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stu432

39 karma · joined July 19, 2017

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stu432··on Half of England is owned by less than 1% of the population (2019)
Well done you've just figured out why less than 1% of the population own most of the land.
stu432··on Half of England is owned by less than 1% of the population (2019)
Who would I be arguing with exactly? I think you may be reading tone where none was given.

Are you under the impression people are buying land (land being rural land, not an acre in central London) in the UK for the sake of it? It's not priced in the same league as the USA, it's expensive, if it's not earning a return then it's not happening. So unless you're starting a some sort of windfarm or solar farm, it's generally going to be for farming.

Also, do you realise the opposition party in the UK, Labour e.g. the Guardian, are seriously contemplating pushing a LVT. So they aren't pushing these stories to punish their own. They're pushing these stories to justify what they'll do. And that adds to why would anyone buy any real chunk of land in the UK right now.

As an FYI - a quango is a nonsense lobbying group, it's not independent, anything they come out with can be considered nonsense. Doesn't matter who they work for, it's always doctored stats and the taxpayer getting rinsed.

stu432··on 66% of renters say homeownership is ‘hopeless’
Feudalism didn't end in violent land reform, it largely ended after a pandemic that killed off a significant number of the workforce and it became a sellers market for the serfs. Turns out we just crippled the world economy for decades avoiding the sequel.
stu432··on Google “We have no moat, and neither does OpenAI”
Yes, bring back Clippy!!!
stu432··on The UK’s tortured attempt to remake the internet
A four year old would be able to run rings around the current government, yet Starmers Labour can't. I truly despair.

Then again, the absolute trainwreck that next year's election in the UK will be, is going to be nothing compared to how the US is looking.

stu432··on The UK’s tortured attempt to remake the internet
How ironic.
stu432··on The UK’s tortured attempt to remake the internet
And yet somehow the reality is a "mistery" to you. Language isn't culture. If it was you wouldn't have the sort of Chinese-gate tik-tok nonsense happening right now.

Also English people do not make up the United Kingdom. Nor do they constitute the entirety of British influence. But that's a trivial matter to a world expert such as yourself, who can't even remain consistent in a baseless rant.

stu432··on Stop the proposal on mass surveillance of the EU
Who'd have thought those in charge were a bunch of hypocrites?
stu432··on Holmes Belongs in Prison, Not $13,000-a-Month Manor, US Says
It absolutely is not. It's about risk of absconding. Secondly, no, cash bail is not a thing in the UK. Someone being arrested in the UK for extradition is not part of the UK justice system, they are merely passing through at the request of a foreign nation. Unsurprisingly, foreign nationals can't have their passport taken away by a foreign country, who'd have thought?!?!??!
stu432··on Holmes Belongs in Prison, Not $13,000-a-Month Manor, US Says
It doesn't sound like you're familiar with the UK system either. Bail in the UK means adherence to specific conditions, i.e. live somewhere the police can find you, stay away from the victim and don't leave the country. It doesn't involve cash changing hands. If you've done something very bad, or are a big flight risk you will not be granted bail, but again, not a money issue.

The person you're responding to is referencing that sentencing is done by a judge who is supposed to be more objective when determining sentence, as opposed to emotional juries who simply determine if they are guilty or not of accused crimes.

stu432··on ChatGPT Is at the Peak of the Hype Cycle
Even Ryan Reynolds is using it to write advertising copy, https://youtu.be/_eHjifELI-k, I would say it's pretty well known. Not to mention all the get rich quick with ChatGPT nonsense that's popping up, that's squarely aimed at non-tech people.
stu432··on UK lawmakers vote to jail tech execs who fail to protect kids online
So add those sites to the standard blocklists most ISPs already put in place for new customers and let parents decide if they want to remove them, just as they have to for porn and gambling. This is just a gimme for the security services under the "think of the kids" mantra.
stu432··on UK Police to get new powers to shut down protests before disruption begins
People died because of the last set of protests. That's not a reasonable consequence of a public protest.
stu432··on UK Police to get new powers to shut down protests before disruption begins
We already have those, https://youtu.be/FS5FT-4Kx7E
stu432··on The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z
You miss the point. Universal payer is not the utopia you think it is. People at the bottom may pay less, but people at the top pay more, "distributing and diluting these costs". That results in relatively well earning professions paying high company and income taxes, resulting in identical fees for fitting a socket in the UK (a universal payer society) as the US (a look after yourself society). Ergo, you've shifted the money around but fundamentally haven't changed anything, you carpenter isn't going to work for minimum wage suddenly because his tax burden won't allow it.
stu432··on The skilled trades haven't caught as a career choice with Gen Z
But universal healthcare is paid for by taxes on people who earn good money, which these people do. The costs being thrown around in this thread are about on par with the UK anyway.
stu432··on Twitter applies 7-day suspension to half a dozen journalists
He's going to ask him to travel all the way around the world to a country that's not one he's in control of?
stu432··on France prepares for possibility of electricity blackouts during winter months
How do you get that? In the UK our nuclear weapons are US bought so we don't use any fissile materials we make, and my understanding was submarine reactors are very different to traditional utility scale reactors, to the point that different companies produce them.
stu432··on The Twitter Files
If you're subject to an investigation they'll put retention policies on them to stop that. If you're not, sure you can delete them and wait for them to disappear out of the backup windows, but then you'll need everyone who got that email to do the same.

As I was told in my first day of training at a large investment bank, "If you have something sensitive to discuss, pick up the phone".

stu432··on The Twitter Files
Defund the police, reparations, affirmative action.... Yeah totally super right wing talking points in Europe.
stu432··on UK ditches ban on 'legal but harmful' online content
That disengenuiously misrepresents the problem of cancel culture. Cancel culture is the propagation of a vocal minority conspiring to stop certain topics being discussed, i.e. deplatforming. What cancel culture should be is that some shill hawking defunct idea's can't sell enough tickets to a talk to cover costs and therefore stops, or they end up with no followers and no audience, not someone else taking away my ability to hear certain topics.
stu432··on UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades
That's not what the person I'm responding to said, nor what the article says. The person I'm responding to clearly didn't read the article, it actually says due to a tight labour market unemployment will rise only slightly during the predicted recession. You clearly didn't read the comment I replied to who said for 3 years unemployment has increased, when it has not.

This is a perfect example of why politics is now a tribal mud flinging fest.

stu432··on UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades
Pretty comprehensive list here, https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-...
stu432··on UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades
Looks lower than ever, https://www.statista.com/statistics/279898/unemployment-rate...
stu432··on UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades
We do already, there's several VAT values, necessities are supposed to be VAT free for instance. Has some quirks in it, so you end up with the Jaffa Cake Vs Biscuit debacle - https://www.astonshaw.co.uk/news/jaffa-cake-tax/#:~:text=The....
stu432··on UK households set for largest fall in living standards in six decades
Because they effectively pay 85% tax on the income already. Look up the Crown Estate. The UK government taking it over would result in it being sold off at bargain basement prices to fund a voter winning 5 min fix and there'd be nothing to show for it in 50 years.
stu432··on Disassembling an Amazon Blink Mini camera
I have several Blink camera's, can attest they do indeed last more than a year. Front of house that gets more than usual traffic has lasted around 2 years between battery changes, back of house around 3 years so far. Using Duracell batteries if that makes a difference.
stu432··on Twitter in chaos as employees accept Musk’s invitation to quit their jobs
It probably would be an absolute hell-scape as you imagine, but for someone looking to make a name for themselves, it's an incredible opportunity to jump in, carve out a solid niche and then use that leverage to push your career forward. I can understand those who are leaving as that not what they signed on for, but there's a lot of people who would gladly roll the dice for that opportunity, I would've 5 years ago.
stu432··on The Koh-i-Noor diamond, and why the British won’t give it back (2017)
You mean West Germany paid a fraction of what they received under the Marshall plan to Israel, and Israel alone. Doesn't really seem to put right the slaughtering they did all across Europe including the slaughtering they did to their own who weren't considered good enough.
stu432··on UK energy bills are soaring to record highs
And the renewables get the highest price, which will always be higher than their production costs...

It's designed to repay investment into non fossil fuel power supply that don't have those variable input costs.

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