found home in 2009

Think I'll write to them and suggest we could get rid of border checks if we just rejoin the EU

well said Major. Think I agree with every word of that and I think people always give more weight to politicians being critical of their own side. You know when that's happening something has really gone wrong with a party.

The Tory/energy company argument against it is that they use their profits to invest in renewable energy. Not sure why we couldn't have a windfall tax that allows for that, a bit like how Americans can reduce their tax by making charitable donations. i.e if make £500 million profits, if you invest £300 million in renewables then you get taxed x% on the remaining £200 million, but if you make £500 million profit and then use it to pay dividends to investors then you get taxed x% on the full £500 million. I suppose the only downside is if discouraging paying investors might be bad for pensions.

I'd agree. Just going by the chart positions of Florence I'd say she's someone on the way down and not particularly relevant: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_and_the_Machine_discography Whereas Wolf Alice seem to be on an upwards trajectory. I get that Florence at her biggest had more fans than WA have now, but not sure she's bigger/more relevant at the moment. And presumably a fair few people that go to Glastonbury bought Live at Worthy Farm so if they didn't already know who Wolf Alice was they would now

Watched the first episode of Young Seldon despite not liking Big Bang Theory and enjoyed it. Had heard a few people saying it was better than Big Bang Theory and thought the trailer was quite funny so gave it a go. Actually really looking forward to watching the rest of it now so hope it lives up to expectations. Characters seemed to have a bit of depth to them already considering its only one episode in.

I felt like this when I watched the Eurovision film with my girlfriend and they had the Hydro (a Glasgow venue) in the middle of Edinburgh.

At times I've been frustrated that Scotland has been more conservative than England with laws, was an absolute bugger reading on here about everyone enjoying gigs when we couldn't have any. But cannot see why you'd want to get rid of people with Covid having to isolate. Just seems a ridiculous relaxation of the rules with no real benefit.

Tories are trying to bring in age verification for online porn again: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-60293057 Theresa May tried and failed to bring this in. Surprised Boris is going for it. Seems a recipe for people being scammed out of credit card details and/or blackmailed

Yeah I've seen a few pictures of him posted with her since this became a story

Yeah I was the same and was surprised when his own MPs and advisors attacked him for saying it. I now understand why. Very much Trump play book and dangerous approach to politics that can get out of hand. The attack on the senate last January looked like the precursors to a civil war. I really hope our politics isn't going down that route.

I presume your joking, but definitely not a nonce. He was in charge of crown prosecution service when they chose not to prosecute Jimmy Saville, a decision they were later criticised for and that he apologised for. I don't think he was directly involved with the decision, but he was in charge at the time so you could say the buck stops with him. Personally see it as a minor blight on his copybook, but think there are lunatics on the far right that see him as part of some conspiracy cover up which is ridiculous. Obviously the timing of Boris Johnson mentioning it was just a blatant distraction from his own problems.

I enjoyed Bohemian Rhapsody at the cinema and Rocketman seemed such a disappointment in comparison. I think maelzoid is right about finishing with the Live Aid set meant you left the cinema on a high, whereas Rocketman never really had the same kind of high impact euphoric moment.

I enjoyed it, but when I watch a film or read a book based on true events I always like to google how accurate it was afterwards. I thought it was a bit shit that the film portrayed him falling out with the band and having nothing to do with them before Live Aid when that was complete bullshit: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/freddie-mercury-queen-biopic-bohemian-rhapsody-movie-fact-check-746195/

We all know they were handing mates contracts and lots of money was wasted, but I could imagine the public enquiry into the governments Covid response really brining it back into the news story and possibly giving us more knowledge of what went on. If he's lost a lot of credibility over the parties then I'm not sure he'll survive another scandal. Has the investigation into him getting other people to pay for his flat decorations finished yet? Would love to know what the donor got in return.

The basic idea behind Universal Credit isn't a bad one. Having just one benefit that covers everything instead of lots of different benefits should both be easier for people applying and save money as requires less bureaucracy. The final implementation of it was a disgrace that fucked over lots of people, but I honestly think IDS started with good intentions and Cameron was trying to get him to squeeze an unrealistic amount of savings out of it. I don't think he was happy with how it turned out and he resigned when he was asked to make cuts to disability allowance at the same time the government was giving tax benefits to high earners. Rather differentiates him from the current cabinet that he was willing to resign on a matter of principal. Even though I wasn't a fan of IDS or May I don't find it hypocritical them slagging Boris as I honestly think they have higher standards and an appreciation for the responsibility that comes with their roles that Bojo has never had.

Probably a genuinely controversial opinion, but one I honestly believe, Blackstar was a rubbish album and was only critically acclaimed due to his death.

Personally I prefer them to Adele

Is it just me or does that work out really well for couples that are currently living separately, but about to move in together? Between them they'll get £400, but only have to pay back £200. Though for people living at home with their parents that move out after the £200 is given they'll be paying back money they never got. Or is it tied to individuals rather than houses?

To answer my own question have since read the devolved governments get the equivalent extra money in their budget which they can choose to spend as they deem appropriate. Seems fair enough. Hope the SNP don't waste it

I'm Scottish so I definitely don't get it. How do things like that work. Do the Scottish government get more money to compensate for the fact the UK governments attempt to help people with the cost of living doesn't actually apply here.

yeah it started as a really useful source of information and was pretty much ruined single handedly by Barry Fish who is the only person I've ever used the ignore option for on this forum. His name calling and aggressiveness really stands out in what is a pretty chill forum.

I was looking at the pie chart in the top right of this page which had all the 2016-2107 figures, though now I looked at the page again I've realised if I'd scrolled down it also had the figures for 2019-2020 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending_in_the_United_Kingdom

I think all the figures associated with government are so large they are difficult to comprehend. Would be better if they were reported as a percentage of the budget. Just looked it up out of curiosity and in 2016-2017 the government spent £772 billion so £13bn would be 1.68% of the budget in a normal year. Which doesn't sound too bad, but then we only spent £46bn on defence that year so if you think of it as almost a third of what we spend on defence it's ridiculous. Or another example would be transport, which we spent £29bn on that year, so for an extra £13bn you would think we could totally revitalise transport. Even health, which is the 2nd largest expense, we spent £145bn so that waste of £13bn would be equivalent of being able to give the NHS almost 10% more to spend.

Only £44? I'd happily pay that just for Self Esteem and Yard Act. Going to London the following weekend to see Foals and don't think I can really afford 2 weekends away in a row or I'd be tempted by that.

Also they all like to blame all societies problems on an outside group