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Shit life syndrome

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Re: Shit life syndrome

#141

Post by alaxsxaq »

tetris11 wrote: post #2

I hope there comes a day when the rich and influential look for the next money-making venture in which to invest in, see only a sea of machine-generated uncertainty on the stock market, and decide "actually, the most profitable thing I can do to protect my wealth is to invest it in the public" One day maybe.

Maybe find a way to inspire in the rich the kind of philanthropy practiced by Andrew Carnegie. He wrote his views in, The Gospel of Wealth - not having read it, but having long heard Carnegie's name as an example of wealth turned to good, I'm planning to give it a read.

Unfortunately with a political system wholly owned by the wealthy (US), I fear that there may be more truth than I want in my father's admonition that things will never get better in this country until we have another revolution. I've been around a bit and so much of today seems to be a rinse and repeat of the issues I experienced when I was young - not the world I wanted to see for my daughter. Hopefully the next generation has a stronger backbone - mine and the couple after seem to have surrendered our dreams to greed and consumerism.

Re: Shit life syndrome

#142

Post by DrBazza »

pjc50 wrote: post #90
DrBazza wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's how infrastructure projects are prioritised in the UK. Return on the pound. The south east returns something like 10x the investment versus the north of England. Just look at HS2 - everything north and north east of Birmingham has effectively been cancelled, leaving yet another "national" infrastructure project serving only London. This Government, or the previous one, or the previous one, ad nauseam, continua…

> Which ever party is in power is invariably hamstrung by the opposition voting the other way just 'because' As the other comment has pointed out, this is irrelevant: in practice, as with Brexit, a majority of 1 can let you do almost _anything_ in the British constitution. No, the real constraint is either internal opposition - party infighting - or what the newspapers will hammer you for. Many of the UK's most depre…

Except that the Commons is only the start of votes. Then there is the Lords. Then there are legal challenges.

Re: Shit life syndrome

#143

Post by xwowsersx »

padolsey wrote: post #5

This is quite darkly hilarious tbh. And consistent with my experience of Blackpool. I once went there on couple-week-long driving course when I was a teenager, hoping but eventually failing to get my license. I was put up in someone's house that was run as a sort of unlicensed b&b. The entire place, the curtains, the linen, the pillow,.. all smelled of old nicotine and damp. On my first evening I went out by myself t…

Please tell me that writing is a substantial part of your daily work! Or at least that you're prolific outside of your professional commitments? This was written so well..a real delight to read.

Re: Shit life syndrome

#145

Post by flir »

DrBazza wrote: post #140
flir wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're almost never hamstrung by the opposition voting against them. If they didn't have a majority, they wouldn't be the government. Right now the majority is, what, 80? They could pass anything they wanted.

Except they haven’t. Party members continually voting against the whips. Party in fighting and 3 PMs. And so on.

That's not the opposition's fault, or the adverserial system's. It's infighting. And to be honest they could still get a fair bit done with a majority of 80, should they feel inclined.

Re: Shit life syndrome

#146

Post by HPsquared »

Seaside towns would seem good places for the evening or weekend relaxation/unwind. Spain etc. is too far to go several times a month, but the seaside towns could be suitable. Need the right facilities and transport links.

Re: Shit life syndrome

#147

Post by Earw0rm »

cameronh90 wrote: post #45
wizofaus wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From an Australian perspective the idea that "seaside" towns are especially susceptible to economic decay and being left behind seems quite odd - even in parts of country without year-round beach weather, coastal localities here are usually the desirable places to live with subsequently healthier economies. Are there other countries that have experienced similar patterns of development to the UK?

Most UK seaside towns lost out to cheap flights to Spain. There's very little reason anyone visit Blackpool over Málaga. For the price of a depressing hotel in Blackpool you can get a modern resort in Spain with warm seas and reliably sunny hot weather every day. There are a few seaside towns that managed to hold on, such as Brighton. They're mostly in the South where the climate and sea temperature is a touch more b…

Accurate. An understated part of this is the hollowing out of the middle class in all small and midsize towns beyond commuting distance of the big cities, or not desirable enough to be a professionals' commuter base.

When industry and commerce located its bureaucracy within towns, this provided a social backbone. The small factory owners, trucking business owners, bank branch managers, who together with clerics, family doctors and teachers made up an established middle-class. The women usually didn't work, and had time to maintain the social fabric.

Most of this commercial, management, admin work now happens at regional, national or international level. Such professionals as there are are often on fairly short term rotations. If you're a young graduate, why on earth would you stick around..?

Re: Shit life syndrome

#148

Post by Earw0rm »

omarqureshi wrote: post #51
wizofaus wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From an Australian perspective the idea that "seaside" towns are especially susceptible to economic decay and being left behind seems quite odd - even in parts of country without year-round beach weather, coastal localities here are usually the desirable places to live with subsequently healthier economies. Are there other countries that have experienced similar patterns of development to the UK?

The UK is vulnerable to this because the weather is miserable. Other than last year, I can't remember a year in the last 2 decades where going to the coast wasn't such a massive gamble. Even I have given up and decided to spend a week in Turkey.

The coastal towns which have recovered have made the sea part of the backdrop, not the main event.

Whitstable, Padstow - food & drink.

Margate, St Ives, Folkestone - visual arts.

Aldeburgh - performing arts.

Burnham Market, Salcombe etc. - conspicuous displays of wealth.

Rock - underage drinking.

Brighton - partying hard.

etc.

Re: Shit life syndrome

#149

Post by Earw0rm »

_dain_ wrote: post #64

This is the original article that won the award: https://www.ft.com/blackpool There's an interesting dog-that-didn't-bark: the word "meth" does not appear. The drug is still not common in the UK[1]. Blackpool has precisely the demographic makeup where, if it were in America, it would be flooded with meth dealers and addicts, and become magnitudes worse than it already is. I dread the day that drug finally makes landf…

Nor fentanyl. Probably because while heroin is a thing, it tends to stay in its rather particular niche.

I'm not a believer in gateway drugs generally, but the prescription opioid hell that exists in the US never really took off here. A problem yes, but not a society-wrecking scale. Mostly because doctors are much less free-and-easy with prescribing the stuff, and can't easily be bribed by drugco's to do so as they were in the US.

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