What Is Happening To Our Country?

[Weston Super Saint]

2 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

Nice to see he still wants to be left alone and have no media attention. 

I think that was only the bit before the money ran out.

[Lighthouse]

Concorde did not revolutionise anything. It was a spectacular piece of engineering and my favourite aircraft, however the much less glamourous Airbus A300 was far more 'revolutionary' in terms of moving the industry forward.

[Sir Ralph]

36 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2dwylkl7weo

By the way, we're being positioned to go back into the EU.

I assume another referendum will be required? If so we need to negotiate good terms with the eu or the electorate won’t vote for it

[tdmickey3]

53 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2dwylkl7weo

By the way, we're being positioned to go back into the EU.

Hopefully it will happen

[Farmer Saint]

16 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

I assume another referendum will be required? If so we need to negotiate good terms with the eu or the electorate won’t vote for it

I think Labour will call a GE and campaign on it.

[badgerx16]

15 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

I think Labour will call a GE and campaign on it.

Not for the next GE, but possibly the one after.

[Sir Ralph]

1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

I think Labour will call a GE and campaign on it.

Yes but will it still need a referendum even if they are re elected? Assume it would

[egg]

1 hour ago, Lighthouse said:

Concorde did not revolutionise anything. It was a spectacular piece of engineering and my favourite aircraft, however the much less glamourous Airbus A300 was far more 'revolutionary' in terms of moving the industry forward.

It's subjective. A plane that carried passengers across the Atlantic in a few hours, back then, was revolutionary imo. Some may argue evolutionary.

Re space ex, whilst getting into low orbit space, in rockets that can be used again is impressive, I'm not sure that 60 years after man apparently landed in the moon, such an advance is any more revolutionary than concorde was way back then. 

Each to their own, but I don't sit here wowed by what Musk has done. 

[Sheaf Saint]

5 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes but will it still need a referendum even if they are re elected? Assume it would

Not really. The Tories didn't have to hold the last one, and they didn't have to act on the result of it either, what with it not being legally binding.

Edited September 22 by Sheaf Saint

[Sir Ralph]

29 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

Not really. The Tories didn't have to hold the last one, and they didn't have to act on the result of it either, what with it not being legally binding.

Fair enough I’m not sure of the legalities of leaving and rejoining. I suspect Labour may GE campaign on a referendum being put to the people in the knowledge I suspect that more than 50% will vote to rejoin 

Edited September 22 by Sir Ralph

[badgerx16]

35 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes but will it still need a referendum even if they are re elected? Assume it would

We didn't have one last time we joined.

[Sir Ralph]

6 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

We didn't have one last time we joined.

Yes as I said I’m not sure so assume you’re correct. Politically Labour may want a referendum so it isn’t criticised for being “undemocratic” as people may argue that Labour voters voted for them and other policies not EU membership solely. That’s a political decision. Would be interesting to see the terms the EU offers us, bearing in mind we left but that they also want to offer attractive enough terms that we rejoin (through whatever mechanism that is). If the terms aren’t perceived to be good and labour are basing their GE campaign on this, it would reduce its chances of being reelected 

Edited September 22 by Sir Ralph

[badgerx16]

24 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes as I said I’m not sure so assume you’re correct. Politically Labour may want a referendum so it isn’t criticised for being “undemocratic” as people may argue that Labour voters voted for them and other policies not EU membership solely. That’s a political decision. Would be interesting to see the terms the EU offers us, bearing in mind we left but that they also want to offer attractive enough terms that we rejoin (through whatever mechanism that is). If the terms aren’t perceived to be good and labour are basing their GE campaign on this, it would reduce its chances of being reelected 

1) I am. However, we did have a ( non-binding ) referendum a couple of years later on amended terms of membership. ( Over 67% voted to stay ).

2) For the UK to rejoin, the EU would have to unanimously agree to forgo the requirement for new members to commit to working towards joining the Euro.

Edited September 22 by badgerx16

[Weston Super Saint]

27 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

1) I am. However, we did have a ( non-binding ) referendum a couple of years later on amended terms of membership. ( Over 67% voted to stay ).

2) For the UK to rejoin, the EU would have to unanimously agree to forgo the requirement for new members to commit to working towards joining the Euro.

We could "work towards" it for the next century

[badgerx16]

8 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

We could "work towards" it for the next century

Correct. It took Bulgaria 22 years,  and 4 other countries that joined in 2004 have still to adopt the Euro, ( Czechia, Poland, Romania, and Hungary ). Also, Denmark has an opt-out after voters rejected the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

Maybe I should have written "...the EU would technically have to.. ".

Edited September 22 by badgerx16

[Osvaldorama]

3 hours ago, egg said:

It's subjective. A plane that carried passengers across the Atlantic in a few hours, back then, was revolutionary imo. Some may argue evolutionary.

Re space ex, whilst getting into low orbit space, in rockets that can be used again is impressive, I'm not sure that 60 years after man apparently landed in the moon, such an advance is any more revolutionary than concorde was way back then. 

Each to their own, but I don't sit here wowed by what Musk has done. 

 

Ah fair play, someone ring up NASA and tell them to cancel the upcoming moon landings and Mars visits. Egg on saintsweb isn’t wowed. 
 

While we’re at it, tell them he doesn’t care about starlink, autonomous driving or xAI either. 
 

I’m sure you and your public sector pals could knock all that tech up in an afternoon. 😂 🤡 

Edited September 22 by Osvaldorama

[Farmer Saint]

4 hours ago, Sir Ralph said:

Yes but will it still need a referendum even if they are re elected? Assume it would

No, not at all. Referendums aren't even legally binding.

[Farmer Saint]

3 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

1) I am. However, we did have a ( non-binding ) referendum a couple of years later on amended terms of membership. ( Over 67% voted to stay ).

2) For the UK to rejoin, the EU would have to unanimously agree to forgo the requirement for new members to commit to working towards joining the Euro.

Or we could just take the Euro. I'd do it just to piss off the 52%.

[Gloucester Saint]

First Middlesbrough, roughest of all, then Gateshead https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crwyzkw2lzk1o

Rough as a badger’s arse around there. Driving a hearse onto the pitch in the middle of a football game going on.

[egg]

21 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

Or we could just take the Euro. I'd do it just to piss off the 52%.

Imagine locking in now rather than at 65-70p when we had the chance, or even at Brown's floated 73 pence. Our cannolis would be a wee bit more expensive than they could have been. 

[Sir Ralph]

12 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

1) I am. However, we did have a ( non-binding ) referendum a couple of years later on amended terms of membership. ( Over 67% voted to stay ).

2) For the UK to rejoin, the EU would have to unanimously agree to forgo the requirement for new members to commit to working towards joining the Euro.

"I am". Well done 😂
 I hadnt given it any mental consideration whatsoever, hence why I put it out there.

Joining the Euro will be too close a union with the EU for most of the electorate to swallow, I suspect. It depends how pragmatic the EU and its representative members want to be regarding this. Criticism in the past has been that they havent read the room so will be interesting to see if they do. My personal view is that we should rejoin, but I do sense a degree of arrogance and beauracracy with EU decision making, so lets see. 

Edited Wednesday at 06:01 by Sir Ralph

[Challenger]

On 21/09/2026 at 20:56, badgerx16 said:

 

 

Revive the oubliette ?

Great Idea, I had completely forgotten about them.

[tdmickey3]

9 hours ago, Sir Ralph said:

"I am". Well done 😂
 I hadnt given it any mental consideration whatsoever, hence why I put it out there.

Joining the Euro will be too close a union with the EU for most of the electorate to swallow, I suspect. It depends how pragmatic the EU and its representative members want to be regarding this. Criticism in the past has been that they havent read the room so will be interesting to see if they do. My personal view is that we should rejoin, but I do sense a degree of arrogance and beauracracy with EU decision making, so lets see. 

No surprise there  🤣

[Sir Ralph]

23 minutes ago, tdmickey3 said:

No surprise there  🤣

That’s an absolute corker Susie. I’ll have to add “humour” to “vocabulary” in terms of your significant attributes. You’ve really come out of your shell recently, well done.

Edited Wednesday at 07:32 by Sir Ralph

[benjii]

So, are we blasting the 'grints into space on Concorde?

[badgerx16]

The Royal Shakespeare Company has issued mulitiple trigger warnings for a production of Julius Caeser, including one for "death on stage".

[whelk]

7 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

The Royal Shakespeare Company has issued mulitiple trigger warnings for a production of Julius Caeser, including one for "death on stage".

Hopefully there won’t be any tobacco references 

[whelk]

Not our country but a protest I could get behind

https://news.sky.com/story/spain-housing-crisis-protest-after-87-year-old-woman-evicted-13592322
 

Ralph’s wealth creators in action:

The apartment, in the capital's affluent Retiro neighbourhood had been acquired by an investment fund that wanted to sharply increase her rent.

 

 

[Baird of the land]

22 minutes ago, whelk said:

Not our country but a protest I could get behind

https://news.sky.com/story/spain-housing-crisis-protest-after-87-year-old-woman-evicted-13592322
 

Ralph’s wealth creators in action:

The apartment, in the capital's affluent Retiro neighbourhood had been acquired by an investment fund that wanted to sharply increase her rent.

 

 

Curious if her father had bought the apartment(rather than renting it) should she have been barred from selling it at a massive profit. From a quick google the rent requested 1.7k seems in line with market rates for the area.

Edited yesterday at 14:51 by Baird of the land

[Whitey Grandad]

8 hours ago, badgerx16 said:

The Royal Shakespeare Company has issued mulitiple trigger warnings for a production of Julius Caeser, including one for "death on stage".

Spoiler alert!

[Holmes_and_Watson]

5 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Spoiler alert!

Or a tough audience.

[whelk]

16 hours ago, Baird of the land said:

Curious if her father had bought the apartment(rather than renting it) should she have been barred from selling it at a massive profit. From a quick google the rent requested 1.7k seems in line with market rates for the area.

I think you have missed the point 

[Osvaldorama]

On 27/09/2026 at 15:46, Baird of the land said:

Curious if her father had bought the apartment(rather than renting it) should she have been barred from selling it at a massive profit. From a quick google the rent requested 1.7k seems in line with market rates for the area.

Reading the article, she was not only offered the chance to buy the apartment below market rate, but when she couldn’t afford that, they offered her a reduced rent. 
 

Seems to me that it was the lady that was being unreasonable, not the landlord. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Osvaldorama

[egg]

3 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Reading the article, she was not only offered the chance to buy the apartment, but when she couldn’t afford that, they offered her a reduced rent. 
 

Seems to me that it was the lady that was being unreasonable. 

I'm not sure you read it properly if that's your conclusion. 

She couldn't afford to buy it, or pay the rent. 

The "reduced" rent was an increase from €430 to €1419 per month. 

Not sure how any reasonable person can conclude that the old girl was being unreasonable.

 

[Sir Ralph]

8 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Reading the article, she was not only offered the chance to buy the apartment below market rate, but when she couldn’t afford that, they offered her a reduced rent. 
 

Seems to me that it was the lady that was being unreasonable, not the landlord. 

What the landlord should have done is accept a much lower rent below market value and accepted the shortfall on the mortgage and cross subsidised the loss themselves. I’m sure all the critics would have done the same!😂

Edited 1 hour ago by Sir Ralph

[Osvaldorama]

2 minutes ago, egg said:

I'm not sure you read it properly if that's your conclusion. 

She couldn't afford to buy it, or pay the rent. 

The "reduced" rent was an increase from €430 to €1419 per month. 

Not sure how any reasonable person can conclude that the old girl was being unreasonable.

 

It wasn’t her house. She was renting, well below market rate, and couldn’t afford to stay. 

How is that the landlord being evil? They literally were offering her below market rates to stay. Not the landlords fault she couldn’t afford central Madrid anymore 

It says in the article market rate is over 2k, and she was offered it way below that. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Osvaldorama

[Sir Ralph]

9 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

It wasn’t her house. She was renting, well below market rate, and couldn’t afford to stay. 

How is that the landlord being evil? They literally were offering her below market rates to stay. Not the landlords fault she couldn’t afford central Madrid anymore 

It says in the article market rate is over 2k, and she was offered it way below that. 

So if some of the poster on here had a house with a monthly mortgage of £2000 a month they are saying that they wouldn’t ask the incumbent tenant for a market level rent and when they couldn’t pay it they would suck up the £1500 shortfall each month. Doesn’t Spain have affordable housing for this type of situation?

What should happen is all landlords in Spain should only charge what the tenant can pay. They will all sell up and there will be no rental properties available for those who rely on rental properties to live in them.

Edited 1 hour ago by Sir Ralph

[Osvaldorama]

9 minutes ago, Sir Ralph said:

So if some of the poster on here had a house with a monthly mortgage of £2000 a month they are saying that they wouldn’t ask the incumbent tenant for a market level rent and when they couldn’t pay it they would suck up the £1500 shortfall each month. Doesn’t Spain have affordable housing for this type of situation?

What should happen is all landlords in Spain should only charge what the tenant can pay. They will all sell up and there will be no rental properties available for those who rely on rental properties to live in them.

Or better yet, let’s just let anyone squat where they like.

 

Who needs private property anyway?

[Sir Ralph]

4 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Or better yet, let’s just let anyone squat where they like.

 

Who needs private property anyway?

I feel sorry for her circumstance but this is the situation in large parts of Europe. If anything you could say the landlord has been allowing her to live at a substantially discounted rent for a long period. This is an issue of a lack of housing supply generally, rather than the landlord

Edited 1 hour ago by Sir Ralph

[whelk]

Thing is you two fundamentally don’t want a functioning society, just greedy cunts out for yourselves and fuck anyone who gets left behind.

[Sir Ralph]

21 minutes ago, whelk said:

Thing is you two fundamentally don’t want a functioning society, just greedy cunts out for yourselves and fuck anyone who gets left behind.

That really got to the heart of the question. Funny how the “centrists” always throw the insults

Edited 53 minutes ago by Sir Ralph

[Osvaldorama]

2 minutes ago, whelk said:

Thing is you two fundamentally don’t want a functioning society, just greedy cunts out for yourselves and fuck anyone who gets left behind.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[egg]

46 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

It wasn’t her house. She was renting, well below market rate, and couldn’t afford to stay. 

How is that the landlord being evil? They literally were offering her below market rates to stay. Not the landlords fault she couldn’t afford central Madrid anymore 

It says in the article market rate is over 2k, and she was offered it way below that. 

I didn't call the landlord evil.

I said you didn't understand the words in the article. On that, the article didn't say what the market rent was. You've just made that up, again, to suit your narrative. 

[Sir Ralph]

8 minutes ago, egg said:

I didn't call the landlord evil.

I said you didn't understand the words in the article. On that, the article didn't say what the market rent was. You've just made that up, again, to suit your narrative. 

The latest offer by the landlord was below market rent, as evidenced in various publications. Not made up

Edited 40 minutes ago by Sir Ralph