General Election 2024

[Finnegan]

The "population" thing is a red herring too. Look at the birthrate in the whole develope d world. It's declining. Only in areas with high child mortality is it very high, for obvious reasons. In a number of countries wherr child mortality has been reduced so too has birthrate. This much at least is within the developed world s gift.

There is a massive (and growing) problem with over-tourism. And that is largely a consequence of the internet. In days gone by, you took out your Kodak, took a few snaps, sent them off to Boots, and two weeks later your prints would come through. You would then lovingly add them to your photo album and bore the pants off every visitor for the next six weeks. Now you stick them on Facebook, ten of your mates think ‘wow, what an amazing place, I must go there,” and repost, then ten of their mates etc etc…

But I agree, the Malthusian overpopulation theory is long discredited. Take a look at some of the most densely populated places on the planet- Japan, The Netherlands, Hong Kong et al. Although unevenly distributed, they are amongst the wealthiest places in the world.

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

"Saving the planet" is an inherently lefty or young peoples' idea whose time has not yet come in any serious way.

I'm less sure that it is "Inherently Leftie" - except that it points out that allowing 'business' to exploit finite resources whilst leaving the cost of that "off the books" means we all end up paying an initially hidden cost for what that business sells us. Indeed, we pay in the end even if we, personally, never bought what they sold.

Is recognising the truth "inherently leftie" when it says that he companies extract the oil, etc, and leave us to pay ourselves later on for the full costs in terms of the damage using it then causes? Or is it just waking up and facing how we get ripped off?

The Pusher cometh...

 

[Jim Audiomisc]

There is a massive (and growing) problem with over-tourism. And that is largely a consequence of the internet. In days gone by, you took out your Kodak, took a few snaps, sent them off to Boots, and two weeks later your prints would come through. You would then lovingly add them to your photo album and bore the pants off every visitor for the next six weeks. Now you stick them on Facebook, ten of your mates think ‘wow, what an amazing place, I must go there,” and repost, then ten of their mates etc etc…

It also adds to the rising demand for energy to feed 'always on' server farms for the Cloud, Artificial Idiocy, etc, just for the vast range of "kitten playing a piano" snaps/videos!

Certain disconnect here when we have 'green leaning' young twigs using Twerper to burn the planet....

 

[ks.234]

Yep. I get it.

So I don't think 94% of the population are dumb. Just that our electoral system dissuades a lot of people from voting for a party that represents their own values.

I don’t think it’s the electoral system so much as the narrative. When the Greens allow themselves to be taken in by the taxpayer narrative they become trapped into making policy based on that narrative.

If you accept taxpayer money then you accept the current balancing the books narrative. But the Greens need to be counting the benefits as well as the costs. The future of the Green Party is double entry book keeping and balancing the actual economy rather than balancing single entry books

 

[Ponty]

Yours is a defeatist attitude. We can't return to the wooden plough. You can't tar all modes of transport with the same brush. Buses, especially electric ones, are a green way of getting about. Even walking has a cost unless you go barefoot. We have to transport food about, nobody is going back to strip farming. Modern life will continue. However the means of doing it has to change.
The "population" thing is a red herring too. Look at the birthrate in the whole develope d world. It's declining. Only in areas with high child mortality is it very high, for obvious reasons. In a number of countries wherr child mortality has been reduced so too has birthrate. This much at least is within the developed world s gift.

2BN to 8BN in a hundred years, or a fraction of a blink of an eye. I don’t believe it’s a red herring. At a macro level, it doesn’t matter if places are rich or poor, the global number counts. Just basic consumption of food, water, shelter, clothing etc is a major issue, let alone discretionary / over consumption. Yes, we need to walk more, it’s clear we don’t do enough of it. Dirty great SUV’s talking kids half a mile to school etc, totally ridiculous.

 

[ks.234]

I suspect one or two members would quite like a return to serfdom for the poor.

All part of Britain’s glorious past

 

[ks.234]

2BN to 8BN in a hundred years, or a fraction of a blink of an eye. I don’t believe it’s a red herring. At a macro level, it doesn’t matter if places are rich or poor, the global number counts. Just basic consumption of food, water, shelter, clothing etc is a major issue, let alone discretionary / over consumption. Yes, we need to walk more, it’s clear we don’t do enough of it. Dirty great SUV’s talking kids half a mile to school etc, totally ridiculous.

If population is the problem, is a cull of human beings the answer? Who chooses who gets culled? Should those for the cull, set an example and volunteer to be culled first?

 

[Heckyman]

I'm less sure that it is "Inherently Leftie" - except that it points out that allowing 'business' to exploit finite resources whilst leaving the cost of that "off the books" means we all end up paying an initially hidden cost for what that business sells us. Indeed, we pay in the end even if we, personally, never bought what they sold.

Is recognising the truth "inherently leftie" when it says that he companies extract the oil, etc, and leave us to pay ourselves later on for the full costs in terms of the damage using it then causes? Or is it just waking up and facing how we get ripped off?

The Pusher cometh...

Lefty to me means considering yourself part of the whole rather than externalising the other side of a transaction, i.e. just what you describe.

 

[Ponty]

If population is the problem, is a cull of human beings the answer? Who chooses who gets culled? Should those for the cull, set an example and volunteer to be culled first?

People used to have big families because many would die. Now they live, which is great, but many are still having big families. We’re also living longer, spending more time unproductive whilst requiring more resources to do so. Something has to give.

 

[palindrome]

Omnium in the Observer today

Lab down to 40%, Con down to 23%, Ref up on 14%, with LD 12% and Gre 7%. Both leaders' personal ratings down Starmer -3% over the week, Sunak in the abyss

Tories and Labour on course for lowest share of the vote since 1945

Poll reveals historically low support for the big two, with smaller parties up by five points

www.theguardian.com

Sunk in the abyss.

Like it.

John

 

[Colin L]

Interesting. I come out 46% Green, 33% Labour, 20% LD. I’d have expected the last two reversed, though I did notice a few policies I recognised as LD and ended up voting for what I guess are Green, e.g. UBI (which I think is an idea worth trying).

My results (link).

PS Looking at the detail I think the site is wrong about a fair bit of Labour policy, e.g. student fees/grants, trans-rights/self-ID etc. I’m pretty sure Starmer rowed all this stuff back.

I'm 75% LD and 25% Scottish Green, but will be voting SNP as they are the only possible challenger to the incumbent, Andrew ****ing Bowie (Tory)

 

[ks.234]

People used to have big families because many would die. Now they live, which is great, but many are still having big families. We’re also living longer, spending more time unproductive whilst requiring more resources to do so. Something has to give.

The problem is that we live in an economy based on extraction of value from resources for profit

 

[stevec67]

People used to have big families because many would die.

And still do, globally, in places where big families are the norm.

Now they live, which is great, but many are still having big families.

Fewer, when life expectancy improves. Look up the numbers.

We’re also living longer, spending more time unproductive whilst requiring more resources to do so. Something has to give.

Absolutely. But you don't address this by window dressing with the school run.

 

[palindrome]

People used to have big families because many would die. Now they live, which is great, but many are still having big families. We’re also living longer, spending more time unproductive whilst requiring more resources to do so. Something has to give.

"We're not computers, Sebastian, we're physical."

You appear to be yearning after a bit of dystopia, whereby life only has value if 'for profit'. As though making money from the plebs is a virtue.

Pure Tory ideology.

John

 

[gavreid]

HMRC has failed to fine a single ‘enabler’ of offshore tax fraud in five years​

Landmark powers to impose huge fines to tackle tax evasion and avoidance are ‘pointless’, figures show

HMRC has failed to fine a single ‘enabler’ of offshore tax fraud in five years

Landmark powers to impose huge fines to tackle tax evasion and avoidance are ‘pointless’, figures show

www.theguardian.com

 

[gavreid]

Revealed: private schools have 10 times more green space than state schools​

Some state schools, however, have little or no green space for their students at all, while at those that do, budgetary constraints and curriculum demands often mean that sport and other outdoor activities can’t be prioritised in the same way, experts told the Guardian.

Revealed: private schools have 10 times more green space than state schools

Guardian investigation finds pupils at England’s wealthiest schools have much greater access to land, with implications for mental health

www.theguardian.com

 

[Barrymagrec]

Revealed: private schools have 10 times more green space than state schools​

Some state schools, however, have little or no green space for their students at all, while at those that do, budgetary constraints and curriculum demands often mean that sport and other outdoor activities can’t be prioritised in the same way, experts told the Guardian.

Revealed: private schools have 10 times more green space than state schools

Guardian investigation finds pupils at England’s wealthiest schools have much greater access to land, with implications for mental health

www.theguardian.com

Not so much "revealed" as a statement of the b***ding obvious.

 

[gavreid]

Not so much "revealed" as a statement of the b***ding obvious.

Yes, but they've done the spade work

 

[ks.234]

Not so much "revealed" as a statement of the b***ding obvious.

Schools land was being sold off decades ago. The only surprise is that it took a mere 20 years for our intrepid journalists to find out just in time for the Labour manifesto promise.

 

[Kirk]

Either dumb or sheep.

Voters, understandably, only see what's immediately in-front of them, hence the focus on living costs, the NHS, immigration, etc and they are not in the mood to deal with big, expensive, complicated challenges right now following 2008, Brexit and the pandemic. Much easier to put that outstanding bill in the drawer. This is one of the fundamental problems the Greens face. There are others of course.