TheGrandNagus
@TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
- Comment on Behind bars and erased, Banksy's art speaks louder than ever 2 days ago:
He knew it would be removed, and wanted it to be.
That’s why, instead of spraying it on a random wall like usual, where it would’ve likely been left, he purposely chose a grade 1 listed building, where it legally must be removed.
- Comment on The Telegraph somehow out-does Farage on hypocrisy over tax dodging 4 days ago:
Honestly the whole Rayner thing has been very frustrating.
Woman who is not a financial expert or housing solicitor engages the services of a housing solicitor to sort out a house sale (as 90%+ of people do in the UK), then follows their expert advice on what to do throughout the process.
She later finds out that some of the advice given may have been incorrect, and immediately refers herself for investigation.
Investigation says the advice she received was likely incorrect, and that she owes tax. She pays the tax.
Media and right wing agitators, many of whom have purposely avoided tax, go apeshit, forcing her to resign.
What a joke. We had an ex Conservative chancellor who dodged tax, didn’t refer himself for investigation, then threatened to sue any journalists who talked about it. The media stopped talking about it after a few days. Total two-tier journalism.
Tories/Reform can do no wrong, Labour can do no right.
- Comment on The Telegraph somehow out-does Farage on hypocrisy over tax dodging 4 days ago:
Why would you assume local papers in England are awful and the ones in Wales and Scotland are better?
There’s a great deal of romanticism about Scotland and Wales, but they’re culturally virtually identical to England. The only major thematic difference you’re likely to see from local papers from those three home nations is if you’re reading a Scottish nationalist one.
- Comment on The correct way 4 days ago:
You think any and all instances of a country’s flag being flown means the person who put it up are racist?
- Comment on Six arrested after red crosses sprayed on house 1 week ago:
I’m not going to get my knickers in a twist over someone waving/displaying a flag, like plenty of people do.
But when you go around spraying it on things that don’t belong to you, houses, roundabouts, bush shelters, etc… nah. You’re just a scummy little vandal, and your behaviour needs to be challenged.
- Comment on Parents in England skipping meals to afford school uniforms, survey finds 3 weeks ago:
Which wouldn’t happen if uniforms were cheaper…
Hand me downs for other clothes still exists too.
- Comment on Scrapping of audit watchdog for English councils ‘led to soaring costs and chaos’ 3 weeks ago:
Conservatives fucking up public finances? Say it isn’t so!
- Comment on Parents in England skipping meals to afford school uniforms, survey finds 3 weeks ago:
If you ask me, there should be a government-mandated spec of uniform, in a range of, say, 5 colours.
Schools can choose what colour they want to use.
All uniforms will be made to the same spec, purchasable basically anywhere (i.e. not just from the school itself), and can be mass produced by anybody.
Prices would drop like a stone.
- Comment on Protester arrested over ‘Plasticine Action’ T-shirt: ‘How ridiculous is this?’ 3 weeks ago:
There are protests all the time, it’s Palestine Action (an organisation) specifically that the government is taking issue with.
After Palestine Action damaged business known to be owned or worked in by Jewish people (not all of whom expressed support of Israel), attacked a policewoman with a sledgehammer, drove a car through the wall of a factory with workers inside, had a leader that has expressed support for Hamas, and broke onto an RAF base and destroyed the engines of two jets, the government had them classified as a terrorist organisation.
That means that any support of PA is illegal, even if you’re not involved in anything PA does. Some people think that is an overstep.
- Comment on Meat from EU set to be cheaper as UK axes new border checks in Brexit reset 3 weeks ago:
Good. It was pointless red tape to begin with.
- Comment on What's your thoughts on this? 3 weeks ago:
The UK does not sell bombs to Israel anymore.
- Comment on British soldiers still paying for sex in Kenya despite ban 4 weeks ago:
Banning prostitution and/or paying for sex has never worked in human history, and it’s likely it never will.
Regardless of how you feel about the morals of sex work, surely any rational person will see the truth in that above statement, and thus seek to ensure that the sex work that inevitably does happen should be done in the safest way that we can.
That is not achievable under blanket ban situations like this, IMO. It’s just creating a dodgy black market.
- Comment on U.K. cops are going undercover as joggers. Will it stop women runners from being harassed? 4 weeks ago:
Pointless to speculate on. I hope in time there is conclusive data.
Although, and I know this sounds a bit conspiracy theorist-y, it’s also possible that they aren’t doing this/aren’t doing it in any high numbers, and it’s just to make would-be harassers second-guess whether there are undercover police in the area – like those frequent road signs that say undercover police operate in this area.
Come to think of it, Sunak said he was putting undercover police in pubs all over the UK, as a means to prevent violence and harassment. Did that actually even happen, or was it just a cheap way to keep would-be criminals in line? Because I don’t recall hearing anything about the scheme after it made a few headlines.
- Comment on Lammy admits fishing without licence on Vance trip 4 weeks ago:
Seems a bit of an over the top response.
He wasn’t aware he even needed one, and once he was informed he immediately fessed up about it publicly and referred himself to be looked at.
The sentencing guidelines state that the normal punishment for a first offence of this violation is a warning, which is probably what he’ll receive.
- Comment on Dubious UK local news websites with Russian links are receiving cash for coverage 4 weeks ago:
I imagine Labour are scared to go after them because it’ll be called censorship, and the Tories didn’t do anything because they thought they’d benefit from it (short-sighted, now it’s Reform getting the benefit).
Theoretically, Ofcom is independent, so the above shouldn’t be a thing, but in reality, like with Ofgem and Ofwat, I’m not sure that’s actually the case…
Personally I’d be fine with a compromise: you get to keep your licence to air, but you have to be reclassified as a news channel, as that’s clearly what you brand yourself as to the public.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world, you can still have an editorial slant. At the end of the day, Sky News has a mild right bias and Channel 4 News has a mild left bias. GB News just wouldn’t be able to get away with some of the more egregious stuff they do.
- Comment on US envoy to Israel taunts Keir Starmer and likens Gaza assault to Dresden bombing 4 weeks ago:
The Same Starmer who is increasing military funding, as well as support for Ukraine?
The same Starmer who is signing defence pacts with allies like the Nordic countries, Germany, and others?
The same Starmer who appears keen to expand various naval projects, as well as the GCAP, to like-minded allies like Canada and Australia?
The Same Starmer who has increased resources towards GCAP (UK, Italy, and Japan’s joint 6th gen jet fighter project, which is significantly further ahead than the US’s and France/Germany/Spain’s 6th gen fighter projects)?
The same Starmer who’s overseen the Royal Navy successfully prevent attacks from Houthi terror groups attacking and boarding civilian ships bound for Europe?
The same Starmer who, after Iran threatened to attack UK bases, warned them not to, and they immediately backed down?
Starmer and his team actually seems pretty competent on defence.
This is just dumb posturing from a deranged Republican.
- Comment on Dubious UK local news websites with Russian links are receiving cash for coverage 4 weeks ago:
If it was a newest channel it would already have been revoked, because they keep breaking Ofcom standards.
Unfortunately, they’re using the same loophole that Fox News uses in the US… “We’re an entertainment channel that covers current affairs. We are not a news channel.”
It’s staggering it works tbh, especially since their name literally has “news” in it.
- Comment on Homelessness minister threw out her tenants - then increeased rent by £700 a month 5 weeks ago:
If I were to be charitable, she gave them 4 months notice, when the law only requires one, then she tried to sell it and it is still actually on the market at a reduced price.
However, this is fucking disastrous for image, doubly so given what she’s a minister of.
Given the information above, are the headlines overblown and missing very important context? Definitely. But that’s what the media does. And Labour are morons for not preparing for that by vetting their ministers for shit like this.
God they are actually so bad at this. They aren’t the Tories, they should know they aren’t going to be let off for things like this. They need to be whiter than white.
- Comment on ‘Climateflation’ could push up UK food prices by more than a third by 2050, report says 1 month ago:
Yes but remember climate is the only factor in food inflation. This estimated 1.1% would be on top of other factors.
- Comment on Labour MP claims it'd cost "Upwards of £100bn to Nationalise Water". He is an extremely smart man. Why does he lie like this? 1 month ago:
All well and good, but then we’d have a truss-like markets meltdown that drives up the cost of all borrowing and destroys investment.
There’s a reason the government mass seizing industry is only done by banana republics.
We’re better off letting them go bankrupt and letting the government step in as operator of last resort, as the law already lays out.
- Comment on Woman, 74, tells of pain and fear after arrest at Liverpool pro-Palestine rally 1 month ago:
It’s not a wrongful arrest though, she was supporting a proscribed terrorist group, rather than any other legitimate group.
- Comment on Woman, 74, tells of pain and fear after arrest at Liverpool pro-Palestine rally 1 month ago:
I’m sorry that you’re a terrorist-supporting idiot.
Literally kill yourself.
- Comment on Woman, 74, tells of pain and fear after arrest at Liverpool pro-Palestine rally 1 month ago:
No they aren’t. Palestine Action is illegal. Because they’re terrorists. The rest are fine.
- Comment on Ofwat to be abolished as ministers look to create new water regulator 1 month ago:
Probably a good thing that will benefit us.
The problem is, like with most things this government seems to be doing, we won’t feel the benefit for a long time. People are impatient and they want results now.
Whether that’s reasonable or not doesn’t matter. It’s the reality, it affects polling, and will affect the next general election.
Things like this, the planning reforms, the infrastructure spending they’re doing, SureStart 2.0, NHS improvements, green subsidies, etc won’t start to bear fruit until Reform are in, and they’ll benefit from it, only to then tear it all down so the next government inherits the same poisoned chalice this government did last year.
- Comment on Chippie owner given ‘devastating’ £40,000 fine by Home office for allegedly illegal hire 1 month ago:
I swear people just want to be unhappy.
We say we don’t want companies to illegally hire, yet when they do and face the consequences of it, we get stories like this.
We can’t have low fines, otherwise business just treat it as a cost of doing business… I’m sure we’ve all seen stories of big companies knowingly breaking the law and being fined pennies, and things like small companies fly tipping because occasionally being caught works out cheaper than proper waste management.
The onus is on the hiring company to check if the person has all the required paperwork and has a legal right to work.
- Comment on UK strikes deal with private investors to build £38bn Sizewell C nuclear power plant 1 month ago:
That is a staggering price, but unfortunately it’s needed. We can’t keep using gas as a base load forever, and batteries are not ready, we don’t have that kind of capacity.
Costs for nuclear have spiralled because we stopped investing in it a long time ago, and we lost expertise on how to build it. Thanks, Thatcher. Truly you are the gift that keeps on giving.
- Comment on UK government to ban public bodies from paying ransoms to hackers 1 month ago:
One of the many things I’ve seen Labour pass that’s made me think “wait this wasn’t a thing already?!”
- Comment on Labour MP claims it'd cost "Upwards of £100bn to Nationalise Water". He is an extremely smart man. Why does he lie like this? 1 month ago:
NOOO
Stop putting thought into things!
- Comment on Woman, 74, tells of pain and fear after arrest at Liverpool pro-Palestine rally 1 month ago:
Being an old, white, middle class woman shouldn’t make you above the law.
Supporting a proscribed group when there are dozens of legit pro Palestine groups is obviously a stupid thing to do.
Tankies feel free to downvote ❤️
- Comment on State pension age could rise again after cost of triple lock soars 1 month ago:
We saw how politically unviable it was to take away WFA from those who had money while still preserving it for people who don’t.
Labour completely collapsed in the polls overnight, and have paid an extremely heavy price for it, with the biggest reason stated for the polling drop and sub-par local election results being the WFA changes.
Now imagine scrapping triple-lock.
It simply will not happen. Anybody who says they do it won’t be elected, and anybody who does it without it in their manifesto won’t be elected again.
Not that Labour could pass it even if the leadership wanted to weather that storm. There would be a backbencher revolt the likes of which we’ve never seen before. MPs wouldn’t back something they know will get them ousted.
Sadly it seems the only thing that will put an end to the insanity of triple lock is terms pending a bailout from the IMF.