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1 user thanked author for this post.
The downside is that this (immigration) inevitably puts a lot more pressure on public services, including the NHS, and that is a problem.
You wilfully miss the point.
Once again, you repeat the myth about migration putting pressure on public services, particularly the NHS.
It’s a frequently used argument which tries to conceal racism under the cloak of a legitimate concern, while suggesting there’s something inherently ‘bad’ about making provision for the public; that somehow decent public services are an abberation that shouldn’t happen.
It’s also false argument about elderly migrants, because most migrants tend to be young, single, healthy and wanting to work and pay tax. The stats are in my OP.
You rightly point out that around 20 per cent of the UK population is over 65, (that’s 20 per cent of 67 million) and around 12 per cent of migrants are 65 or over. But, that’s 12 per cent of the 9.5 million who were not born in the UK, not 12 per cent of 67 million!
And, the reality is that almost all the 12% of 65+ non-Brits, are citizens who have lived and worked here most of their lives, starting families and paying taxes just like anyone else.
Alas, in true Mail style, you try to create a fearful impression of elderly men and women ‘illegals’, scrambling up the beaches, straight to the front of the queue in the nearest hospital.
It’s an ancient trope guaranteed to anger the elderly, who really depend on our broken-down, under-funded public services.
Indeed, wasn’t it Teresa May and her climate of hostility who very publically went round Brixton and elsewhere in a bid to round up elderly, long-retired Windrush migrants and send them back after decades of living and working here, simply because they had never applied for a British passport? It must have looked terrific to the racists in the party, a real piece of populist politics aimed at drawing Kippers back into the blue fold! The nasty party indeed.
As for the “big impact” you claim elderly immigrants have had on public services, they certainly have. They’ve been propping up the public services since the 1950s, driving buses, cleaning trains, streets, hospitals, doing a lot of jobs Brits thought were beneath them…. And that’s while putting up with years of racism, abuse, arrogance and passive hostility from the populist press and people like yourself, probably while looking after your elderly mother, and now or in future, yourself. You should be ashamed.
1 user thanked author for this post.
I have no problem at all with immigration and believe it to be a good thing. The downside is that this inevitably puts a lot more pressure on public services, including the NHS, and that is a problem.
This was one of the biggest lies put about during the Brexit campaign.
In fact immigrants tend to be young, single, and compared to Brits, they don’t access public services very much, yet pay tax which contributes to the those services needed most by the elderly and low-paid of this country, particularly social and health care, as many on this board know too well.
You really need to support what you say with some facts BI, instead of spreading around rumours and lies in the manner of a demented Daily Mail.
https://www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/blogs/immigration-and-the-nhs-the-evidence
The problems really began after Maastricht and, more recently, Lisbon.
No, the problems began when Cameron and Clegg conspicuously failed to deal with an economic crisis. So, they needed an excuse, a distraction, and nicked UKIP’s USP’s, blaming immigrants, blaming “unelected bureaucrats”, and offering a referendum on EU membership.
Most papers/broadcasters went along with it, conveniently forgetting about all the unelected rulers and direct drains on the public purse of this country – the monarchy, aristocracy and lords to name but a few, not to mention the democratic deficiency of the first-past-the-post voting system.
And thanks to an orchestrated campaign across social media with fake identities, bots, trolls etc. the campaign worked. For a brief moment the country lost its collective senses and went mad, dividing families, friends and neighbours, and voting to impose economic sanctions on itself in the name of blue passports and foreigners.
Now, most have woken up (pun intended) and realised the extent to which their pockets have been picked, while Downing St. boasts of opening up chicken markets in Mongolia or similar, and BI still tries to sell the dated view that everything’s fine and dandy.
All so tired, so out of time, so out of place. And sad.
1 user thanked author for this post.
IMO the keeper is the most important position on the pitch.
A good keeper who commands his area instills confidence throughout the defence, and this spreads into the rest of the team. An inexperienced keeper, who is prone to mistakes instills a nervousness across the defence, and by extension to the rest of the team.
It is no coinicidence that SUFC have struggled defensively over the last few seasons. If we ever want to progress and return to the EFL we need to find a good keeper.
This.
It should have been sorted pre-season, along with the centre back position. Build a team from the back, and you’re on your way to keeping the point you start with.Aye, excellent point, Heathy. What do you think, JI??
As for BI’s comment on parties not being interested in growth for the past 20 years, it was never more starkly demonstrated than when the racists, cheats, liars and Dominic Cummings came in and effectively torched growth by withdrawing from the EU, in what was the biggest act of economic sef-harm in the history of the country, one enthusiastically supported by, erm… BI.
Poor old BI. The old ideological zealot has still got that blue scarf tied tightly, despite the country being fked sideways by plummeting wages, soaring inflation, poverty, hunger, foodbanks, homelessness, a collapsing NHS, under-resourced rescue services, overflowing sewage, and as if that weren’t enough, now we have skyrocketing energy prices and the return of polio.
But, never mind blaming the EU, Brussels, the Russians, the Chinese, Covid, the immigrants, lazy British workers… Bin Laden and his terrorist cells have inflicted less harm on the UK than this so-called ‘government’.
So, has BI learnt a lesson and decided never to support them again? He was of course wrong about the “very good deal” with the EU, and how Brussels would cave in over everything because “they need us more than we need them” etc. etc. Oh, and then there were comments about Trump being a good pm, and the laughably wrong comments denying climate change. Remember that guy whose ‘research’ he mentioned, whose website was a total fabrication? How we laughed!
Disingenuity has become his trademark over the years. So what of his latest act? Incredibly, he tries to gaslight others into thinking that the current crises are all down to… wait for it… drumroll…… Johnson’s pursuit of net-zero!! (cue more hysterical laughter!)
But, should anyone be in any doubt, here’s a good piece not funded by the Downing St, or any shady think-tank based at 55 Tufton St. It explains how net zero means warmer homes, cleaner, healthier lives, and more jobs (especially around Yorks and Humber), while dismissing the bluster of ex-kippers and far-right Tories who want to cut back on environmental protection due to both the financial cost and – incredibly – its usefulness as some kind of weapon in ‘war on woke’. This is the rock bottom to where the Tories and people like BI have got us in 2022.
https://www.economicsobservatory.com/how-is-the-cost-of-living-crisis-affecting-net-zero-policies
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/55_Tufton_Street
2 users thanked author for this post.
And where does the reference to ‘minorities’ fit in? When I tried to phone nobody knew that I was an Afro Caribbean lesbian.)
An Afro-Caribbean lesbian! Hilarious, Justiron, how very droll of you!
Fact is, you’ve a lot in common. If you’re elderly and / or a pensioner, as far as banks are concerned or pretty much any other public or private organisation, statistically you are part of a minority. A different one to hers, but a minority, nevertheless.
Plus, the bank knows that most retired folk are neither wealthy nor earn an income, so they won’t make much money out of you, unless you own and decide to re-mortgage/release equity on your house (assuming you own one).
Moreover, elderly customers are more likely to remain loyal to their bank, no matter what. So if you’re not happy with banking services, what do they care? Why should they?
I mean, they know very well that many just dodder in, tie up the cashier’s time because they want to chat, before withdrawing a pension or something insignificant, and can’t manage the technology too well. So why should the bank bother about them?
This sort of belief – that all organisations should operate like private ones, aiming for profits at all cost, and prioritising shareholder value over the public need, especially the needs of minorities, really accelerated in the 1980s under Thatcher. De-nationalisation was part of this, hence my comment.
The idea was that the market would deliver efficiency and satisfaction, because if you weren’t happy, you could just take your custom elsewhere. But the reality is that you often can’t, or won’t, or if you do, it’s the same old story.
But you’re right about other parties, Labour included, now having to wrestle with the same issue – the growing recognition among the public that the private sector has been ripping us off for years and ignoring social need, and reform is badly needed.
So, remember, as a member of a minority you actually have more in common with your black Sapphic sister than you first thought.
1 user thanked author for this post.
One reason you can hardly find a high street bank … and if you do there’s a queue of old folk halfway to the door.
It’s the putting of profits before people’s needs JI, particularly the needs of minorities. It’s much cheaper to close the bank, make staff unemployed, and force people to go online.
It’s the modern Tory way – consider the financial cost/benefit of doing something, not the value, social or otherwise.1 user thanked author for this post.
I think they are worried about the noises the Tories have been making about the licence fee and the future of the corporation. It’s yet another attempt to silence criticism, no matter how objective.
1 user thanked author for this post.
I was pee-emmed asking about the early work of Sounds Like Reign – I had in mind songs like ‘I’m With Him, Whatever’ and ‘God, Help Us’, which I found too artsy, too intellectual, unlike the epic meditation on intangibility of ‘Is He Worthy?’
You see, in the world in which we live it’s still possible to improve ourselves, and the song instils in the listener the hope that it’s not too late. It’s basically saying that although it’s impossible to empathise with others, we can always empathise with ourselves. It’s an important message. It’s crucial really, and beautifully stated on their album.
But for the avoidance of doubt, this review of SLR’s groundbreaking work was inspired by
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The early work of Sounds Like Reign was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when the album King Jesus came out, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole record has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. It’s an undisputed masterpiece.
Is He Worthy is a song so catchy, most people probably don’t listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it’s not just about the pleasures of conformity and the importance of trends. It’s also a personal statement about the band itself.
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And the penguins went south to the south pole. Had they headed north too, they would have been bipolar – an evolutionary first in terms of temperament!
2 users thanked author for this post.
Too true, IA. United in the 70s, along with Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Millwall, Celtic and Rangers… in fact almost any club with a sizable following had problem. As for peeing on the terraces, when you’re in the middle of a stand packed like sardines surrounded by maybe 15000 others, taking a toilet break wasn’t really an option if you wanted to get back to your spec. In many cases fans were treated like animals, so it’s no surprise that’s how they behaved.
1 user thanked author for this post.
Never mind this rubbish about the importance of being in management or having an insider’s overview in order to talk sense about the state of the club.
On the contrary, it’s often an advantage to be on the outside because supporters are less likely to be swayed by groupthink or dogma.
Most fans have seen for many years that things aren’t right, that the club’s going from bad to worse with defeat after defeat and rubbish football, yet the board have continued in their own way, unswayed by public opinion, each member appointed to sing the song Swann wanted to hear.
That’s where the club has gone wrong, and look what’s happened. It’s like a plane on an increasingly unsalvageable crash course, while the crew look up and admire the sky.
No, it would be wrong to dismiss the views of those on the outside. Those without a stake are often the sanest and most clear-sighted ones around.3 users thanked author for this post.
In this weather, the main requirement is that the beverage is very well chilled. Many of the spritz type pale ales would suffice, or a decent quality lager. The stronger Balticas are also worth seeking out.
Goat? I can recommend a middle-eastern ‘rip n dip’ after the beast has been cooked in the ground for several hours.1 user thanked author for this post.
