The U.K. is prepared for nothing

fancythat

yogitree

WWM2 I was just 'looking about me' when I was out this morning. What a state our roads/pavements/infrastructure is in. I remember when everything was neat, repaired, painted, unbroken and in working order. Subsequent governments haven't been up to taking on the task of keeping it shipshape, or getting it all back to 'acceptable' again.

Just a thought.

When a Country gets above a certain level of population, does the whole thing become too big to manage properly?

Do you mean like the USA, India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia?

I am talking about the leadership of bigger countries.

Your list kind of makes my point!

fancythat

yogitree

WWM2 I was just 'looking about me' when I was out this morning. What a state our roads/pavements/infrastructure is in. I remember when everything was neat, repaired, painted, unbroken and in working order. Subsequent governments haven't been up to taking on the task of keeping it shipshape, or getting it all back to 'acceptable' again.

Just a thought.

When a Country gets above a certain level of population, does the whole thing become too big to manage properly?

China, India, USA, Brazil, all have populaions many times the size of ours. germany and Japan also have a alrger population.

Unless they act dictatorlike of course.

yogitree

WWM2 I was just 'looking about me' when I was out this morning. What a state our roads/pavements/infrastructure is in. I remember when everything was neat, repaired, painted, unbroken and in working order. Subsequent governments haven't been up to taking on the task of keeping it shipshape, or getting it all back to 'acceptable' again.

Just a thought.

When a Country gets above a certain level of population, does the whole thing become too big to manage properly?

The Buffoon may have been given good expert advice but as the Chief Muppet he was entitled to ignore it.

Whilst I agree that it is not likely to happen very soon, I do think that the U.K. would indeed be welcomed back into the EU, but not on the very favourable terms that we had prior to leaving (what idiots we were).

Politically we have such a wimpy lot of politicians who flap about on the sidelines that no decision will be made in the immediate of mid-term future.

Allira

mokryna

First thing the UK should do is to hold another referendum asking whether to join the EU.again.
I am sure people can see how both Russia and the USA and their UK followers, one earns £1m per year, wanted to make the EU weaker. People told lies, as did the newspapers moguls living abroad.
The UK is weaker as is the EU, together the block will find it easier to trade in all aspects and fight.
The UK’s closest richest ally was supposed to be the USA but they want to cosy up to Russia.

First thing the UK should do is to hold another referendum asking whether to join the EU.again.
I thought so too, especially in the light of what has been proven in court in the case of Nathan Gill.
The problem is that much of Europe seems to be in disarray too.

EU wouldn’t have us as full members it needs a unanimous vote of states, plenty them dislike us.

Short termism indeed - as something that's very prevalent.

At least that's one thing that can be said about, say, the Victorians - some of those "captains of industry" set out to make a difference.....a lasting difference and tribute to their memory decades later.

No-one seems to think in terms of what "legacy" they are leaving behind them now - either in terms of property or ideas.

We constantly bash our heads against the brick walls of politicians who only want to look at short term answers, no long term planning as they dont think they will be in power by then. Builders who are still being allowed to build poor quality houses, without the best of insulation and up to date heating and triple glaze windows. If it was made law that any new house now had to be up to decent standards, we would be helping ourselves and the climate . Not only that. In the 1960's I was living in the Nottingham area and builders wanted to put houses next to the river Trent in what where actually called the flood meadows. We argued about it and just because there had not been a flood in the previous 9- 10 years they were allowed to build on the fields. Of course then the builders were long gone when the river flooded, not only the new places on the flood meadows , but also houses that had never had any problem before the flood meadows were built on. Why are we also now letting solar panels be put over good land which should be helping to make us self sufficient, and the solar panels could go on brownfield sites and again all new houses should have solar panels as the norm. It doesnt matter which group are in power , they should be looking at longterm goals not these sticking plaster ideas that they have now

But as far as trade is concerned they have strength in numbers and they don’t need to appease Trump.

mokryna

First thing the UK should do is to hold another referendum asking whether to join the EU.again.
I am sure people can see how both Russia and the USA and their UK followers, one earns £1m per year, wanted to make the EU weaker. People told lies, as did the newspapers moguls living abroad.
The UK is weaker as is the EU, together the block will find it easier to trade in all aspects and fight.
The UK’s closest richest ally was supposed to be the USA but they want to cosy up to Russia.

First thing the UK should do is to hold another referendum asking whether to join the EU.again.
I thought so too, especially in the light of what has been proven in court in the case of Nathan Gill.
The problem is that much of Europe seems to be in disarray too.

yogitree

WWM2 I was just 'looking about me' when I was out this morning. What a state our roads/pavements/infrastructure is in. I remember when everything was neat, repaired, painted, unbroken and in working order. Subsequent governments haven't been up to taking on the task of keeping it shipshape, or getting it all back to 'acceptable' again.

Lack of 'Planned Maintenance' yogitree although there is often a flurry of road maintenance in the New Year to spend the money before it disappears!

The Council has actually resurfaced an area of country road we have to travel along reasonably often. It had been a a dire state for years, pitted, rough and with huge pot holes.
What a difference it has made.

I must say I am liking this thread. Perhaps I am speaking too soon, but what a joy not to have any arguments for the sake of it. But measured tones and good posts.

I appreciate the sentiment behind mokryna’s post, but I think mollygo is right.

Personally I think it is time a government recognised what harm has been done and begin the long process of at least much closer working or full membership.

Putin has proven much more adept politically snd in matters relating to security than any in the west.

Mokryna no one would accept the result even if we were to go down that route.

First thing the UK should do is to hold another referendum asking whether to join the EU.again.
I am sure people can see how both Russia and the USA and their UK followers, one earns £1m per year, wanted to make the EU weaker. People told lies, as did the newspapers moguls living abroad.
The UK is weaker as is the EU, together the block will find it easier to trade in all aspects and fight.
The UK’s closest richest ally was supposed to be the USA but they want to cosy up to Russia.

WWM2 I was just 'looking about me' when I was out this morning. What a state our roads/pavements/infrastructure is in. I remember when everything was neat, repaired, painted, unbroken and in working order. Subsequent governments haven't been up to taking on the task of keeping it shipshape, or getting it all back to 'acceptable' again.

A lot of us have found that what comes out on mainstream media is so geared to what a small handful of people want it to say and cannot be relied upon to be "The Truth...."

Salutary lesson decades back now of just how few people own our mainstream newspapers - think it amounts to a number that can be counted on only two hands!!!! So we get the views of just a few people there - which leaves us with a huge "How do we find out the rest of the news and then decide what we think about it? We want The Truth and not just a few peoples viewpoints".

I don't give a darn about what individual celebrities (influencers/royal families/whatever) are doing - as they are just "a person" the same as I am "just a person".

One has to be discerning with any media - mainstream or otherwise - and I did manage/many of us managed to find out what news is being broadcast in other countries/what objective doctors who think for themselves are thinking and doing (which was extremely useful during Lockdown) - when eg we could see a former Pfizer executive tell us ALL about "those jabs", we could see an independent group of American doctors there doing the same.

A lot of us managed to find some very intelligent/objective/well-informed social media in amongst quite a bit we certainly don't think of that way.

From that it's been gobsmacking to see the take on what is happening in Palestine from countries other than Britain/America/Australia. I've been astonished just how different it is. I knew America tries to run our country - but I didn't really know just how much it's determined to do so and have been absolutely horrified at their serve-themselves-only take on it and just what is happening. Thank goodness I've been able to watch official news channels, etc, from so many other countries and make up my own mind - rather than having it made up for me. So I watch German, Al-Jazeera, Indian, etc and make up my own mind - rather than having our government or someone else's government tell me what to think.

Good question, starnded
As I said upthread there was no social media.

I do remember my father expounding at length about various failure of successive Governments and questioning "You've never had it so good"!

Sorry to hear that Esmay.

starnded-
Financially comfortable ,in relatively good health and surrounded by a loving family-nothing prepared me for my life now .
My children seem so discontented with everything and blame me .
Maybe they are just overwhelmed with modern life .

Esmay

Looking back at those retro TV programmes makes me realise that we had such happy naive times years ago .
So many people had endured the first and second World wars with vivid memories of lost or injured family members ,bombing ,rationing and deprivation that they convinced themselves that we'd all learnt a hard lesson and it wouldn't happen again .
We stepped from those monochrome years into the exciting optimistic brightly coloured sixties....

And now this-

Last week , we sat in our freezing cold church being lectured about being good Christians when the reality for many people is shopping in Iceland on Tuesdays ,putting food back because they can't afford it and not being able to enjoy a warm house .
We sit in cold houses having been told how to keep warm .
I have lived without heating and your body freezes up and it affects your general well being .
And many grandparents not being able to help with child care or being a bank means that you are estranged from your angry ,disappointed children.
We watch endless advertisements for cremation plans and charity appeals.
Many of my friends can't bear to watch the news because the threat of a nuclear war is a reality .
It's a World in which the division between rich a poor seems to be widening and a World controlled by despots.

Are things worse or do we know more? My parents and Grandparents were happier with less. Simple pleasures, low expectations, the Church and local community.

Mollygo

CariadAgain

Just why is our population being allowed to increase so - when there's way too many of us already?
There’s a falling birth rate which is causing problems in some schools. UK School funding is based on bums on seats, not on how much better it would be if we had smaller classes. So allowing the birth rate to increase means more children will benefit from Keir’s free breakfasts that we are paying for, because families need two parents working in order to be above the poverty line.
The same advantage doesn’t apply to allowing the country to be flooded with adults who claim endless benefits.

That's why we have immigration.

However, I don't understand why people who have established their lives here, worked, paid taxes, who came on working visas will have to wait three times as long (15 years) before applying for settled status.
It seems as if the Government is trying to tackle the migrant crisis by attacking the wrong people.

They may find that well-qualified but not well-paid workers from overseas will emigrate, in some cases taking their working spouses with them.

Allira

^Just why is our population being allowed to increase so - when there's way too many of us already?^
To pay for your pension?

That's a whole other question for sure - ie I know this is what we're told and it boils down to a Ponzi Scheme back at the beginning I gather. That being they started paying the State pensions - but decided to say it was taken from what the next generation would pay in. I'm not that up on history to know why they didnt say "Right - we're starting at Ground Zero and however many years YOU have paid in for will go to YOU". That would have meant problems then - as someone who'd only paid in 20 years would have only got 20 years worth - whereas they seem to have said "Oh we'll just lob that bill onwards for anything you personally are missing onto the next generation".

A subject to look into as to why they did that "lobbing the ball to another generation" so they say. All the money spent on wars has a lot to answer for I guess.....

Difficult to see what the answer is - but the fact is there IS only enough food for a certain number of stomachs (though we can and should improve that situation), there is only enough land for a certain number of people and still keep enough land for farming/countryside/etc.

But certainly I can sympathise with people who've paid in an absolutely full whack - or more - for their pension. I'm one of them = 41.5 years in the workforce and all full-time (and more!) so I have paid in full plus extra for one person and why do they tell us "Actually you have to contribute for an NI stamp for a certain number of years - or you won't have paid enough for a full State pension" if we ourselves arent the one we have been paying for? It's a seriously wierd and confusing thing that they're trying to tell it to us both ways....

Remembering now that someone actually said to me years back - and they werent joking either!!!! - "Since you've not had your two children = then I can use that quota and have a 3rd and 4th child without raising the population". They really were serious! That got followed in very short shrift of them being firmly told "I have decided what to do with that two I could have had. It's my decision and my decision was to bring the population down by not having my two - one for me and one for him". I wonder how long their ears stayed red for and they beat a hasty retreat before I started asking them if they wished to have any of my money and spend it whilst they were on the subject, rather than me doing so - as apparently it was okay to have someone else take what's mine in that respect - ie my "replacement level children" LOL.