UK IX: This Economy Will Self-Destruct In...

[Brad]

The only qualifier I'll put on that is I'd be curious as to what was asked of the ordinary joe when fines were issued last year. If it was the same questionnaire then it's an easy out for No.10 as technically it would all be above board

Average Joes were indeed asked similar questions and could attempt to give justifications. The issue is that the police are more likely to accept and MP's bull**** justification than a student having a part in their digs.

[Cassius_Smoke]

If the punishment is only a fine, then it's a punishment only for the poor

[Brad]

If the punishment is only a fine, then it's a punishment only for the poor

Exactly. The MPs involved would probably happily pay 10x the usual fine just to not have to think about it. One of our girls (student at Cardiff) was fined £400.

[Neon Ignition]

Yep, and the normal person in the street (party) didn't have a lawyer on retainer to provide support with their answers either. It's blatant he's going to be let off by the police leaving the Gray report the last thing standing, just got to pray against hope that the court of public opinion has settled into a guilty verdict ahead of May now.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/news/starmer-calls-for-rt-to-be-banned/vi-AAUa7DW?ocid=spartan-dhp-feeds

Starmar calls for RT to be banned

[Brad]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/video/news...rtan-dhp-feeds
Starmar calls for RT to be banned

Ban encryption while we're at it. You can't do that. It's the first step into becoming China.

[briareos_kerensky]

I must say that a lot of the so-called first world nations seem to be very keen on curtailing news outlets.

[Asura]

I must say that a lot of the so-called first world nations seem to be very keen on curtailing news outlets.

I mean, we've basically proven at this point that the general public can't be relied on not to believe lies. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth too, but I think if other nations are broadcasting obvious propaganda, we should impede that just a bit.

Truth be told it worries me; during the last 20 years I've watched a lot of Al Jazeera and EuroNews (the Turkish European-leaning news channel) as it's really interesting to see their take on stories, which are often very different to ours. But I don't know if we just have to curtail that, now, when people are believing the goddamned world is flat

[MartyG]

Surely RT should be censured if it breaches broadcasting rules (just as every other channel that broadcasts in the UK is), rather than because politicians say so tho?

[Cassius_Smoke]

I remember back around 2004 there was a push from various directions to take Al Jazeera off digital channels and to ignore them because, well I guess they have a funny name and probably associated with bad people.
Im not saying RT is the same situation, but history does have a habit of repeating.

[Neon Ignition]

Really, it's the standards that need tidying up. More focus on story verification and much more on publishing accountability to curb the drivel that's currently permitted across the board

A massive, massive cutback on opinion pieces too. Opinion pieces are not news.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/23/johnson-parties-met-investigation

Johnson has said that when the police investigation into partygate is over he wants to meet with them to give his side

of the events

of the parties

that he didn't attend

that didn't happen

that if he was there were a work function

that he barely attended



Jesus christ....

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/feb/24/students-in-england-to-pay-back-loans-over-40-years-instead-of-30

Student loans are to be altered so that graduates will now have to pay them back over 40 years instead of 30.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/feb/23/starmer-labour-will-partner-with-private-sector-and-take-advantage-of-brexit

Whilst Starmar plans to steer Labour to win over the private sector and to try and make inroads on the Brexit opportunists crowd who have been let down by the Tories

[Asura]

https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...-instead-of-30
Student loans are to be altered so that graduates will now have to pay them back over 40 years instead of 30.

Well yeah; the government's bricking it. This is a ticking timebomb no-one wants to talk about.

The modern Student Loan system started in 1989 (~33 years ago), but it wasn't taken up in big numbers for a few years; it became the norm for most students by the late 90s.

The loans are paid back via PAYE, like a tax, but you only pay them back if you earn over a threshold amount, and then, again like a tax, the amount you pay is based on how much you earn over that threshold. But after 30 years, if you haven't paid it off, the loan is written off and the taxpayer has to foot the bill.

The vast, VAST majority of students have not managed to pay them off. And we're approaching the moment where it's 30 years after the system became used by the bulk of people.

At least it's nice, in a way. The prior generation had grants; the taxpayer paid for their education, then they voted in governments that stopped them paying for other people's. Guess they're going to pay regardless.

[Mayhem]

Exactly. Roughly 70% of students never pay off the full amount they've borrowed. The threshold before paying anything back is something like 20k per year, and with the average salary being around 27k (skewed by all the huge salaries of various professions) it isn't too surprising to understand this fact.

[Neon Ignition]

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/

Case numbers continue to decline alongside the amount of testing being completed, this coincides with the dismantling of test and trace as weekend updates will be ceased