I’m not an Owen Jones cheerleader but if he has 13 sources for his claims without exaggerating or taking things out of context, what legal claim can Raffi possibly have?

Edit: though it might be telling that it’s published by a website no one has heard of, rather than something like The Guardian.

Selling out his country to Russia is a matter of principle for Farage, and he’d never sell out his principles.

I’ve been playing BG3 for about 70h on the steam deck. Performance isn’t perfect, but it’s definitely playable on 30fps and low graphics. I’ve just got to Baldurs Gate city and I noticed the audio stutters slightly in busy areas. That’s the only noticeable performance issue I’ve had.

I have only played it on the steam deck so I have nothing to compare it against however. I’d love to play it on something more powerful so I don’t have to see it in potato-level graphics tho 😅

True. “Quality of life” is a bit of a weird measurement if they aren’t using it as a shorthand for “purchasing power”, as it can be pretty subjective.

Like you said, the local amenities where you live can really add to “quality of life”. I can walk to a pub, nature reserve, cafe, supermarket, school, or a bunch of other places within a 10 minute walk. I can cycle to work in 20 minutes.

That is fairly common in the UK and I’d think is pretty uncommon in the US.

Ah you’re not even from the UK. I’m not sure what the quality of life is like in Mississippi (however you want to measure it) but it’s not terrible here outside of London.

I don’t have data on hand but from my own experience I can tell you that we do not have an awful quality of life generally speaking, nor do I personally know anyone who is having a terrible quality of life in terms of their buying power and ability to support themselves. I’m able to support my family without issue on my wage.

People are generally struggling a bit more since inflation has taken hold over the last year or so, and there are reports of more people needing to use food banks etc - which is horrific - and there are big issues around home ownership. However it’s certainly not that case that the majority of people are in abject poverty.

Personally I’d hate to live in London - it attracts money and it has great public transport, but to me it doesn’t feel like a great place to live in many ways and everything is so much more expensive there.

Yes the NHS has been ruined by lack of investment from previous governments, but it is due to get big investments from the new government, so fingers crossed.

Where is that data from? I’d be surprised if the US wasn’t worse when considering health insurance, car reliance, etc.

I don’t think this is a problem unique to the UK.

Fair enough - you’re not completely wrong, looking at it from a wider perspective.

I can’t see that ever happening however - the majority of relatively wealthy people are unlikely to ever accept a reduction in their wealth even if it solves climate change, world hunger, whatever.
People want to see an easy solution that doesn’t affect them directly. Much more likely is the rise of the far right, riots, etc.

Fixing this problem requires more redistribution of wealth than degrowth. Workers should be paid appropriately for their work, and those at the top should get a smaller slice of the pie.

Capitalism which means that business owners are free to make billions yet those who produce the goods go hungry, is utterly intolerable.

Jesus Christ. A “couple of glasses of wine and a few pints of beer” and he still reckoned he could drive? That’s basically how much I’d have if I was going for a piss-up.

People really should just stop drinking any alcohol if they’re going to drive.

Homer (IT dept) is quietly watching his neighbours (dev team) from his window

I don’t think there’s a magic wand to stop it… I just drown it out by listening to podcasts.

I was aware of the 7 year rule, but I believe the new tax rate would apply at the time of the death, rather than retrospectively applying the rate from the time of the gift. I could be wrong though.

Surely there is no Inheritance Tax applicable if the farm passes ownership - only if it passes as inheritance? So the new tax laws wouldn’t have made any difference anyway?

Such a rubbish fine. It probably barely covers the cost of cleanup of dead fish by the Environment Agency, and the cleanup of private properties which had actual shit floating into them.

Not only was it an illegal discharge of sewage, but in an area they had absolutely no permit to do so, so it shouldn’t have even been possible for sewage to discharge here. And it was directly into a public water supply, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a beautiful National Park. They’ve clearly been extremely careless and/or nefarious when it comes to implementing the infrastructure.

The fine should have been at least ten times the amount.

Even though it looks kinda cool and cyberpunk, it’s still gross that there’s so many roads completely built over a city where people work and live, with a No Cycling sign suggesting cyclists and pedestrians are second class citizens here.

Reading these links, I don’t really understand why, for example, Disability Rights UK are against the assisted dying bill. They don’t say what’s wrong with the bill, they just say it’s bad. This bill is aimed at terminally ill people not disabled people, and its not clear from those links what the issue is.

The only links of yours that do explain in detail the issues with the bill, are relating to an unrelated Scottish bill.

And Soviet communism is not a dead-end? 🤔

I’ve never really thought of it as a bad thing. You can still say nothing, or “I want to speak with a lawyer before I answer any questions”.

I’ve always considered it to be more about a line of questioning at trial. If you’ve invented an alibi, the prosecution can ask you “why are you only coming up with this excuse now but you didn’t at the time?”. You might then have a good reason for this, such as “I didn’t think it was a good idea to answer questions without first consulting a lawyer”.

The American model of having immunity if you just stay quiet is a bit odd in comparison.

When you get arrested in England, you do have a right to remain silent, but it might be used against you. The police will typically say:

You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court.