UK XI: I Want To Ride My Diecycle

[Anpanman]

Before British Rail was privatized the British government called in Japanese railway consultants for their view on whether the plan could be a success. The Japanese said it was bound to fail because the Brits wanted to turn a profit by transport tickets alone and also by separating rail companies from the actual rail track ownership; whereas the Japanese model was (and is) you run the trains (and own/maintain your own rails) at cost or even at a loss in order to get passengers to attractive destinations to spend their money there if they choose to, i.e.: cool stations with lots of beautiful shops, bars, restaurants and apartments (the rail companies are the landlords, obviously, and sometimes own the businesses as well e.g. the Tokyu [Line] department stores, so they have a vested interest in bringing people cheaply and efficiently to their stations with these spending opportunities). Britain said thanks and told the Japanese to **** off in the belief that you can make a profit through ticket sales alone, and that's where we're at. Skyrocketing ticket prices and dilapidated stations/nearby environs that only junkies want to spend time or money in.

Yep I'd agree (I know I'm a jammy git).

Airports look to have tried that model but failed miserably, Manchester Airport is more like an extension of the Trafford Centre done horribly wrong.

Train tickets are expensive and have complex arrangements, plus when I was a season ticket holder they added in the yearly increase including the extra tacked on for improvements, I could be wrong on this but am fairly sure I'm correct.

[Neon Ignition]

All 400 Wilko shops to close with loss of more than 12,000 jobs | Wilko | The Guardian
Despite earlier movement showing hope talks have failed and Wilko will shut down in its entirety

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2023/sep/11/china-spy-suspect-downing-street-government-rishi-sunak-keir-starmer-latest-politics-updates-live?page=with:block-64feddf98f08e39cdeca5d06#block-64feddf98f08e39cdeca5d06

A Commons Research has been arrested on suspicion of spying for China

[Neon Ignition]

Almost one in three female surgeons in NHS have been sexually assaulted | NHS | The Guardian


Ministers set to ban single-use vapes in UK over child addiction fears | Vaping | The Guardian
Finally

[Lebowski]

Ministers set to ban single-use vapes in UK over child addiction fears | Vaping | The Guardian
Finally

It feels like we where just getting a handle on smoking as the number of teens smoking had dropped massively then along come the vapes, at 16 (im 44 now) everybody i knew smoked now its pretty much just the older gen that smoke now. Then vapes appeared added a bit of tech to it and a load of flavors based off sweets and made it a thing again. and of course it leads into normal smoking as they don't give you the same hit of nicotine like a real cigarette dose.

It feels like a product aimed at young kids and the availability of them is not as stigmatized as cigarettes, My son was able to get hold of them from age 14 thanks to dodgy retailers, it was like a known fact among his school that a nearby shop would sell to anyone without ID, and half his class where vaping. Its a lot easier to hide than cigarettes too as it doesn't stink like smoking.

"Bag of crisps a mars bar a Bubble gum Vape and a can of Monster mate please"

You know its a problem when Southpark do an episode on it, Cartman running a vape empire where he sells vapes to the kindergarten kids and you have all these 4 and 5 year olds vaping was hilarious satire on the state of the vape industry and its real target market.

[Asura]

You know its a problem when Southpark do an episode on it, Cartman running a vape empire where he sells vapes to the kindergarten kids and you have all these 4 and 5 year olds vaping was hilarious satire on the state of the vape industry and its real target market.

Vapes definitely feel like one of those things which should be illegal, or more tighly regulated. And I say that from a place that has nothing to do with what they are, what they do, what they're for - it's purely due to the insane proliferation speed of vape shops and vape businesses.

I can't help think that when you've got something that expands so ridiculously fast (in under 10 years we've gone from it being a relatively niche thing to there being 3-4 vape shops on every high street in the UK), something's probably a bit dodgy.

Even Starbucks, which we used to joke about in the 00s, didn't expand that fast.

Add to that, it being related tangentially to a known vice which is tightly regulated (nicotine) I can't help feel that something's not right there.

[fishbowlhead]

It feels like we where just getting a handle on smoking as the number of teens smoking had dropped massively then along come the vapes, at 16 (im 44 now) everybody i knew smoked now its pretty much just the older gen that smoke now. Then vapes appeared added a bit of tech to it and a load of flavors based off sweets and made it a thing again. and of course it leads into normal smoking as they don't give you the same hit of nicotine like a real cigarette dose.

It feels like a product aimed at young kids and the availability of them is not as stigmatized as cigarettes, My son was able to get hold of them from age 14 thanks to dodgy retailers, it was like a known fact among his school that a nearby shop would sell to anyone without ID, and half his class where vaping. Its a lot easier to hide than cigarettes too as it doesn't stink like smoking.

"Bag of crisps a mars bar a Bubble gum Vape and a can of Monster mate please"

You know its a problem when Southpark do an episode on it, Cartman running a vape empire where he sells vapes to the kindergarten kids and you have all these 4 and 5 year olds vaping was hilarious satire on the state of the vape industry and its real target market.

Don’t worry most vapers are going to live short lives if they carry on with it anyway as they melt their lungs, so the problem will sort itself out, shrugs.

[Neon Ignition]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/sep/13/rishi-sunak-refuses-to-commit-to-triple-lock-on-pensions-beyond-election

Tories try to wriggle around a plan to cheat election votes from pensioners by keeping the triple lock on pensions until they have secured their vote and then ditch the mechanism

[Neon Ignition]

Labour will treat Channel people smugglers as terrorists, says Starmer | Labour | The Guardian

Starmer to seek EU-wide returns deal for asylum seekers | Labour | The Guardian

Rishi Sunak blocked rebuild of hospitals riddled with crumbling concrete | Raac (reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete) | The Guardian

[Anpanman]

Saw the Sophe Ridge politics show on Sky, Labour won't commit to the triple or indeed any lock for the pensioners apart from saying they will 'look after them'.
Perhaps they mean it in an Al Pacino way.

[charlesr]

Bring back smoking. That will sort out the pension crisis

[Neon Ignition]

I have absolute faith that the Tories are cooking up a solution to the pensions crisis right this second

[Neon Ignition]

British TV ‘allowed monarchy to censor coverage of king’s coronation’ | King Charles III | The Guardian
The only good King Charles is a Spaniel King Charles

[Yakumo]

Bring back smoking. That will sort out the pension crisis

You'd think so but my nan smoked like a chimney from a teen until her very last days and lived to 83.
Poor old granddad who never smoked and was a POW in Nagasagi, only moved out 2 days before the Americans dropped an atom bomb on it, died at 74. Probably due to all the passive smoking.

[Asura]

British TV ‘allowed monarchy to censor coverage of king’s coronation’ | King Charles III | The Guardian
The only good King Charles is a Spaniel King Charles

Shows the ridiculousness of the monarchy, and how they just don't get it.

On the one hand, say, this was a celebrity wedding. The couple involved (and their PR people) can probably expect to tell the news media that if they want their cameras in the church, they have to abide by some pretty strict rules, no different to how any married couple goes through their wedding photos and picks some for the album and some to throw in the bin.

But while they might be celebrities, they're ultimately private citizens, so they can dictate those terms.

However, as a UK taxpayer, I don't extend this to the royalty. We paid for the coronation. The footage of it isn't Charles's any more than the crown he received.

[Anpanman]

Bring back smoking. That will sort out the pension crisis

Obesity is the new smoking.

Poor old granddad who never smoked and was a POW in Nagasagi, only moved out 2 days before the Americans dropped an atom bomb on it, died at 74. Probably due to all the passive smoking.

Bloody hell, what a story.

Probably like yourself we've been to Hiroshima a few times but we went to Nagasaki a few years ago, cripes they don't hold back in their bomb museum, Hiroshima is deffo toned down compared to Nagasaki's.