Current Affairs - 2026

[Onelife]

This wouldn’t have happened had Starmer shown he was making significant progress on illegal immigration and crime…this country is well and truly up the chute.

[towny44]

This wouldn’t have happened had Starmer shown he was making significant progress on illegal immigration and crime…this country is well and truly up the chute.

Nothing that a good cull of the population wouldnt cure, bringing it more in line with the size of our budget.

[Onelife]

This wouldn’t have happened had Starmer shown he was making significant progress on illegal immigration and crime…this country is well and truly up the chute.

Nothing that a good cull of the population wouldnt cure, bringing it more in line with the size of our budget.

Excellent idea… lets start with those older than me…It’s been nice knowing you John

[david63]

Excellent idea… lets start with those older than me…It’s been nice knowing you John

Or better still those younger than me - bye bye OL After all the young ones (that sounds like a good title for a song) will live longer that the old ones which means that they will more support through taxation.

[Onelife]

Excellent idea… lets start with those older than me…It’s been nice knowing you John

Or better still those younger than me - bye bye OL After all the young ones (that sounds like a good title for a song) will live longer that the old ones which means that they will more support through taxation.

That sounds like you’re sticking the “oar” in...wishing you rough seas

[Portsmouth]

The problem is that many young ones don't want to do real work. They are content to stand around looking at their phones or finding excuses to resign after a few weeks to continue to get benefits.

[Stephen]

The problem is that many young ones don't want to do real work. They are content to stand around looking at their phones or finding excuses to resign after a few weeks to continue to get benefits.

Plus allot of people these days don’t know what a full weeks work is let alone 40 hours. I hear it all the time, ‘so an so only works certain days or doesn’t work a certain day or half day’. Makes me sick the lazy s*ds. No wonder the country is in the poo.

[Ray B]

Trouble is, they say there are plenty of jobs about with low pay, but for the extra few quid they would receive, may as well draw the dole.

[Onelife]

I don’t disagree with what has been posted about young people trying, or in lesser cases not trying to find work. I do have some sympathy for the majority who are trying to find work, especially those who have gone to college/university only to find when finishing their courses they struggle to find work in the areas they have studied for. It is for this reason I’m a little less critical of today's job seekers because continued job application “refusals” often lead to apathy, lack of self worth and ultimately an attitude of why bother. So the question we should be asking is…Are today's youth inherently lazy or have we created a jobs market that requires much higher skill levels while having taken away the industries that provided for lower skill level jobs?

[Mervyn and Trish]

I think it's the other way round. When I went to Uni it was only about 5% of the population who did so. We did degrees relevant to future careers and jobs were waiting. Then some smart alec, I think it was Blair, decided more people should go to Uni. Excellent technical colleges became second rate Unis and instead of valuable skills like engineering, mechanics, construction etc started teaching trendy stuff like media studies. So now we have hordes of students with meaningless degrees in debt up to their ears fighting for jobs flipping burgers.

[david63]

those who have gone to college/university only to find when finishing their courses they struggle to find work in the areas they have studied for.

But surely the right approach is to study for something where ther will be jobs at the end, although I accept that may be more difficult than it sounds.

The problem is that the jobs market is shrinking and is not helped by government policies.

[Onelife]

I think it's the other way round. When I went to Uni it was only about 5% of the population who did so. We did degrees relevant to future careers and jobs were waiting. Then some smart alec, I think it was Blair, decided more people should go to Uni. Excellent technical colleges became second rate Unis and instead of valuable skills like engineering, mechanics, construction etc started teaching trendy stuff like media studies. So now we have hordes of students with meaningless degrees in debt up to their ears fighting for jobs flipping burgers.

I think Blair’s idea was that to increase economic growth you needed the skill sets to do it…this idea, I presume, was as a result of the economic growth during his term of office…but as we know ”nothing lasts forever” and with the downturn in economy growth it has left a gapping whole were there are now more skills than there are skilled/semi skilled jobs for those who thought they would be bettering themselves.

I don’t think we can blame the youth of today who were given that choice.

[towny44]

I think it's the other way round. When I went to Uni it was only about 5% of the population who did so. We did degrees relevant to future careers and jobs were waiting. Then some smart alec, I think it was Blair, decided more people should go to Uni. Excellent technical colleges became second rate Unis and instead of valuable skills like engineering, mechanics, construction etc started teaching trendy stuff like media studies. So now we have hordes of students with meaningless degrees in debt up to their ears fighting for jobs flipping burgers.

I think Blair’s idea was that to increase economic growth you needed the skill sets to do it…this idea, I presume, was as a result of the economic growth during his term of office…but as we know ”nothing lasts forever” and with the downturn in economy growth it has left a gapping whole were there are now more skills than there are skilled/semi skilled jobs for those who thought they would be bettering themselves.

I don’t think we can blame the youth of today who were given that choice.

Yes, and there enough doubts raised about this policy by the conservative opposition which, as usual for a Labour govt, went totally unneeded.

[Mervyn and Trish]

I think the error is the skills we need for growth are not necessarily degrees in Media Studies or Stand Up Comedy. What we need are the practical skills we're short of since a lot of the Technical Colleges disappeared.

The other skill that doesn't seem to be helping in growth is whatever it is that Rachel from Accounts has.

[Onelife]

Rather this labour set up than the one that could be coming…two years isn’t a long time to sort out the mess Conservatives left behind.

[Mervyn and Trish]

You're right. 14 years was hard enough sorting out the previous Labour mess.

[david63]

So Wes Streeting believes that it was wrong to leave the EU and wants to rejoin. Has he forgotten that it was the people who made the decision not MPs? If he wants to be PM then he needs to listen to the will of the people and not make unilateral decisions.

[Mervyn and Trish]

Well that would be a first in Westminster.

[Onelife]

So Wes Streeting believes that it was wrong to leave the EU and wants to rejoin. Has he forgotten that it was the people who made the decision not MPs? If he wants to be PM then he needs to listen to the will of the people and not make unilateral decisions.

I can’t see how he can make those statements until Brexit has been fully implemented...move closer? maybe, but we should never again surrender our right to make our own choices.

[Ray B]

Agreed OL.

[towny44]

So Wes Streeting believes that it was wrong to leave the EU and wants to rejoin. Has he forgotten that it was the people who made the decision not MPs? If he wants to be PM then he needs to listen to the will of the people and not make unilateral decisions.

I can’t see how he can make those statements until Brexit has been fully implemented...move closer? maybe, but we should never again surrender our right to make our own choices.

There's no way we can move closer without surrendering our freedom of choice. We just need to prove that Brexit brings benefits, and since Labour dont agree with Brexit, they are never likely to seek out the benefits.

[Onelife]

There’s always a deal to be had if the terms are right. The fact that we are showing our hand again is a sure way of showing the EU we will negotiate on their terms and not our own. We imo should stand our ground and keep doing what we are doing which is negotiating by way of bilateral agreements.

[towny44]

There’s always a deal to be had if the terms are right. The fact that we are showing our hand again is a sure way of showing the EU we will negotiate on their terms and not our own. We imo should stand our ground and keep doing what we are doing which is negotiating by way of bilateral agreements.

Well it is Sir Keir, who used to be your best mate, who has started undermining our Brexit position, so if he is still your first choice as PM, then you only have yourself to blame for not recognising the dangers of a Labour PM with a whopping majority.

[Onelife]

I had to choose between David and Foxy for "best friend" status today, but as Foxy wants to chop my bleeding head off again I’m sticking with David. As I’ve said before I think the labour party is doing a reasonable job in trying to put in place some building blocks for the future. Whether or not Keir is aligning himself closer to the EU is I would suggest a good negotiating position to be in, and a position that doesn’t necessarily mean he wants to start waving the white flag.

The saddest part about today's politics is that we are all steered by a media which has little regard for what is best for the UK.

[towny44]

If football clubs have to pay for policing their games then why aren't protest marches made to pay the cost. That would certainly reduce the number of political marches, and save millions on policing costs.