Today's discussion about the news
Comments
-
I think this is what the FT article is driving at which shows some fairly clear geographical groupings (with the odd outlier like Japan.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Wow, who knew that birth rates have varied across the world for... generations...?
0 -
Yes. I know. Given the relationship of that to the play school bar chart the FT put out, it rather illustrates mine.
0 -
It's the same information displayed in two ways. There are problems with both. Every chart involves compromises and conveys data imperfectly.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Lies , damn lies and sad dick sticks…
0 -
I appreciate FA seems to find data representation increasingly fascinating (*yawn*), but I was rather more interested in the idea that the continent that seemingly needs more working age immigration than any other is gripped with such a profound anti-immigration sentiment.
0 -
Bit "rich" calling me boring, Mr Boomermoan.
0 -
-
It's a really tricky political conundrum. It's a vicious circle. The more burdensome the demography of the country gets, the easier it is to blame the growing ills as a result of said burden on immigrants, and so the cycle repeats.
0 -
It is classic out grouping in a fancy frock.
The Tories specialise in this. Europeans, immigrants, asylum seekers, the unemployed, the chronically ill, the disabled. They seem to have entered the gender identity wars now as well.
There's nothing inherent in being right wing that is inconsistent with racial tolerance, compassion or inclusiveness.
0 -
-
Be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming European Parliament elections. The UK is probably diverging from Europe in one respect.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
Yes, we are much better at integration than other European countries.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition1 -
One of the reasons it is not young people blaming immigrants for all the young people problems you’re familiar with me wanging on about
0 -
More that our politics is drifting left while Europe is drifting right. And the Europeans are always right, aren't they?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I think there is a genuinely interesting debate to be had about why the young in the UK are all voting for the left wing party when the rest of Europe is voting rightwards (and inversely, why the elderly are voting far right whereas they are voting very centrist in Europe).
The young in Europe have similar problems to the UK. Priced out of housing, weak earnings and growth, few opportunities, soaring living costs, crumbling infrastructure, etc etc.
Their solution is to ditch the mainstream parties and vote for PVV or AfD or Le Pen or Brothers of Italy.
0 -
"Gender identity wars" (not my description I hasten to add) are rather different in that in respect of inclusiveness, to "include" males within the definition of women (and so grant them access to women's sport and changing rooms etc.) automatically excludes females from sex-based sports (loss of fairness) and sex-based spaces (loss of dignity, potential loss of safety etc.)
For once, the Tories are on the right side of majority opinion on this one, as majority opinion is firmly in the "Be 'nice' to trans people, but this doesn't include males in women's sport or their changing rooms."
For reference, circa 0.1% of the population is trans, so the "progressive" view on trans "inclusion" bizarrely favours the 0.1% over the 50%.
In the interests of balance, happy to concede that the Tories have jumped on this particular bandwagon for electoral advantage rather than - with a few exceptions e.g. the much-maligned Badenoch - for any great ideological commitment to preserving rights for females.
0 -
No, I think the better integration (under various governments) means that more and more people are less worried about foreigners. There's no intrinsic reason why being comfortable with immigration should be left or right wing. It just happens that the major and minor right wing have chosen to lash themselves to being anti-immigration. It wasn't that long ago that the left was dead set against immigration for fear of it undercutting the Workers. I guess if you are the kind of idiot that worries about being 'overrun' then there's some logic, but migration and cultural evolution are just part of human nature.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Based on her interview this morning, I don't think Badenoch has bothered to look into the subject very deeply. She struggled to articulate what the new legal distinction between sex and gender would be, which is pretty much the entire reason she was being interviewed.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
The ‘new’ legal definition will probably turn out to be the correct definition which has been muddled by people who don’t use words properly.*
*Mr @briantrumpet will probably be along to remind me that meanings evolve, because that’s what language does.
0 -
The final paragraph was my point really, rather than intending any discussion on the merits.
0 -
OK, but it's not really that helpful to (unthinkingly) lump the definition of a woman (which is a matter of biological fact) and hence the right to fair sport, safety and dignity etc. in changing room in with "culture wars", which are essentially subjective (e.g. immigration is bad, young people are lazy etc.)
0 -
I don't think culture warriors are concerned with being helpful to anyone. It's solely about signalling what faction you belong to.
1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
We've moved a long way back from having Hayley on Coronation Street.
0 -
I saw her being interviewed yesterday and she said the idea was to amend the act to make biological sex a protected characteristic. It already is a protected characteristic, that is the fundamental point of the Equalities Act. Either she doesn't know this or she does and is once again trying to deliberately mislead people.
0 -
Other things the Tories are skilled at:
- launching new policies that already exist
- giving police new powers they've had since the 1800s
- increasing spending to a level that it is already at.
1 -
Agreed, it is an odd one that the trends seem to be going in the opposite direction.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
I disagree, in that its too simplistic to just say 'people don't like foreigners'. Immigration and integration has always been part of the landscape, but we now have much higher net immigration levels than before, with the added problem of rising illegal immigration and the point that they more are likely to be net recipients rather than net contributors these days. These are genuine concerns for many people.
If you noticed, even Labour have recently committed to reducing net immigration, even if Cooper wouldn't give a specific target.
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0 -
What benefits can illegal immigrants receive Stevo? My understanding is that they can't claim anything
0 -
You think it doesn't cost anything to keep them here?
"I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]0
