uk issues

We are in interesting times but for David Cameron's party with his increased majority, no coalition partner to keep them in check and for their party no change in Scotland.(They had 1 seat before the election in Scotland and have 1 seat after the election). I am wondering how he will balance...

What does everyone think of the UK Green Party's pledge to reduce copyright to 14 years? Is this even possible, while remaining a member of the EU? There are currently international agreements in place regarding length of copyright, and there's certainly EU Directive 2006/116/EC, which covers...

2014 had the highest number of incidents on record: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11301583/British-anti-Semitism-set-to-hit-record-high.html Apparently it was partly due to Gaza, so maybe this is the guardian's and bbc's relentless demonizing of Israel coming home to roost.

What is an "NHS Independent Provider"? Notorious "Renowned" Dissociative Identity Disorder inducers sorry, therapists Valerie Sinason and Rachel Thomas' website, Clinic For Dissociative Studies has a banner that looks like this: Rachel Thomas' bio says: http://clinicds.co.uk/?page_id=79...

The UK government continues in its quest to sell off, well, apparently everything that's not nailed down. The government's profit making share in Eurostar is for sale. As well as: "Other state-owned assets being lined up for sale include the legacy Royal Mail pension assets, the uranium...

Despite all the "on-a-knife-edge" wishful thinking, Scotland has voted 55% to 45% to stay in the Union. David Cameron immediately announced that the promised additional powers for Scotland would involve a solution for the West Lothian question......in other words, Scottish MPs will have no say...

Outside Northern Ireland, the police forces (services ?) in the UK have not been routinely armed with guns for many decades now. There are specialist firearms units but the bobby on the beat does not carry a firearm. This has now changed in Scotland...

For those outside the U.K. David Tredinnick is a Member of Parliament, and is on the House of Commons Science and technology Committee, incredibly on both counts! Perturbed I was to see the following piece on the BBC website today. Sadly they have given space to the uberprat to promote his...

There seems a recurring theme in threads relation to Scottish independence implying that the non-Scottish portions of the UK have a negative feeling towards the Scottish and thus towards their independence I thought it might be interesting to run a poll to gauge the spectrum of opinion. I...

The UK is going to implement emergency legislation to allow police and security services to access telephone and internet records. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-28237111 The usual canard of "protecting us from terrorists" is being used to justify this and to justify the fact that...

[Home Secretary] Theresa May vows child abuse inquiry will take on the establishment UK Establishment Used Care Home Network Like an Amazon Order System for Children to Abuse

In a recent multi-faceted study the NHS (UK health system) was ranked as the No1 healthcare system in the 11 wealthiest countries. The US system was ranked last out of the 11. Does this demonstrate that a primarily socialist national model of healthcare can be the most efficient and 'best'...

BBC News: Porn site age-check law demanded by media regulator One factoid caught my eye: "One website alone - Pornhub - had been visited by 112,000 boys in the UK aged between 12 and 17-years-old" This is the only reference to gender in the report. The news release on the regulator's site...

Didn't see a thread on this. The leaders of the two UK parties jostling for third place had a debate on the EU. Farage is anti-EU and wants out, Clegg is pro-EU and wants to stay in. Any thoughts? i6hy8KyedJA

Maybe this is taking energy independence a bit far:

UK's first female genital mutilation prosecutions announced Innocent until proved guilty of course, but it's a start.

The leader of the Rail Maritime and Transport (RMT) union Bob Crow has died at the age of 52. Although I feel sorry for his family and friends, his style of industrial negotiation belonged to the 1970s instead of the 2010s and I will not be sad to see the back of him. His style and approach...

Looks like the recent good news on the jobs front in the UK will be dented with the current Labour Party deputy leader having to look for a new situation shortly. What I find strange is that the allegations, that Harman et al advocated in favour of adults having sex with children, were reported...

The coalition government's response to the economic crisis has been a programme of real and imagined austerity where the responsibility for paying the price of austerity is increasingly being transferred from the rich (whose marginal tax rates have been reduced) to the poor (whose benefits have...

Another day, another proposal from Michael Gove about how to change education. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26015535 Apparently if state schools act more like private schools then they will get the same results. This conveniently ignores the fact that private schools have many times...

For my fellow non-UKers: "Labour's shadow transport secretary" means she'll be transport secretary when Labour gets in. So on transport matters she speaks with authority for the Labour Party. Thomas the Tank Engine needs more female trains, Labour MP says The Telegraph (UK) :)

Partying Until Drunk and Disorderly in Britain OK UKers. Is The New York Times totally wrong though "fit to print" as usual? Partly right (please elaborate)? Spot on? Thank you.

"Think you can guess the percentage of households in the UK headed by single parents? Do you over or underestimate crime? Test your number knowledge of social issues and see if you're among the majority of Brits that consistently get it wrong."...

Being discussed today in parliament is a proposal from a Conservative MP to have the August bank holiday renamed "Margaret Thatcher Day" to recognise the dear departed great lady. It is apt that it'll be a day when people aren't working. I personally hope that the measure will not pass. It's...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10083214/Courts-may-be-privatised-to-save-Ministry-of-Justice-1bn.html Ok, UK austerity and privatisation is at the stage when Ayn Rand herself would rise from her grave and say "you're going to far!".

I saw this link on another forum; http://www.gunssavelife.com/?p=7699 Is there any truth to this article at all? Thanks. Ranb

There is a lot of talk about at the moment in the UK about changes to the laws around marriage, and civil partnership. What irks me is that these are regularly touted as being the options available to heterosexual couples and gay couples - though the latter is often further qualified as meaning...

The UK conservative party has been split over EU membership for as long as I can remember and the issue periodically re-emerges to plague the party leadership. The recent success of UKIP in the local elections has brought the issue front and centre once again. David Cameron (the UK Prime...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-22530184 The question of a "crisis in masculnity" is interesting. From my perspective, I think it's largely a backlash against the Emo/Linkin Park/Nirvana mindset that pervaded the 90s/00s.

From today the benefits cap is being rolled out over the country http://www.dwp.gov.uk/adviser/updates/benefit-cap/ "From April 2013 a cap will be introduced on the total amount of benefit that working age people can receive. This will mean that workless households should no longer receive...