Reddit refugee
The idea that Farage could ever be PM is laughable.
If come 2029 it looked like a realistic possibility then the level of tactical voting and vote swapping across Lab, LD, and Greens would be even more than 2024.
If Reform ever get more than 25-30 seats I’ll do a Paddy Ashdown and eat my hat.
Starmer has always felt to me like there is two versions of him. The stuff he as A Person believes and values - which is best displayed through his work before politics - and Starmer, The Politician, who understands that to change things you must first be in power.
The Person is well documented through his legal career, clearly someone who values human rights, due process, is against the death penalty, has no problem with prosecuting celebrities and politicians, etc. If he never entered parliament, I doubt anyone could claim he’s a tory.
But as Starmer, The Politician, it’s clear he’s willing to modify what he says and offers as a platform depending on the audience. He isn’t a populist - clearly - but it would be denial to claim his platform hasn’t changed between winning the Labour leadership, and the 2024 general election. I think it’s pretty obvious that he adopted a platform he thought would win the leadership, and then switched to one that would win at a general election.
What interests me is how much of The Person remains behind the moderation of The Politician.
Reading the 2024 manifesto, there is a lot of good Labour policy in there. Removing the VAT exemption on private schools is not really a financial decision (as it is being presented by The Politician) but a values judgement that rich people should not get subsidies for luxury goods or services. The same goes for non-doms.
I also think there is a thread of that thinking in the winter fuel payment decision. I absolutely think setting the bar at pension credit is too low, but people like my parents who have workplace pensions in addition to state absolutely do not need to be given hundreds of pounds a year to help with bills they can already easily afford.
The same also goes for landowners complaining about no longer paying diddly squat inheritance tax on land. Is the line too low? Possibly. Is the principle wrong? Absolutely not.
See also lords reform, nationalisation of the railways, infrastructure investment, decarbonising electricity, and a bunch of other stuff.
But if you look at how The Politician talks about a lot of this stuff, it is absolutely presented in ways which are clearly aimed at the Daily Mail, etc. How successful that strategy will be over time will be interested - and I suspect is flawed - but the actions really do matter more than the words.
That is not to say that I think everything is perfect, I don’t. I continue to be a trustee and volunteer at my local foodbank because of the system still being fundamentally broken, and I don’t think The Politician will be the person to fix that. But, I do think some progress is being made in some areas.
Btw, those three tax examples would not be stopped by the manifesto commitments on not raising income tax, national insurance, or VAT.
Yes, definitely.
What I remind myself is that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. It’s perfectly OK to say that after a long day your brain is soup and you just want to chill for the evening.
It’s also fine to say that your tired, but will come out for one or two and then leave, and then do just that. Obviously if you find yourself having a better time and enjoying it you can stay out.
I find that adults respect other adults more if you are upfront about your own boundaries. You also don’t need to make excuses, try to have the confidence to be straight forward and say you’re tired and will skip this one, or whatever.
Set up a VPN to get back inside your network if you’re outside it. Then you don’t need HA (or anything else for that matter) to be public.
Fucking is a perfectly acceptable pause word.
It continues to fascinate me how self-proclaimed small-gov libertarians always find themselves making their money off of government.
I thought the weenis was a dance?
Yeah, I basically see it as purposeful relaxing, like having a long bath.
YMMV but I’ve found meditation helps.
Sit somewhere quiet, close your eyes and focus on slowing down your breathing and try to feel your heart rate slow. After a minute or two, then try to think of nothing, or listen for the quietest sound you can hear and focus on that (a ticking clock in another room, someone else breathing, etc).
Now this is where it may be different for you. I was diagnosed with adhd has a kid and what I’m describing next is with that in mind. Basically all day my brain feels like it’s full of bees, sometimes less active, other times it’s a deafening buzz.
After a few further minutes of focusing on that quite sound, I’ll find individual things randomly pop in to my head, rather than a bunch all at once. Each time this happens I focus on what that thing is, and how it makes me feel. If for example I get angry, I let myself feel that, I don’t try and stuff it down, but I don’t let it overwhelm me. If I start to feel overwhelmed, I go back to the beginning and focus on slowing down my breathing.
In effect I’m trying to observe, and experience, that emotion simultaneously. This helps me do two things, first and foremost, I have much better - and healthier - control of my emotions during negative experiences (e.g. high stress), and can keep myself calm. Second, it allows me to go back to those emotions after the fact, and spend time working out why that experience led to that emotional response.
For frustration, sure, you can wail on a punching bag while blasting Hammer Smashed Face (which is very good in the moment), but I’ve found that that didn’t help me handle my emotions any better, it just meant I took out that repressed anger on other things. Which, sure, is probably better than nothing, but doesn’t help it you don’t have access to a punching bag.
It depends on circumstances you haven’t provided.
https://stacker.com/business-economy/30-victories-workers-rights-won-organized-labor-over-years
Here’s a half decent starting point.
Correct; GDP is a dumb measure, and even its inventor said it cannot be used alone.
Ew.
Mark is just a name for wrestling fans. There’s some connection to terms used by workers in carnivals in the early 1900s, but these days is largely ironic.
/c/squaredcircle is great, if you’re a filthy mark.
If you want to watch shows while travelling, get the fucking train.
Thanks!