UK General Election 2024

[Roasted Swan]

Often we get no post for several days - then it all arrives at once.

Isn't that just your CD purchasing pattern............!! 

[Irons]

Often we get no post for several days - then it all arrives at once.

Which is isn't great if waiting for hospital appointments etc.

Announced yesterday that Daniel Kretinsky aka "Czech Sphinx" has taken full control of Royal Mail. I am familiar with him as he has a 25% stake in West Ham United FC (similar stake in Sainsburys too).

[Mandryka]

If (when?) the Conservatives and Reform join forces, everything will change.

I can't vote for any party which allows the sale of arms to Israel. I think I will not vote at all.

[71 dB]

A lot has changed in forty years which makes it a difficult question to answer. The Royal Mail is a case in point, forty years ago we enjoyed two deliveries a day six days a week. Today we are lucky to receive four deliveries total a week. But perhaps email and competition has more to do with drop in standards then privatization.
 

In Finland Postal services have weakened too. Instead of getting mail every day (Mon. - Fri.), we have a system where the weekdays are divided between two areas so that half the manpower is needed. Since Monday to Friday is 5 days, the arrangement changes every other week. So on even weeks I get mail (if there is anything to deliver) on Monday, Wednesday and Friday (while the same postman works on another area on Tuesday and Thursday). On odd weeks it is the other way around and I get mail on Tuesday and Thursday. So, mathematically I get mail 2.5 times a week. If I have been expecting something to arrive on Friday and it doesn't, I need to wait until the next Tuesday for the next change. That can be annoying. They say these changes have been necessary because people sent much less paper mail than they used to in the past.

[71 dB]

40 years since privatization, are the services better and cheaper than they were when state-owned? That is the question.

Who owns the rivers? IOW, who has the right (or perhaps the duty) to issue anti-pollution regulations and the power to enforce them?

For UK politics I watch the Youtube videos of Michael Lambert. He says the mistake has been selling important infrastructure to foreigners who don't care about anything else than profits. China doesn't care much how polluted the rivers are in the UK.

[71 dB]

Or has he simply had enough? Going to lose anyway.

Seems like Sunak wants to move to the US with his family and leave the mess behind...

[71 dB]

This year Romania will have 4 rounds of elections: local, EU-level, parliamentary and presidential.

Wow. That's a lot. We had the presidential election earlier this year and now the EU-election.

A very good friend I alluded to in another thread tries hard to convince me to vote for a specific party --- unsuccessfully, for three reasons:

That sounds weird to me. In Finland who you vote for is everybody's own business. Often people don't even tell others how they voted. Finns rather debate political ideologies in general, but who we vote for in the end is a personal matter and it is respected.

(1) politically and economically, I lean toward classical liberalism; culturally, I lean toward cosmopolitanism; religiously, I lean toward liberal Eastern Orthodoxy.

I lean politically green/left/social democrat as an atheist. So, I am for religious freedoms (people should be allowed to practice whatever religion they want), but religion should not dictate politics.

(2) I am pro-EU and pro-NATO, whereas that party is anti-EU and anti-NATO;

I'm also pro-EU. I used to be mildly against Finland's NATO membership until Russia attacked Ukraine. Most Finns are like me in this.

(3) I believe partisan politics and policies are part of the problem, not of the solution, whereas he believes that if only the party he supports won a comfortable majority, Romania would instantly turn into paradise on earth.

Those who offer the easiest solutions to problems are to be trusted the least in politics. Unfortunately a lot of people do not understand/accept this.

Aditionally, the cynic in me believes that, in the contemporary world, corrupt and unprincipled politicians might perhaps be the price of freedom. I'd rather live under Rishi Sunak than under Maximilien Robespierre.

Are those your only options?

[Florestan]

China doesn't care much how polluted the rivers are in the UK.

China doesn't even care much how polluted the rivers are in China. 

[71 dB]

China doesn't even care much how polluted the rivers are in China. 

Are you sure? We westerners have our biased views about how backwards countries like China are, but that's not always the truth.

[Florestan]

That sounds weird to me. In Finland who you vote for is everybody's own business. Often people don't even tell others how they voted. Finns rather debate political ideologies in general, but who we vote for in the end is a personal matter and it is respected.

It's a cultural thing, I guess. First, Romanians are talkative like all Latins. Second, there's no taboo subject matter, we discuss everything, especially between good friends. Third, and related, there is a Romanian saying: "everybody is an expert in football and politics" (irony, of course). Last but not least, most Romanian voters are not constant in their vote: they can vote one party in an election and a different one in the next, or even different parties in the same election (I did both), so it's rather natural to share ideas and suggestions, especially on the eve of an election. The final option is of course personal.

[Irons]

Seems like Sunak wants to move to the US with his family and leave the mess behind...

I think Sunak is a nice man but an awful Conservative leader and Prime Minister. The policy announcement of mandatory national subscription was the last straw for me. Absolutely bonkers!

[Todd]

Are you sure? We westerners have our biased views about how backwards countries like China are, but that's not always the truth.

From the South China Morning Post: China unveils new plan to clean up major rivers and lakes

Since that is owned by Alibaba and therefore very unreliable, unlike outlets owned by western multinationals, which are pure of intent and report with only complete honesty, here's a report from The Nature Conservancy: Securing Freshwater in China

It remains common, even on this forum, for some people to rely on lazy stereotypes.  But that's understandable.  That old t-shirt from The Onion had it right: stereotypes are a real time saver.

[Todd]

Announced yesterday that Daniel Kretinsky aka "Czech Sphinx" has taken full control of Royal Mail. I am familiar with him as he has a 25% stake in West Ham United FC (similar stake in Sainsburys too).

I will admit that I did not know that the Royal Mail was not stated owned.  Perhaps in ten or twenty years, four or five multinationals could create a proper international cartel in the space. 

[71 dB]

I think Sunak is a nice man but an awful Conservative leader and Prime Minister. The policy announcement of mandatory national subscription was the last straw for me. Absolutely bonkers!

Since Finland has conscription, I don't see this announcement being "bonkers", but I wonder if the UK really needs it?

[Mandryka]

I think Sunak is a nice man but an awful Conservative leader and Prime Minister. The policy announcement of mandatory national subscription was the last straw for me. Absolutely bonkers!

I don't think he's a nice man.

Honestly, who cares about National Subscription?  It's not going to happen. No-one listens to Sunak.

[Irons]

Since Finland has conscription, I don't see this announcement being "bonkers", but I wonder if the UK really needs it?

Finland for good reason.

I don't think he's a nice man.

Honestly, who cares about National Subscription?  It's not going to happen. No-one listens to Sunak.

As always whether he is or not is somewhere down the middle. But who cares.

Agreed.

[Mandryka]

Finland for good reason.

As always whether he is or not is somewhere down the middle. But who cares.

Agreed.

Well you know, he's fuelled culture wars - that's not very nice to Trans people. He's introduced some draconian legislation to limit freedom of protest, authoritarian people aren't very nice in my experience. He's planning to send refugees to Rwanda - which is not really nice and friendly. Eat out to Help Out killed a lot of people, which isn't a nice thing to do.He's done nothing about Levelling Up, which is not being nice to people in, let's say, Blackpool.  He's not paying keyworkers a wage that keeps up with inflation, which isn't very nice for them.

And the crowning example of nastiness. He's sending arms to Israel which are being used to kill innocent people including children - and that's definitely not nice.


Plus, there's all the grift. Nice people don't do that.

[Luke]

Wish I could like that more than once.

[Florestan]

Eat out to Help Out

What is that?

[Mandryka]

What is that?

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-a-discount-with-the-eat-out-to-help-out-scheme