Election Year or Fear!

[SithHappens]

Previously unseen footage of the security at the weekend

https://x.com/i/status/2048234646933020919

[swaledale]

So your anecdote is as valid/invalid as mine, that’s fair enough.

Regarding the gun thing, I’ll tell my friend Cathy that she is wrong in carrying, and shouldn’t feel safer, because, because some bloke from England says so

I generally don't use anecdotal "evidence", but was merely countering your claim with one of my own to demonstrate that perceptions can be quite different and don't necessarily equate to reality. But I guess if you want to believe what you choose to believe rather than look at reality thats fine.


Where exactly did I say that carrying gun didn't either make a person feel safe or actually be safer?

Oh thats right I didn't, seems your mixing me up with RA's response.

My personal view on it is that having travelled extensively in the US, I've not felt unsafe due to the number of guns in circulation and wouldn't necessarily feel that carrying a gun would make me feel safer. Whether in reality, carrying a gun actually improves a persons safety in the US is open to question, but then how one feels and what the reality is are often quite different.

I pointed out that your comparison with gun carrying in the US with knife carrying in the UK was false. That knife crime in the Uk was largely restricted to certain groups of people, whereas in the US anybody can and are victims of both gun crime and accidental shootings.

Sometimes you seem so stuck with your own (often unsupported beliefs) that you are unable to deal with reality.

[swaledale]

If we wait to hear what the parties are telling us, then we are allowing them to dictate how we see the election. It is usual when we go into a shop, after all, to have an idea what we want to buy. We don?t usually spend our money on what the shop most wants to sell us. Likewise, a democracy should start from the bottom up, so by the time you begin receiving those leaflets, you ought to know what it is you?re voting about: don?t let the parties tell you.

So, if the election is for a county council, its main responsibilities are social care and health, highways and transport, education, waste management and the environment, and public safety. If the leaflet talks about something else, it is trying to lead you into subjects the party would prefer. You can make your own judgement on why.

[MadAmster]

Some guys have all the luck...

[ramAnag]

BP profits reported as having more than doubled since the Iran conflict…WTF!

[Geoff Parkstone]

BP profits reported as having more than doubled since the Iran conflict…WTF!

...and you're surprised because?

[MadAmster]

...and you're surprised because?

No windfall tax announced as yet?

We, at our ages, have seen this for over half a century. Your crisis is my new villa/yacht/Lamborghini etc. We really shouldn't be surprised. Whatever happens, it's always the same people who benefit.

[ramAnag]

...and you're surprised because?

I’m surprised because, apparently naively, I imagined that the cost of oil related products had risen exponentially which is why we are paying more for petrol, diesel and heating oil etc. I hadn’t, again apparently naively, factored in that the oil and petrol companies are profiting to such an extent from the crisis. Silly of me!

[MadAmster]

I’m surprised because, apparently naively, I imagined that the cost of oil related products had risen exponentially which is why we are paying more for petrol, diesel and heating oil etc. I hadn’t, again apparently naively, factored in that the oil and petrol companies are profiting to such an extent from the crisis. Silly of me!

Indeed, that it happens is logical. BP pump up the oil. It gets sold on the open market at the market price of the day. Costs BP the same to pump a gallon out of the ground. Brent crude averaged around 66.60 USD in January 2026, today it's 111 USD. Accident of circumstance has seen the price per unit of Brent crude increase by 2/3 (66%). I'd be surprised of BPs, and all the other oil producers' profits, hadn't greatly increased.

The market works for those few trading on the market. The rest of us pay the price. I think such accidental profit hikes should attract high levels of tax. Conversely, if a different accident caused lower profits then that year's tax should be adjusted downwards. A bit like Inshared Insurance profits, according to their ads... we all benefit.

[ramAnag]

Indeed, that it happens is logical. BP pump up the oil. It gets sold on the open market at the market price of the day. Costs BP the same to pump a gallon out of the ground. Brent crude averaged around 66.60 USD in January 2026, today it's 111 USD. Accident of circumstance has seen the price per unit of Brent crude increase by 2/3 (66%). I'd be surprised of BPs, and all the other oil producers' profits, hadn't greatly increased.

The market works for those few trading on the market. The rest of us pay the price. I think such accidental profit hikes should attract high levels of tax. Conversely, if a different accident caused lower profits then that year's tax should be adjusted downwards. A bit like Inshared Insurance profits, according to their ads... we all benefit.

What’s worse is that BP is my petrol station of choice. Locally, i.e. Ashbourne and Pride Park, they seem to have stuck around the 1.55/56 pl mark whereas others have been selling at 10/12p more pl so God knows how much they’re making. I’m sure there was a term for such people during WWII.