit of  upset in the Ukraine, did anyone notice the HFSS legislation go through parliament and is now law?

 

At Tesco this morning trying to find the gluten free aisle we're told it's all moved to a different part of the store thanks to Govt; legislation.

 

'Unhealthy food promotions will be banned in supermarkets and convenience stores across the UK from October 2022, with ‘buy one get one free’ or ‘3 for 2’ offers on biscuits, crisps and sugary cereals soon to be a thing of the past'.

 

'Unhealthy foods'? I wonder if it includes fast food chains?

 

https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2022/02/18/hfss-legislation-supermarket/

 

 

[Beekay 5,261]

Nanny state and Big Brother all rolled into one,!

[Oztalgian 3,392]

On 3/5/2020 at 3:03 AM, Waddo said:

i just hope that the Beeb go to subscription, and leave everyone else alone.

I have just taken my last look at the BBC Nottingham and the BBC websites I got so fed up of the bl**dy annoying pop-up that asks me to register every time I log on I have consigned the sites to the junk bin. You'd think the sites would be smart enough to recognise that after clicking no a hundred times that I don't want to register they would stop the pop-up. Goodbye you will not be missed. Symptomatic of the Beeb at the moment they were very low on actual news content.

 

[Brew 5,480]

It's the same here, nothing onerous about it really. You registered to log on to Nottstalgia, I can't see the difference

[MargieH 7,617]

On a similar note, I’ve been accessing IPlayer for a long time with no problem but 2 weeks ago it wouldn’t allow me in unless I registered on my phone.  They showed a login for me to use.  I followed all the instructions and now I can access it again.

I wondered if this was to stop the people who claim they have no TV and therefore don’t need to buy a licence.  (People who access IPlayer on their phone etc). 
P.s.  we do pay for a licence !

[philmayfield 6,273]

I've just paid £159 to renew but I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth it. They gave it free to the oldies and then they reneaged!

[Brew 5,480]

48 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

I've just paid £159 to renew but I'm beginning to wonder if it's worth it. They gave it free to the oldies and then they reneaged!

Paying for a subscription services costs much more, for far less. TV looks like it's going down the American route of persistent adverts when the new Ofcom regulations come into effect. To those who complain about the licence, I say be careful what you wish for.

 

1 hour ago, MargieH said:

(People who access IPlayer on their phone etc). 

 

@MargieH

Some time ago I read that 10% of magistrates court cases are TV licence dodgers, so I wouldn't be surprised. Perhaps if people didn't cheat and lie and paid their dues, the licence would be cheaper

[MargieH 7,617]

Well said Brew!  

[philmayfield 6,273]

I complain about the licence because it was given with one hand and taken away with the other.

[Brew 5,480]

57 minutes ago, philmayfield said:

I complain about the licence because it was given with one hand and taken away with the other.

Well that's just terrible... and you a poor pensioner too.

[philmayfield 6,273]

Yes I am actually.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

The BBC can be self supporting, how many of the shows and documentaries are sold as DVD's per year??? Millions!!! Here in the states we have Public Broadcasting Service, (PBS), which is partly funded by the federal government and grants for Industry plus fund raising a couple of time a year. They also produce DVD's of shows etc.

When I lived in Australia their ABC was paid for by grants and sake of their shows on DVD's, licensing is archaic and without it TV station survive on a budget and still make good shows.

If the BBC was made to stand on it's own two feet, then maybe they wouldn't pay out exorbitant wages to their executive staff and announcers.

[Brew 5,480]

Comparing the BBC with other setups is like comparing apples to oranges. And the eternal whinge 'they're paid too much' doesn't really carry much water.

 

Rough calc:

 

The ABC (Australia), grant was over £1 Billion of taxpayers money (2022), from a population of 25M. And SBS gets almost £1 billon for a service that only reaches 7% of the audiences.  2 Billion / 25 million = 80 per head

 

The BBC receives £3.75billion with a population of over 65 M.  3.75 Billion / 65 million = 57 per head

 

Basically the money for both comes from the public, but by a different route. In the UK we have a choice whether to pay or not - Aussies don't!

 

From WiKi:

The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online news coverage. The service maintains 50 foreign news bureaus with more than 250 correspondents around the world.

 

For all that I'm quite happy to pay £3 a week for what is by any measure a world class service, whether I use it or not.