What Is Happening To Our Country?

[sadoldgit]

Today the big talking point on LBC was the arrest of their reporter who, despite showing the police officers her press card, was arrested and detained for 7 hours for just doing her job and reporting on a climate change protest. A number of other journalists have previously been arrested under similar circumstances.

Despite promising to bring integrity back to government, our latest PM has given top jobs to someone who has only just lost her position for leaking official documents and another person who is a serial bully and has already been sacked from 2 cabinet jobs.

Gallons of sewage are being poured into our rivers and seas. Nurses have just voted to strike. Good luck if you want to get a doctors appointment quickly. Schools are reporting a dire shortage of teachers and teaching assistants. Waiting lists in the NHS are off the scale.

WTF is happening to this country? We have had a succession of PMs and cabinets who couldn’t run a piss up in a brewery. The Met, supposedly the flagship police force in the country, is an embarrassment and other forces seem to be following suit. We seem to be moving closer and closer to becoming a police state the more they become incompetent and ineffective. The current PM doesn’t give a shit about climate change and only pitched up in Egypt because he didn’t want to be upstaged by Boris Johnson.

The most depressing thing is that there seems to be absolutely no sign of things improving. If anything they look to be getting even worse.

[whelk]

I give it less than 2 hours before Lighthouse locks this thread.

[whelk]

35 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Today the big talking point on LBC was the arrest of their reporter who, despite showing the police officers her press card, was arrested and detained for 7 hours for just doing her job and reporting on a climate change protest. A number of other journalists have previously been arrested under similar circumstances.

Despite promising to bring integrity back to government, our latest PM has given top jobs to someone who has only just lost her position for leaking official documents and another person who is a serial bully and has already been sacked from 2 cabinet jobs.

Gallons of sewage are being poured into our rivers and seas. Nurses have just voted to strike. Good luck if you want to get a doctors appointment quickly. Schools are reporting a dire shortage of teachers and teaching assistants. Waiting lists in the NHS are off the scale.

WTF is happening to this country? We have had a succession of PMs and cabinets who couldn’t run a piss up in a brewery. The Met, supposedly the flagship police force in the country, is an embarrassment and other forces seem to be following suit. We seem to be moving closer and closer to becoming a police state the more they become incompetent and ineffective. The current PM doesn’t give a shit about climate change and only pitched up in Egypt because he didn’t want to be upstaged by Boris Johnson.

The most depressing thing is that there seems to be absolutely no sign of things improving. If anything they look to be getting even worse.

You forgot to mention the Muslim grooming gangs

[badgerx16]

38 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Today the big talking point on LBC was the arrest of their reporter who, despite showing the police officers her press card, was arrested and detained for 7 hours for just doing her job and reporting on a climate change protest. A number of other journalists have previously been arrested under similar circumstances.

 

You should have picked the example of the male journo who was detained for over 14 hours, and whose house was searched at 23:30, whilst he was in a cell, and his wife and child had no idea why the Police were there.

The Hertfordshire Police Chief has referred his own force for independent investigation to see if "lessons can be learned".

The reality is that the Police have been told by the Home Office to come down hard on such protests.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

From January 2020, when it was reported that Extinciton Rebellion were in a police guide on extremist groups

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51071959

Because when resources get tight, and everything falls apart, it's important to know which side of the fencing you're going to be. 🙂

Small beans compared to new threads being started that would fit nicely into any number of others though. 🙂

[Lighthouse]

I’ve got the weirdest feeling of Dave Ja Vu. Let’s see how this goes…

[rallyboy]

Herts police totally lost the plot and have no excuse that will explain away the plan they put into action at the M25.

A civilised country that claims freedom of speech, needs to have a free press.

The UK should be better than this.

[Turkish]

Here he goes again FFS

[egg]

3 hours ago, sadoldgit said:

Today the big talking point on LBC was the arrest of their reporter who, despite showing the police officers her press card, was arrested and detained for 7 hours for just doing her job and reporting on a climate change protest. A number of other journalists have previously been arrested under similar circumstances.

Despite promising to bring integrity back to government, our latest PM has given top jobs to someone who has only just lost her position for leaking official documents and another person who is a serial bully and has already been sacked from 2 cabinet jobs.

Gallons of sewage are being poured into our rivers and seas. Nurses have just voted to strike. Good luck if you want to get a doctors appointment quickly. Schools are reporting a dire shortage of teachers and teaching assistants. Waiting lists in the NHS are off the scale.

WTF is happening to this country? We have had a succession of PMs and cabinets who couldn’t run a piss up in a brewery. The Met, supposedly the flagship police force in the country, is an embarrassment and other forces seem to be following suit. We seem to be moving closer and closer to becoming a police state the more they become incompetent and ineffective. The current PM doesn’t give a shit about climate change and only pitched up in Egypt because he didn’t want to be upstaged by Boris Johnson.

The most depressing thing is that there seems to be absolutely no sign of things improving. If anything they look to be getting even worse.

A post on a football forum will sort that lot out SoG, good work 👍

[Turkish]

[Turkish]

[Turkish]

[Turkish]

[Turkish]

[Turkish]

[Turkish]

[The Kraken]

How many more ‘look at me’ posts does SOG need Ffs? Such a boring, whining troll.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I wondered where all Ralph's motivational posters would go when he left the club. 🙂

[skintsaint]

Need to hang some of these motivation quotes on my wall at home to inspire everyday.

[Weston Super Saint]

5 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Need to hang some of these motivation quotes on my wall at home to inspire everyday.

It's only really Tuesday and Thursday that need inspiring, not everyday.

[egg]

13 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

It's only really Tuesday and Thursday that need inspiring, not everyday.

Speak for yourself Weston, I need all the help I can get on a Monday and a Wednesday - coke, coffee and haribos don't cut it anymore. 

[Turkish]

6 hours ago, skintsaint said:

Need to hang some of these motivation quotes on my wall at home to inspire everyday.

I feel soggy needs our help, he is clearly struggling at the moment. 
 

thoughts control our words, words control our actions, actions control our destiny 

 

if we can help Shift his mindset to a more positive one then maybe he’ll live a happier more fulfilled life and achieve something else other than being the biggest twat to have ever posted on a football forum. 

[AlexLaw76]

Watching people breakdown in a public arena is very sad to see.  

Soggy, it is OK to not be OK. The help is there if you just want it/ask for it. 

 

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Watching people breakdown in a public arena is very sad to see.  

Soggy, it is OK to not be OK. The help is there if you just want it/ask for it. 

 

As a wise man once said control the controllable. The constant fretting about stuff outside of your area control is absolutely damaging to your health. What can Soggy do about the report who has been arrested or the jobs the PM gives out? Soggys focus is on all the wrong place, the answer to a lot of the questions he seeks can be found within

 

 

[sadoldgit]

15 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

You should have picked the example of the male journo who was detained for over 14 hours, and whose house was searched at 23:30, whilst he was in a cell, and his wife and child had no idea why the Police were there.

The Hertfordshire Police Chief has referred his own force for independent investigation to see if "lessons can be learned".

The reality is that the Police have been told by the Home Office to come down hard on such protests.

It’s one thing to come down hard on protesters, but why should that include law abiding people going about their daily business? Not only is it becoming harder to protest in this country (which is not illegal) but they seem happy to scoop bystanders up in their net too. There has been a distinct change in this country over the last few years and it seems that those in power feel it is okay to rip up the rule book and do what they want. The same has been happening in the US since Trump became President. What’s the old saying? A dead fish rots from its head downwards. Power is being abused on a daily basis and it is getting worse.

More and more planning permission is being granted to build on what used to be Green Belt land. There are plans to build thousands of new homes on Folkestone race course which will also swallow up a lot of surrounding farmland, yet the local hospital and doctors surgeries are already swamped and there are no plans to expand either or to improve the infrastructure.

But yeah, let’s not whinge and just let things go to the dogs eh?

[Lighthouse]

20 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

It’s one thing to come down hard on protesters, but why should that include law abiding people going about their daily business? Not only is it becoming harder to protest in this country (which is not illegal) but they seem happy to scoop bystanders up in their net too. There has been a distinct change in this country over the last few years and it seems that those in power feel it is okay to rip up the rule book and do what they want. The same has been happening in the US since Trump became President. What’s the old saying? A dead fish rots from its head downwards. Power is being abused on a daily basis and it is getting worse.

More and more planning permission is being granted to build on what used to be Green Belt land. There are plans to build thousands of new homes on Folkestone race course which will also swallow up a lot of surrounding farmland, yet the local hospital and doctors surgeries are already swamped and there are no plans to expand either or to improve the infrastructure.

But yeah, let’s not whinge and just let things go to the dogs eh?

What an odd take on it all. When protestors are bringing the M25 to a halt every day, putting lives in danger and causing people to miss funerals, chemo appointments and f**k knows what else, I’m more concerned by that than a couple of journalists being wrongfully detained. Why that happened I don’t know, clearly not all of the details are in the public domain, but if the journalists concerned are just observers and not directly involved, they will be released without charge.

 

As for the new houses, well what would you prefer to happen? We’ve got a generation of people in their thirties, renting one bedroom in a HMO because it’s all they can afford and don’t have a prayer. These are qualified professionals with respectable jobs but a four times salary mortgage wouldn’t come close to buying anything reasonable. I think I read the other day that an average person, with an average salary trying to buy an average UK house would need a deposit of £106,000. Insanity.

[badgerx16]

19 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

What an odd take on it all. When protestors are bringing the M25 to a halt every day, putting lives in danger and causing people to miss funerals, chemo appointments and f**k knows what else, I’m more concerned by that than a couple of journalists being wrongfully detained. Why that happened I don’t know, clearly not all of the details are in the public domain, but if the journalists concerned are just observers and not directly involved, they will be released without charge.

 

As for the new houses, well what would you prefer to happen? We’ve got a generation of people in their thirties, renting one bedroom in a HMO because it’s all they can afford and don’t have a prayer. These are qualified professionals with respectable jobs but a four times salary mortgage wouldn’t come close to buying anything reasonable. I think I read the other day that an average person, with an average salary trying to buy an average UK house would need a deposit of £106,000. Insanity.

There are over a quarter of a million empty houses in the UK, that is premises with no occupancy for over 6 months. Building new houses doesn't solve the problem of mortgage costs unless the developers are willing to cut the retail prices significantly.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

What an odd take on it all. When protestors are bringing the M25 to a halt every day, putting lives in danger and causing people to miss funerals, chemo appointments and f**k knows what else, I’m more concerned by that than a couple of journalists being wrongfully detained. Why that happened I don’t know, clearly not all of the details are in the public domain, but if the journalists concerned are just observers and not directly involved, they will be released without charge.

 

As for the new houses, well what would you prefer to happen? We’ve got a generation of people in their thirties, renting one bedroom in a HMO because it’s all they can afford and don’t have a prayer. These are qualified professionals with respectable jobs but a four times salary mortgage wouldn’t come close to buying anything reasonable. I think I read the other day that an average person, with an average salary trying to buy an average UK house would need a deposit of £106,000. Insanity.

You seem surprised.

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

It’s one thing to come down hard on protesters, but why should that include law abiding people going about their daily business? Not only is it becoming harder to protest in this country (which is not illegal) but they seem happy to scoop bystanders up in their net too. There has been a distinct change in this country over the last few years and it seems that those in power feel it is okay to rip up the rule book and do what they want. The same has been happening in the US since Trump became President. What’s the old saying? A dead fish rots from its head downwards. Power is being abused on a daily basis and it is getting worse.

More and more planning permission is being granted to build on what used to be Green Belt land. There are plans to build thousands of new homes on Folkestone race course which will also swallow up a lot of surrounding farmland, yet the local hospital and doctors surgeries are already swamped and there are no plans to expand either or to improve the infrastructure.

But yeah, let’s not whinge and just let things go to the dogs eh?

 

I'm really not sure how whinging about it by starting yet another thread on a Southampton football forum is going to fix the issue of building on Folkstone race course.

 

[Johnny Bognor]

4 hours ago, Turkish said:

As a wise man once said control the controllable. 

 

 

 

Nigel Adkins????

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Johnny Bognor said:

Nigel Adkins????

Correct sir.

[tdmickey3]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

What an odd take on it all. When protestors are bringing the M25 to a halt every day, putting lives in danger and causing people to miss funerals, chemo appointments and f**k knows what else, I’m more concerned by that than a couple of journalists being wrongfully detained. Why that happened I don’t know, clearly not all of the details are in the public domain, but if the journalists concerned are just observers and not directly involved, they will be released without charge.

 

As for the new houses, well what would you prefer to happen? We’ve got a generation of people in their thirties, renting one bedroom in a HMO because it’s all they can afford and don’t have a prayer. These are qualified professionals with respectable jobs but a four times salary mortgage wouldn’t come close to buying anything reasonable. I think I read the other day that an average person, with an average salary trying to buy an average UK house would need a deposit of £106,000. Insanity.

Nice to see a sensible response as opposed to the "usuals" who pile in on this particular poster time after time..... 

Edited 10 November, 2022 by tdmickey3

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, tdmickey3 said:

Nice to see a sensible response as opposed to the "usuals" who pile in on this particular poster time after time..... 

oh come on MLG, he started exactly the same thread a few weeks ago which got locked so what does he do? Start another one.  all this stuff has been done to death all over this forum, He's either very thick or loves the attention, i'm minded to think it's both actually. 

[egg]

1 hour ago, sadoldgit said:

It’s one thing to come down hard on protesters, but why should that include law abiding people going about their daily business? Not only is it becoming harder to protest in this country (which is not illegal) but they seem happy to scoop bystanders up in their net too. There has been a distinct change in this country over the last few years and it seems that those in power feel it is okay to rip up the rule book and do what they want. The same has been happening in the US since Trump became President. What’s the old saying? A dead fish rots from its head downwards. Power is being abused on a daily basis and it is getting worse.

More and more planning permission is being granted to build on what used to be Green Belt land. There are plans to build thousands of new homes on Folkestone race course which will also swallow up a lot of surrounding farmland, yet the local hospital and doctors surgeries are already swamped and there are no plans to expand either or to improve the infrastructure.

But yeah, let’s not whinge and just let things go to the dogs eh?

I'll comment only on housing. We need more. They need to be built somewhere. Building houses addresses a need and drives the economy. It's a good and necessary thing.  The country would be going downhill if we didn't meet housing needs, not because we are. 

[egg]

1 hour ago, badgerx16 said:

There are over a quarter of a million empty houses in the UK, that is premises with no occupancy for over 6 months. Building new houses doesn't solve the problem of mortgage costs unless the developers are willing to cut the retail prices significantly.

Market forces will dictate house prices, and market forces will dictate whether developers prefer to develop from scratch or restore empty property. 

[sadoldgit]

16 minutes ago, egg said:

I'll comment only on housing. We need more. They need to be built somewhere. Building houses addresses a need and drives the economy. It's a good and necessary thing.  The country would be going downhill if we didn't meet housing needs, not because we are. 

Still plenty of brown field sites that could be developed but it is cheaper to build on green field sites.

I see the Herts Police have finally offered a half hearted and begrudged sounding apology to Charlotte Lynch. He sounded very much like he had been told to make the statement.

Civil Servants have now voted to strike.

Happy days. 

[Turkish]

8 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Still plenty of brown field sites that could be developed but it is cheaper to build on green field sites.

I see the Herts Police have finally offered a half hearted and begrudged sounding apology to Charlotte Lynch. He sounded very much like he had been told to make the statement.

Civil Servants have now voted to strike.

Happy days. 

Is any of this in your circle of influence Sog? 

 

[badgerx16]

36 minutes ago, egg said:

Market forces will dictate house prices, and market forces will dictate whether developers prefer to develop from scratch or restore empty property. 

As long as lenders continue to find creative ways of funding exorbitant mortgages "market forces" will not bring house prices down. Developers will continue to sell over priced housing whilst the lenders are compliant. The house price bubble needs to burst seismically.

[egg]

29 minutes ago, sadoldgit said:

Still plenty of brown field sites that could be developed but it is cheaper to build on green field sites.

I see the Herts Police have finally offered a half hearted and begrudged sounding apology to Charlotte Lynch. He sounded very much like he had been told to make the statement.

Civil Servants have now voted to strike.

Happy days. 

There's your answer on why it's happening. Anyways, anyone should surely be opposed to a cruel sport that encourages gambling? Repurposing that land for something wholesome like housing seems like a good thing.

[egg]

9 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

As long as lenders continue to find creative ways of funding exorbitant mortgages "market forces" will not bring house prices down. Developers will continue to sell over priced housing whilst the lenders are compliant. The house price bubble needs to burst seismically.

To be fair, it will. Surveyors are already down valuing...market forces work in a variety of ways. 

[The Left Back]

My problem with what you are doing on this thread @sadoldgitis taking two interesting but specific topics (protest policing and housing), welding them together and then using them to paint a very bleak, and in my view inaccurate, picture of our country.  You've got a meta view, that I agree with, that the tories are fucking things up and have been for 12 years, but it's sort have been done across multiple threads constantly.  So the general vibe you are sending is pretty depressing.

There are plenty of positive stories around, you need to want to find them and then look hard. 

Edited 10 November, 2022 by The Left Back

[Whitey Grandad]

4 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

What an odd take on it all. When protestors are bringing the M25 to a halt every day, putting lives in danger and causing people to miss funerals, chemo appointments and f**k knows what else, I’m more concerned by that than a couple of journalists being wrongfully detained. Why that happened I don’t know, clearly not all of the details are in the public domain, but if the journalists concerned are just observers and not directly involved, they will be released without charge.

 

As for the new houses, well what would you prefer to happen? We’ve got a generation of people in their thirties, renting one bedroom in a HMO because it’s all they can afford and don’t have a prayer. These are qualified professionals with respectable jobs but a four times salary mortgage wouldn’t come close to buying anything reasonable. I think I read the other day that an average person, with an average salary trying to buy an average UK house would need a deposit of £106,000. Insanity.

Why is such a deposit unrealistic? Saving for it would require sacrifices and hard work but there again it always has. The

 Younger generation today wants it all at once and it wants it now.

[Lighthouse]

14 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Why is such a deposit unrealistic? Saving for it would require sacrifices and hard work but there again it always has. The

 Younger generation today wants it all at once and it wants it now.

Seriously, £106,000? If you left uni at 21, got a decent well paid job immediately and after all your basic needs, social life and holidays were paid for somehow still managed to save £500 per month, you'd be nearly forty before you could afford a house. That's in a near perfect world where you never get made redundant, have long term sickness or have children or family to support etc.

[Weston Super Saint]

18 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Why is such a deposit unrealistic? Saving for it would require sacrifices and hard work but there again it always has. The

 Younger generation today wants it all at once and it wants it now.

Seriously?  You think a deposit of over £100k is ahievable for the average person earning the average wage whilst paying rent, bills etc etc?

I agree about the must have it now generation, but if you think that kind of deposit is achievable you are way out of touch....

[AlexLaw76]

In what world do you require a deposit of £106,000?

[Weston Super Saint]

27 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

In what world do you require a deposit of £106,000?

London

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Seriously, £106,000? If you left uni at 21, got a decent well paid job immediately and after all your basic needs, social life and holidays were paid for somehow still managed to save £500 per month, you'd be nearly forty before you could afford a house. That's in a near perfect world where you never get made redundant, have long term sickness or have children or family to support etc.

Two people working, not having foreign holidays, just one car ten years old, not going out, itquite possible. I can't ever remember the day when a single person on a low salary could afford to buy their own house.

We saved up for over five years and put down a deposit of £1500 on a house costing £6400 in 1971. But we didn't spend any money on what we would see as luxuries. 

[Whitey Grandad]

4 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

London

Who the hell wants to buy a place in London? 

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Seriously?  You think a deposit of over £100k is ahievable for the average person earning the average wage whilst paying rent, bills etc etc?

I agree about the must have it now generation, but if you think that kind of deposit is achievable you are way out of touch....

I think the figure is high but it's two new cars and a couple of exotic holidays. 

[Weston Super Saint]

14 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I think the figure is high but it's two new cars and a couple of exotic holidays. 

Not for an "average person earning an average wage" it isn't....