(02-10-2026, 10:04 AM)baggy1 Wrote: Here is a good example of how the lies can become reality for some and how racism is being used and normalised.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUcwBj_in9Y/?igsh=MTYxbDg0em5rdHl4NQ==

(02-10-2026, 10:21 AM)Spandaubaggie Wrote: Farage led Brexit, which to all but the most stubborn and deluded is clearly the most stupid decision for this country in decades.
Reform is a hot potch of hate fuelled morons and far right Tories(the same Tories that had over a decade ruining the country and getting cast into the wilderness. To vote for them as a change is utterly bonkers. I'm also deeply suspicious of their backers.
As for the mess, if you want one catch all blame it's the banks. I've read a fair bit on this and clearing up the crash and saving the banking system in 2008 has fallen on all us. It's seen a generation of inflation eating at our incomes and austerity ruining the infrastructure.
Add the cost of Covid, the mess of Brexit, and dealing with a lunatic in America it's made running the country extremely difficult.
I hope Labour can turn it around in the next couple of years as they are the most stable solution to the mess we find ourselves in.

(02-10-2026, 10:28 AM)richbaggie Wrote:

(02-10-2026, 10:04 AM)baggy1 Wrote: Here is a good example of how the lies can become reality for some and how racism is being used and normalised.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUcwBj_in9Y/?igsh=MTYxbDg0em5rdHl4NQ==

Along the same lines, regarding the pushing of the narrative that things are so bad, me and friends were talking recently about how much violence there was in the 80s and 90s. There was constant rucks between schools when I grew up between all the Sandwell schools around me. Rival gangs scrapping like the Brandhall Bootboys and Smethwick Hill Top which was mad at times. Local pubs would see scraps most weekends with some pubs being avoided at all costs because of it. Football violence made most Saturdays home and away like tip toeing through a minefield.

I know knife crime is horrendous these days but let's not pretend the 80s and 90s were a period of love and harmony.

(02-10-2026, 11:11 AM)baggy1 Wrote: One thing worth pointing out from above is Proth's comparison of Detroit (pop: 650k) with Birmingham (pop: 2.7m) and London (pop 10m). Having been to a bigger but comparable city recently, Nashville, I would agree that it is cleaner but the safety is a perceived one due to the locations and knowledge of the areas. Detroit was praised in the press for having less than 200 homicides during 2025 (the 1st time in 6 decades) which when compared to c.500 for the whole of the UK says statistically you are much safer anywhere in the UK than anywhere in the US.

One of the big things that you have to recognise in the US is space - Tenessee is roughly the size of England with approx 10% of the population. Michigan is the size of the UK with about 15% of the population. Safety may be perceived from not being as densely populated but isn't a reality.

(02-10-2026, 10:28 AM)richbaggie Wrote:

(02-10-2026, 10:04 AM)baggy1 Wrote: Here is a good example of how the lies can become reality for some and how racism is being used and normalised.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUcwBj_in9Y/?igsh=MTYxbDg0em5rdHl4NQ==

Along the same lines, regarding the pushing of the narrative that things are so bad, me and friends were talking recently about how much violence there was in the 80s and 90s. There was constant rucks between schools when I grew up between all the Sandwell schools around me. Rival gangs scrapping like the Brandhall Bootboys and Smethwick Hill Top which was mad at times. Local pubs would see scraps most weekends with some pubs being avoided at all costs because of it. Football violence made most Saturdays home and away like tip toeing through a minefield.

I know knife crime is horrendous these days but let's not pretend the 80s and 90s were a period of love and harmony.

(02-10-2026, 11:20 AM)HawkingsHalfpint Wrote:

(02-10-2026, 11:11 AM)baggy1 Wrote: One thing worth pointing out from above is Proth's comparison of Detroit (pop: 650k) with Birmingham (pop: 2.7m) and London (pop 10m). Having been to a bigger but comparable city recently, Nashville, I would agree that it is cleaner but the safety is a perceived one due to the locations and knowledge of the areas. Detroit was praised in the press for having less than 200 homicides during 2025 (the 1st time in 6 decades) which when compared to c.500 for the whole of the UK says statistically you are much safer anywhere in the UK than anywhere in the US.

One of the big things that you have to recognise in the US is space - Tenessee is roughly the size of England with approx 10% of the population. Michigan is the size of the UK with about 15% of the population. Safety may be perceived from not being as densely populated but isn't a reality.

That difference in safety risk is embodied in one simple question asked by any travel insurance company - would you like your cover Worldwide excluding US and Caribbean, or including. If the risk were the same, they simply wouldn’t ask.