What Is Happening To Our Country?

[whelk]

Should dispense with due process and just close everyone of these places down. Repossess making the property council assets so they don’t just reopen the next day. Oh and deport the cunts and their families

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdxplq92rx1o

 

[Turkish]

On 29/04/2026 at 20:29, Gloucester Saint said:

If he’s tried to stab the officers as well, then I’d go with the defence of making sure he wasn’t in a position to have another go. 

Only in this fucking country would you get a terrorist go round stabbing people and people worried the police weren’t too nasty too him when they arrested him

[Gloucester Saint]

11 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Only in this fucking country would you get a terrorist go round stabbing people and people worried the police weren’t too nasty too him when they arrested him

I certainly wouldn’t criticise the officers, and after prosecuting the terrorist I’d deport him the same day of eventual release.

I was just reflecting on how I’d present it if I was their union rep in the Met.

[Weston Super Saint]

11 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

I certainly wouldn’t criticise the officers, and after prosecuting the terrorist I’d deport him the same day of eventual release.

I was just reflecting on how I’d present it if I was their union rep in the Met.

Looks like Polanski is leading the charge against them.

[Turkish]

17 minutes ago, Gloucester Saint said:

I certainly wouldn’t criticise the officers, and after prosecuting the terrorist I’d deport him the same day of eventual release.

I was just reflecting on how I’d present it if I was their union rep in the Met.

It wasn’t aimed at you, I’ve seen some “activists” bleating on social media about it that’s all. Probably the usual badge wearing placard waving oddballs who jump on every virtue bandwagon 

Edited Thursday at 21:04 by Turkish

[Gloucester Saint]

50 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Looks like Polanski is leading the charge against them.

Quelle surprise, he’s an arsehole. 

[whelk]

7 hours ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Looks like Polanski is leading the charge against them.

He will regret that retweet. Brits tend to be on the side of the police over terrorists, sorry mentally ill British man..

Likes of Polanski would piss his pants and run in that situation. Lucky we have a little more courage from our coppers. Makes my blood boils these liberal cunts.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

8 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

Quelle surprise, he’s an arsehole. 

Two Green candidates arrested. The deputy of the party called their comments "abhorrent" No mention if she was asked about Polanski's comments. With Labour's struggle with anti semitism, are the Greens now the home for these people, where they feel emboldened?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd6pqz3dz7po

I see other headlines talking about an emergency over antisemitism. It should never have got anywhere near being at that level. No wonder Starmer was heckled, as many will see his words as far too late.

[egg]

1 hour ago, whelk said:

He will regret that retweet. Brits tend to be on the side of the police over terrorists, sorry mentally ill British man..

Likes of Polanski would piss his pants and run in that situation. Lucky we have a little more courage from our coppers. Makes my blood boils these liberal cunts.

Please don't go all American and confuse liberals (centre left) with left wingers with odd views. 

But yep, Polanski has done himself no favours. 

[egg]

Banksy's statue - wow.

Blinded by nationalism. 

[Gloucester Saint]

3 hours ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Two Green candidates arrested. The deputy of the party called their comments "abhorrent" No mention if she was asked about Polanski's comments. With Labour's struggle with anti semitism, are the Greens now the home for these people, where they feel emboldened?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd6pqz3dz7po

I see other headlines talking about an emergency over antisemitism. It should never have got anywhere near being at that level. No wonder Starmer was heckled, as many will see his words as far too late.

It’s exactly where the Corbynites have gone. There’s the populist left being anti-Semitic - not liberals @whelk - and there’s been plenty of it in local election materials from both Greens and Reform.

And then plain old anti-black from Reform at al https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8p70xpyzeo

Edited Friday at 09:32 by Gloucester Saint

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, Gloucester Saint said:

It’s exactly where the Corbynites have gone. There’s the populist left being anti-Semitic - not liberals @whelk - and there’s been plenty of it in local election materials from both Greens and Reform.

And then plain old anti-white racism from Reform at al https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn8p70xpyzeo

Corbyn must be gutted. He led quite the long chant of "Free, Free Palestine" as he was announcing the Your Party launch.

It's not enough to roughly know where you are on the political spectrum and vote accordingly. Now, you have to check which bit of them is just ahead in their internal back stabbing contest. That makes quite a difference in broad parties.

Then you have to check to make sure the people you thought you were voting for haven't formed a new party or defected to another one. Then check to see which fringe outcasts and hate mongers have been infiltrating your party of choice, and see what they're likely to get away with, in all the in fighting and possible coalitions ahead.

All for the privilege of being disappointed by their conduct, ability and delivery of anything except failure.

 

Edited Friday at 09:30 by Holmes_and_Watson
autocarrot

[Gloucester Saint]

15 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Corbyn must be gutted. He led quite the long change of "Free, Free Palestine" as he was announcing the Your Party launch.

It's not enough to roughly know where you are on the political spectrum and vote accordingly. Now, you have to check which bit of them is just ahead in their internal back stabbing contest. That makes quite a difference in broad parties.

Then you have to check to make sure the people you thought you were voting for haven't formed a new party or defected to another one. Then check to see which fringe outcasts and hate mongers have been infiltrating your party of choice, and see what they're likely to get away with, in all the in fighting and possible coalitions ahead.

All for the privilege of being disappointed by their conduct, ability and delivery of anything except failure.

Add in another ingredient with the newspapers each with non-doms with different and very partisan axes to grind plus the sheer toxicity on social media and we are getting the culture we deserve.

I haven’t been pro-Royal until very recently but that speech by Charles in Congress was ace. Reminded me of what being British is really about.

Not the populist hate-mongering scum on the far left and far right. I know people want to give Labour and the Tories a kicking this month but giving these wankers more encouragement is poor judgement. 

[whelk]

5 hours ago, egg said:

Please don't go all American and confuse liberals (centre left) with left wingers with odd views. 

But yep, Polanski has done himself no favours. 

Yeah probably wrong word but I know what I meant

[Turkish]

You’ve only got to look at the drips on here to prove this is true 

[Sir Ralph]

https://www.gbnews.com/money/welfare-households-critics-benefits-budget-conservatives
 

This needs change

Edited 9 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[badgerx16]

1 hour ago, Sir Ralph said:

https://www.gbnews.com/money/welfare-households-critics-benefits-budget-conservatives
 

So glad our welfare budget has risen in the recent budgets. It definitely what was needed. 🤣

GBeebies quoting research about the benefits system by the Centre for Social Justice on behalf of the Tories. I am sure there are some facts in there sonewhere.

[whelk]

5 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

GBeebies quoting research about the benefits system by the Centre for Social Justice on behalf of the Tories. I am sure there are some facts in there sonewhere.

GB News site is Ralph’s porn site

[egg]

1 hour ago, Sir Ralph said:

https://www.gbnews.com/money/welfare-households-critics-benefits-budget-conservatives
 

This needs change

Increase the availability of social housing and you'll lighten the benefit burden overnight. Out of interest, does your call to end benefits extend to housing benefit?

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, egg said:

Increase the availability of social housing and you'll lighten the benefit burden overnight.

If you have to house less people, will that help as well? 

[egg]

2 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

If you have to house less people, will that help as well? 

Of course, but if immigration stood still, we'd still have a housing crisis. Private rents, fuelled by demand and supply issues, are unsustainable to the public and the welfare state. Cheap housing is massively needed. 

[Sir Ralph]

4 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

GBeebies quoting research about the benefits system by the Centre for Social Justice on behalf of the Tories. I am sure there are some facts in there sonewhere.

The wider point is that the welfare system is too expensive, too generous and too wide ranging. Do you agree welfare should be reduced or not?

[Sir Ralph]

 

 

4 hours ago, whelk said:

GB News site is Ralph’s porn site

Not just mine. https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/media_metrics/gb-news-viewing-figures-2025-sky-bbc/#:~:text=In 2024 GB News reached,and Sky News on 58%2C300.

[badgerx16]

2 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

The wider point is that the welfare system is too expensive, too generous and too wide ranging. Do you agree welfare should be reduced or not?

The welfare budget should be whatever it needs to be, rather than measured as an exact figure. Undoubtedly there is a small degree of misuse, and some areas where the vagaries of setting qualification criteria create anomalies, but simply making judgements based on a crude total expenditure is misleading and unhelpful.

[Sir Ralph]

4 hours ago, egg said:

Increase the availability of social housing and you'll lighten the benefit burden overnight. Out of interest, does your call to end benefits extend to housing benefit?

Of course. You mean that more government funding should be spent on affordable homes instead of welfare. It’s moving money from one pot to another. Every government in the last x number of years has failed with this so what’s your plan to achieve this? We spend more on the welfare budget (excluding pensions) than eduction which helps get people off welfare. Maybe you believe that’s is the sign of a well run country. I don’t

[Sir Ralph]

7 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

The welfare budget should be whatever it needs to be, rather than measured as an exact figure. Undoubtedly there is a small degree of misuse, and some areas where the vagaries of setting qualification criteria create anomalies, but simply making judgements based on a crude total expenditure is misleading and unhelpful.

The welfare budget should be whatever it needs to be, rather than measured as an exact figure 

Flippin heck time  to leave this place again. Forget defence, education, etc just keep on spending on welfare. There is no endless pot, it’s taxpayers money.

Edited 4 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[Sir Ralph]

3 hours ago, egg said:

Of course, but if immigration stood still, we'd still have a housing crisis. Private rents, fuelled by demand and supply issues, are unsustainable to the public and the welfare state. Cheap housing is massively needed. 

Where will you get “cheap housing” from? 

[egg]

10 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Of course. You mean that more government funding should be spent on affordable homes instead of welfare. It’s moving money from one pot to another. Every government in the last x number of years has failed with this so what’s your plan to achieve this? We spend more on the welfare budget (excluding pensions) than eduction which helps get people off welfare. Maybe you believe that’s is the sign of a well run country. I don’t

So where/how do people who can't work, and fund their own housing, live? The streets? 

The solution to affordable social housing is to build affordable social housing. 

[Sir Ralph]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

So where/how do people who can't work, and fund their own housing, live? The streets? 

The solution to affordable social housing is to build affordable social housing. 

I agree in an ideal world. How can you do it and where will you get the funding from?

Councils and government own land pieces of land. Why have they not done it over many years?

Edited 4 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[badgerx16]

12 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

The welfare budget should be whatever it needs to be, rather than measured as an exact figure 

Flippin heck time  to leave this place again. Forget defence, education, etc just keep on spending on welfare. There is no endless pot, it’s taxpayers money.

You sound like somebody I used to work with who complained about his taxes going towards educating "other people's children".

Yes, there cannot be a set figure, it is a ridiculous assumption. One Local Authority I know of had to stop taking children into care because by January of one particular year they had spent the budget allocated to that purpose. 

I don't think there s an "endless pot", but neither do I think a set figure can be applied. Once you have determined what exactly you will be providing, and what the qualification criteria will be, then the cost is whatever it turns out to be. You can change what is delivered, you can tighten or withdraw qualification, but you cannot arbitrarily stick to a fixed fiscal allocation.

[egg]

15 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I agree in an ideal world. How can you do it and where will you get the funding from?

Councils and government own land pieces of land. Why have they not done it over many years?

People/families having a roof over their heads is not an "in an ideal world" thing. 

Assuming you agree that people should be housed, where/how do people who can't work, and fund their own housing, live? The streets?

[badgerx16]

21 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Councils and government own land pieces of land. Why have they not done it over many years?

Financial restrictions imposed on Councils limited their options on capital spending, particularly on housing, and Right to Buy scuppered any long term retention of anything that did get built in the public domain.

[Sir Ralph]

5 minutes ago, egg said:

People/families having a roof over their heads is not an "in an ideal world" thing. 

Assuming you agree that people should be housed, where/how do people who can't work, and fund their own housing, live? The streets?

Yes people should be housed. However achieving that objective isn’t just achieved by a statement. I didn’t make the statement about delivering more affordable housing……..how will you do it? Where will the land and funding come from in a time where even delivering private housing is very difficult. 

[Sir Ralph]

Just now, badgerx16 said:

Financial restrictions imposed on Councils limited their options on capital spending, particularly on housing, and Right to Buy scuppered any long term retention of anything that did get built in the public domain.

Some LPAs have funding available for housing but aren’t achieving their delivery targets. Why is that? 
 

To achieve the levels of affordable housing we are talking about the private sector needs to be more incentivised from a profit perspective. Currently government obligations are too high which means people aren’t building (there is insufficient profit to obtain funding)and affordable housing is mainly delivered by the private sector. 

[badgerx16]

18 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Some LPAs have funding available for housing but aren’t achieving their delivery targets. Why is that? 
 

I don't know. Why not write to them and ask why ?

[badgerx16]

19 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

To achieve the levels of affordable housing we are talking about the private sector needs to be more incentivised from a profit perspective. Currently government obligations are too high which means people aren’t building (there is insufficient profit to obtain funding)and affordable housing is mainly delivered by the private sector. 

Affordable housing is not the same as council housing, the situation we used to have more widely where councils built and maintained rental housing stock and retained it in the public domain. 

[Sir Ralph]

3 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Affordable housing is not the same as council housing, the situation we used to have more widely where councils built and maintained rental housing stock and retained it in the public domain. 

I’m fully aware. We are dealing with the current situation. Affordable housing delivery at levels needed will only be achieved through the private housing sector being more active. 

Edited 3 hours ago by Sir Ralph

[badgerx16]

2 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I’m fully aware. We are dealing with the current situation. 

Maybe we should wait to see if the Planning and Infrastructure Bill can deliver.

Edited 3 hours ago by badgerx16

[badgerx16]

9 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I’m fully aware. We are dealing with the current situation. Affordable housing delivery at levels needed will only be achieved through the private housing sector being more active. 

There are too many unscrupulous builders who fold once the basic construction has been done, to avoid responsibilties and additional costs, such as this development a few miles from us......

https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/people/fresh-calls-to-fix-botched-south-lancaster-housing-estate-after-four-years-of-misery-5504987

[egg]

1 hour ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes people should be housed. However achieving that objective isn’t just achieved by a statement. I didn’t make the statement about delivering more affordable housing……..how will you do it? Where will the land and funding come from in a time where even delivering private housing is very difficult. 

Ok, so (all) people should be housed, but housing benefit to those who can't work should be scrapped. Without the benefit, they won't be housed. 

You need to join your own dots before asking questions. 

Edited 2 hours ago by egg

[Gloucester Saint]

1 hour ago, badgerx16 said:

There are too many unscrupulous builders who fold once the basic construction has been done, to avoid responsibilties and additional costs, such as this development a few miles from us......

https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/people/fresh-calls-to-fix-botched-south-lancaster-housing-estate-after-four-years-of-misery-5504987

And some of the nationals are little better. Check out the Bovis collective suit from 2017 which cost them £7m payout for piss poor workmanship and more recently Persimmon. UK trades need the competition of EU builders again to give them the huge kick up the arse needed.

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/DoNotBuyPersimmon/posts/24071664332490945/

We had a new build by Cavanna in Devon which was OK as it was well before Brexit when the country dropped its trousers in being able to do anything. Cotswold Homes couldn’t get a new house built for us up here (but did refund our deposit) hence we bought a doer-upper. Despite having to renovate everything, in terms of build quality and core structure, it kicks the arse off pretty much all new houses. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Gloucester Saint