Phil xxkr

Are you not being hoisted by your own petard? 😅

Oddly enough Linas big expose in Saturday's Telegraph outlining how Albanians have taken over organised crime in the UK 😕

I agree getting caught is one thing the consequences are another. Since the answer to both appears to be none at present then we have to start somewhere and more thought is needed as to a consequence that is longer lasting, easy to implement and socially unacceptable, losing a hand or similar fits that bill! I've seen some of the YT vids you mention and fascinating they are indeed,especially where Albania is mentioned. I guess it's coincidence that the highest FNO's in UK prisons are from that country 🤔

Socrates, Aristotle, Plato and the Greek skeptics, all of whom emphasized that things are often very different from what they appear to be and only the trained mind is prepared to see through the way things look to us on the surface (delusive appearances) to the way they really are beneath the surface (the deeper realities of life). Today we call it critical thinking. It is said that the world consists of two types of people, the 99% who are expert at identifying problems in other people's work and the 1% who are expert in providing a solution to those problems. So today any technological advance is quickly seen for it's shortcomings completely forgetting the situation that went before. According to Home Office figures the number police officers working in frontline roles in England and Wales increased by 5.4% in the 12 months to 31 March 2023, reaching 123,465 full-time equivalents (FTE); this is the highest number of officers in frontline policing roles since directly comparable records began in 2015. Arguments will rage as to, "it's not enough" but if not how many exactly? And whilst these well meaning Bremner, Bird and Fortune dinner party conversations go on it conveniently forgets one essential component, The Perpetrator.! As I understand it in Saudi very little thieving goes on by "enhancing" the consequences without more police. The other consideration is where do these perps originate from? I don't recall there being a blizzard of catalyst, car and other types of theft other than it becoming an epidemic starting a few years ago, maybe someone has the numbers?

I guess we need some definitive advice from a definitive authority?

And thank you for your worthwhile contributions 😊

Wasn't there a song "when an irresistible force such as you meets an old immovable object like me you can bet as sure as you live, somethings gotta give somethings gotta give" 😊

The scariest thing is, like my Public sector daughter, they have the vote 😱. However when I point out pound/euro rate touched 1.20 recently but in twelve months 1.13!! And that potentially might add 10% to next year's holiday cost as firms buy a year ahead. So after stoppages the family holiday alone will swallow up maybe half of your rise. Now add in inflation and it's clear you need another rise😂

Thanks for kicking off a fireworks of a thread David. 👍

Thought you knew John according to Cabinet Minister Lucy Powell had they not done in the WFA it would have caused a run on the pound a la Liz Truss style and a financial crash! Despite the fact that this year's government spend outlook is £1,189 BILLION ie less than 1%. The chicanery and outright untruths fills you with despair. What I do know is old age comes upon you ever so quickly, it wasn't here a moment ago but now it is with all it's limitations and ailments. These people making and supporting these despicable decisions are oblivious to how quickly it will descend upon them. And then of course, what will the youth of their time think is intergenerational unfairness? As they say, you will owe nothing, own nothing but be happy. I say it's called Karma.

Wilco

We can only count ourselves fortunate not to be subject to the ferocity of Milton et al. Some interesting advice from Hillsborough County for EV owners in the event of evacuation including this little gem, "EVs and flooding Never drive through flood water. Water and EV batteries do not mix! Water will not only damage the battery but can lead to a dangerous battery fire. Combustion can happen in an instant or manifest weeks or months after exposure to salt water.Don't drive or charge an EV that has been flooded or submerged for all of the reasons above" Living furthest from the sea gives me a little comfort unless the Sea World aquarium bursts 😊

Ah yes, the wisdom of crowds 😊. Reminds me of Socrates and his view of democracy, viz, "Socrates knew how easily people seeking election could exploit our desire for easy answers. He asked us to imagine an election debate between two candidates, one who was like a doctor and the other who was like a sweet shop owner. The sweet shop owner would say of his rival: Look, this person here has worked many evils on you. He hurts you, gives you bitter potions and tells you he not to eat and drink whatever you like. He’ll never serve you feasts of many and varied pleasant things like I will. Socrates asks us to consider the audience response: Do you think the doctor would be able to reply effectively? The true answer – ‘I cause you trouble, and go against you desires in order to help you’ would cause an uproar among the voters, don’t you think? We have forgotten all about Socrates’s salient warnings against democracy. We have preferred to think of democracy as an unambiguous good – rather than as something that is only ever as effective as the education system that surrounds it. As a result, we have elected many sweet shop owners, and very few doctors." As true nearly 2500 years ago as it is today 🙂

One of my all-time heroes expressed something similar Len. "Many intellectuals and their followers have been unduly impressed by the fact that highly educated elites like themselves have far more knowledge per capita—in the sense of special knowledge—than does the population at large. From this it is a short step to considering the educated elites to be superior guides to what should and should not be done in a society. They have often overlooked the crucial fact that the population at large may have vastly more total knowledge—in the mundane sense—than the elites, even if that knowledge is scattered in individually unimpressive fragments among vast numbers of people.” ― Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society

And yet the very definition of the term includes ; not affiliated to any particular party not interested in politics, having no relevance or importance. So when she gets enobled as speculated, presume she will sit as an independent? As John Wayne famously said "that'll be the day"

You raise a host of similarities here Len. Caligula was known mostly for his horse and sister 😱 but also, for giving his soldiers a pay rise to ensure loyalty, expanded the port of Ostia to encourage more throughput, restored Treason trials to the Senate, spent on huge public projects. The only divergence I can see is he repealed unpopular taxes but let's see at the end of the month. 🤔

Must have been mis -typo, think he meant a political hack 😎

Stranger things have happened!

The advantage of an unwritten constitution is that it can be bent as the need requires. There is no written constitutional requirement for a Prime Minister to be an MP (although many recent acts of Parliament refer to the post) The title is unofficial (and began as a term of derision); the official post is "First Lord of the Treasury". So there is no written rule that says the PM must be an MP, there is no written rule that says the Queen can't pick her favourite horse to be PM.

Unfortunately she hasn't gone gone. She has a new role as envoy to the devolved regions including Mayors etc. Par for the course, at the first sign of storms ahead get shunted, temporarily to another area on full pay of course. Then bide your time until it blows over to make a return in a bigger role. 😕

The one I heard was "what do call 50,000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean - a start 😎

😱😱😱😱😱

Was about to say Shades of Gray but more like Jennifer's ear 👍

Her background is most interesting 🤔

Credibility Malc, credibility 😱, isn't this the same person who stitched Boris up them promptly moved to Labour? 😱