General News/Current Affairs Thread

I bet it's his hatred for the english and pride for being Scottish that's driving him to this......I bet he doesn't care about the future of Scotland and what's needed for Scotland but his ego ........problem with a majority with the yes campaign is that they do it because of what happened 300 years ago and doesn't think about the future of its children but of Scotland's past of there grandparents..........

We should learn from the past to make a better tomorrow so everyone can live in peace and harmony and get along with each other......putting a wall between us will just split us apart even further ........

As British I believe staying together is the right thing to do we need to look out for each other we are the same we in the British isles are a family and putting up walls will separate the family............

http://youtu.be/kEuO--IgAoU
 
Much like Arby, I've avoided openly declaring support one way or the other due to the growing divisions I've seen amongst my friends and neighbours, but my thoughts on the matter are pretty similar and I will also be voting No. I have no love for the current Westminster government or its policies and, like Lawrence, I feel the fear-mongering rhetoric from the pro-Union groups is nothing short of disgraceful, but I don't believe independence will help either us in Scotland or the rest of the UK as a whole.
 
I think people are worried about how many other countries will want to follow suit if Scotland are successful and set this precident. It's true though as apparently Tuscany and Florence would want to leave Italy, Bavaria from Germany, British Columbia from Canada etc etc.
 
-Danielle- said:
I think people are worried about how many other countries will want to follow suit if Scotland are successful and set this precident. It's true though as apparently Tuscany and Florence would want to leave Italy, Bavaria from Germany, British Columbia from Canada etc etc.
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There is that, plus there is also the possibility that closer to home, a no vote would be a call for other parts of Britain to consider the devo max option too. Basically, if Scotland can get it, why not Wales or Northern Ireland? The whole bit with Scotland getting it's own government basically started them off getting their own, so if we get more powers devolved to us because the fear of independence is real, then the chances are others are going to jump on that and ask for something similar. On both sides, people see potential to do what they may not have before.
 
Surely Westminster needs to take the hint and get completely new ideas and new faces to propose them as I'm sick of Cameron, Clegg and (Ed) Milliband now. David Milliband would of been so much better.

I think if "No" wins, Scotland should get more power but I think Westminster should let us in England vote too, I want our health and our prescriptions like Scotland. I don't want our money going on MP's pay increases and war.
 
-Danielle- said:
Surely Westminster needs to take the hint and get completely new ideas and new faces to propose them as I'm sick of Cameron, Clegg and (Ed) Milliband now. David Milliband would of been so much better.

I think if "No" wins, Scotland should get more power but I think Westminster should let us in England vote too, I want our health and our prescriptions like Scotland. I don't want our money going on MP's pay increases and war.
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54m people live in England, under 6m in scotland, and their costs are currently subsidised by us. I think free prescriptions for everyone would cost a ridiculous amount of money. I haven't the foggiest how they expect to spend as much money when they're independent as they have while part of the union.

Scotland have it made while part of the Union.

edit - looking in to it, it cost £57m for the first year of free prescriptions, so you'd be looking at over £500m for a year in England
 
Yeah that's very true!

Well maybe not free prescriptions for everything but maybe rules as to what can qualify for a free prescription seeing as methadone and contraception are free. (and don't get me started on the former). As yeah you get a lot of people abusing the health system, making appointments for something a trip to the chemist would fix etc but some of my prescriptions, I feel angry for paying for. Like fine, I'll pay for my excema cream but when I have a mortons neuroma, I don't really want to have to pay for my painkillers.

And yep, money they think they'll still be able to spend ties in to how I said they think they won't take any of our NATIONAL debt with them. They'd get their share and I don't think they could handle it.
 
How's about the government stops wasting money on a nuclear weapon we'll never use and instead, puts that money into free prescriptions and making higher education more affordable?
 
I'm very hit and miss with the above. As yes, personally, right now, I haven't cared less about uni fees etc ever since I got my job at 18. But isn't that the same for so many, it's not their problem unless they have to live with it? Not the best outlook especially when it comes to Global Warming and lets throw in that Rotheram (sp) scandal after all but yes, most/all of think like that, I have my hands up.

But, as a women who one day wants kids, I want them to get an education and if they choose to go as far as uni, I want them to be able to afford to do so. So in that respect I should care more and will eventually and people similar to me with kids or wanting kids should make it their problem.
 
Someone explain to me modern uni fees then, I was under the assumption you still got student loans etc to cover that stuff

edit - oh and comparing my point about uni fees to the rotherham attrocities......

I wasnt saying I don't care, I was hypothetically asking why I should care more about an 18 year old going to uni, than say Nuclear Deterence.
 
Oh no I wasn't implying as a dig or you don't care or anything, I just stepped up with all possiblities/examples in case anyone mistook my intention too (as you think I've done with you which I haven't, sorry sweet! :) hehe).

I have no idea about them either. I thought you still get a student loan which pays for your fees but I'm guessing them going higher means higher loans they have to take making it longer repayments and frankly not worth it if you're one who would opt to drink your loan and leave with the debt and no degree (like an ex friend of mine) and as for those who leave with a degree, hard to make a start since getting a job that your degree is a part of proving difficult making it like you're paying off debt for nothing.

I could be wrong though????!
 
Your last point about people with degrees struggling to get jobs is another reason why I ask "why should uni fee's be lower or cheaper". We're getting to a point where so many people are doing degrees (record numbers I believe) that the importance of them is being diluted. Make Uni fees cheaper and you'll probably get more and more people going, and we'll get to a point where there are so many people with degrees that they will lose importance. (obviously degrees in certain fields like engineering, maths, sciene will always have their place)

We're also getting to a point where skilled trades are suffering because for the past two decades or so schools have pushed the importance of academic skills and only recently has the government started to push more manual skills with things like the UK skills show (we assisted in the World Skills show here at The Birmingham Chamber and what we kept getting drilled in to us was the uk is suffering in certain sectors because of the inferred importance of academic skills)
 
-Danielle- said:
David Milliband would of been so much better.
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David was essentially the anointed successor to Blair, if you don't want more of the same it's probably a good thing he wasn't picked otherwise CaMiliClegg would really have been one entity with three faces. It's a shame Ed is trying to appear (and in doing so, has probably just become) more like Cameron and Blair in order to win votes and media support. If someone has to lead, it should be someone who actually cares about the people who are electing them not the least offensive, most charismatic politician who's quickest to bend over for their corporate paymasters. But that's modern "democracy" for you - A complete and utter sham.

Would anyone ever get elected in the UK without positive media coverage? No.
Can people's reputations and opinions be utterly destroyed by negative media coverage? Yes.
Who owns the media? What are their business interests, connections and political leanings?

You get elected today by sucking up to the NewsCorps and the Goldman Sachs of the world, who will give you the money and the positive image needed to succeed. Nobody ever gets elected (at least not in the US, UK or most of western Europe) who is not in these people's pockets, because they also have the power to prevent them from being elected. Obama, much as I feared, was just America's Blair - Someone who did believe in helping the ordinary people of America, once, before the corporate world got its claws into him. He's doing sod all to actually improve the lives of the citizens of his country, certainly nothing that can't simply be undone by whichever amenable grinning idiot succeeds him. But yet the people he's failed miserably to help will still love him, because that's the narrative the media has spun. Do the people actually deserve any better, given the fact they eat this sh*t up? Up to you to decide.
 
britguy said:
Your last point about people with degrees struggling to get jobs is another reason why I ask "why should uni fee's be lower or cheaper". We're getting to a point where so many people are doing degrees (record numbers I believe) that the importance of them is being diluted. Make Uni fees cheaper and you'll probably get more and more people going, and we'll get to a point where there are so many people with degrees that they will lose importance. (obviously degrees in certain fields like engineering, maths, sciene will always have their place)

We're also getting to a point where skilled trades are suffering because for the past two decades or so schools have pushed the importance of academic skills and only recently has the government started to push more manual skills with things like the UK skills show (we assisted in the World Skills show here at The Birmingham Chamber and what we kept getting drilled in to us was the uk is suffering in certain sectors because of the inferred importance of academic skills)
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If I recall correctly, the government actually stands to lose more money because of their decision to raise the fees, because most students can't even pay them off now. I agree with what you've said about the over-emphasis on academic skills, it really gives people this false idea that in order to get anywhere, you need to be an academic, you have to take A Levels and then get a degree, and I personally think that's why people doing degrees are struggling to find a job (think about how many people nowadays actually finish a degree with a good mark, if at all, I know a few people who have dropped out). Whilst I have gone that route (albeit having to take a two year BTEC in the process, because the uni I wanted to go to changed the goalposts due to the rise in fees) and I'm good at it so far, people like my brother aren't academics, the dude flunked pretty much all of his GCSEs, sure, some of it was his fault, he could've concentrated and put more effort into it, but even if he did, he would, most likely, never succeed at A Levels (something I actually struggled with, despite being considered more an academic), let alone make it to uni. There needs to be more work done to ensure that this country is getting the most out of it's students, and I think getting rid of the over-emphasis on degrees (and academia in general) could be a good start.
 
Britguy, totally agree with you over the fact a degree means so much less now than it used to. Best example I can give is the office workplace. You have a degree on your CV here, you instantly get paid more even if you're on the same job grade as someone without a degree. Also, people with a degree, their knowledge is frankly sh*t. Everyone I know in work with one, I out do in so many ways and I got as far as a-levels. My senior, has a degree. I got a bonus due to acknowledgement I was the one doing his job for a year. Same goes with others though, they are rubbish at their jobs. Makes me think I could be a bloody Manager or something now if I got a degree.

Also, people who take degrees in things like music and art and don't want a job being a teacher for either of those, I reeeeeally dont get in this day and age what they expect their degree like that is actually going to do for them. Like it baffles me. That's not to say all dreams won't happen, 1 out of a vast number of my aqcuaintances actually has made it with her art degree and works for a magazine :)

As for politics, before the war, I liked Blair, I was fine knowing my household voted labour. even after the war, my law class and I still very much liked Blair with us making fun of one girl who had a crush on him haha. It is so odd what the media does though as ayase said. No one liked Blair anymore, no one likes Brown, no one likes the 3 bellends we have to pick to lead our country next year and no one, like loads of americans, don't like Obama.

Genuinely, if UKIP renamed themselves, got a bunch of new members, changed a vast amount of their beliefs, they'd potentially be a decent contender. Their stance on immigration and the EU I still support. Everything else though associated with them is a mess like no maternity pay or leave etc. Like wtf is that!
 
@ -Danielle- I'm one of those people that does a Music degree. However I've picked Music production, which is something that could potentially lead me to a job, well, more likely to lead me to a job than most of my friends, who are doing performance-orientated degrees in the same field. It's a highly competitive line of work, so a lot of it is about who you know and where they can get you, in addition your own skills from what I can tell. I'm not worrying about all that yet, I just need to focus on my work and making it the best I can and keep in contact with the people I already know, if things don't pan out, then I can always do a teaching degree, although people like Gove are making that line of work even more undesirable than it already is.

I don't see the point in voting UKIP, to me they're no better than the Tories, in fact, in some cases they're probably worse, but I can see why people find them alluring because of their stance on the EU and immigration, it's an issue that the other three parties have shied away from, or at the most, given wishy-washy statements. Whilst I agree that immigration should be looked at more closely and taken more seriously (without thinly-veiled racism one side, and accusations of being racist on the other), most immigrants work way below their skillset, and those that don't are a vital part of our services like the NHS. At the end of the day, if I want someone to do a job for me, I would pick someone who can do that job well, their nationality should play no part as long as they're legally allowed to stay. If housing is an issue, then there's enough empty property in Europe to house all of the homeless more than twice over, the remainder can be used for immigrants too. I personally think the main issue is actually our lack of industry and a lack of meaningful jobs that are secure. What industry does the average town really have? Do they provide economic value on a local and/or national level, and if not, why don't they?
 
Memorium, your degree sounds more world ready or something than the one being done by someone I know. I think a music shop is the closest to a job he's got so far, one that sells amps or those pedal things I believe but to my knowledge, a degree isn't needed for that so that's where my comments and comparison comes from :) There was desireable jobs suited to his degree but location is a big issue and he lives nowhere near where the jobs are.

I wish you the best of luck. I'd of loved to be a music producer back in the day, working in studios and stuff. I love the School of Sound Recording we have here in Manchester, working there would of been an option I'd of liked when I was younger too :)

D*ck head arsonist of the Dogs Home blames his actions on an attack by a dog. Shall I murder people like the girl who bullied me? NO. A*se hole deserves another dog attack for sure. I don't feel sorry for his death threats either.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -year.html
 
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