Blah Blah

That in work benefits bill is up Loz. It has a lot to do with low wages and increasing costs of living, namely rent. I disagree with you Loz in that a growing economy where tax receipts, productivity and exports are down, it reflects the scenario that what growth there is, is being hoovered up by a few sectors (finance being one). So for me, it is not the sign of a healthy economy at all. Low wages, poor exorts, productivity etc, affect things like national debt. We are still borrowing more than we did in 2010. We've done nothing to change the aspects of the economy that caused the crash. Business in banking is the same as ever, and we gave them billions of our money to get back there. What I would say is that these are the problems of an economy that has been in decline for the last 50 years. And yes Osbourne has been as lucky as Gordon Brown was unlucky to be the scapegoat of a massive global crash. Well that's just the ways it goes. But to think for one minute that Osbourne is delivering anything but more of the same, when we all know that more of the same hasnt worked for at least two decades, is fantasy. We think the last financial crash was bad. We are heading for something far worse unless we get back in control of our wealth. There isn't much left to give away to foreign shareholders tbh. The free market does NOT take care of all. the cost of housing IS out of control, the over 65's are going to become even more expensive to the state finances etc and no-one in government or in opposition really seems bothred enough by any of it. But then it seems, nor are we!

Ditto what many have said above, that we do care. But what can we do when regulations around food production/ slaughter are not enforced enough and suppliers like Happy Eggs, who are supposedly supplying free range eggs use farms where the hens are trained to not go outdoors before they reach hen laying age. The door is open but they stay inside. It's a loophole producers use to circumvent the true definition of free range. Why does it take undercover activists to expose this stuff? http://www.fwi.co.uk/livestock/rspca-hits-back-at-viva-happy-eggs-expos.htm Why aren't the regulatory authorities already doing it on a regular basis? If you want to do something about chicken welfare, a good place to start is by not buying from fast food chicken businesses. If you saw the conditions in which that chicken is reared, you'd certainly never eat it again.

So we need to put lights everywhere now so that Police Officers don't have to go anywhere in the dark? What when Police have to go into any of our parks at night? Is this Police Officer going to ask the same of those areas? If this Police Officer is scared of the dark then maybe she should change career. They are btw equiped with powerful torches, pepper spray, radios etc and they also travel in twos, so it's not as though she ever has to negotiate this path alone after dark. Am I the only person somewhat bemused by this?

Excellent posts David Carnell. I'll just throw in that under the coalition we spend ?28 billion a year subsidising low paid workers with child tax credits and Housing Benefit. Everything the Tories claim about Britain recovering with a strong economy is crap. Is productiity up under the coalition? No. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-32143552 Are tax receipts up now all those jobs have been created under the coalition? No. Are exports up? No. In fact they are down. http://www.psa.ac.uk/insight-plus/how-has-uks-coalition-government-performed Osbourne is a fantasist.

Lighting won't make any difference to any of the above issues. Police don't patrol it and there is no CCTV. The reservoir area itself is now fenced off anyway.

Stand your ground tunesone. You had right of way. He came out of a side road where he is supposed to give way and only advance if clear to do so. In no way can that be considered your fault. They will give in. It's just a case of at what stage. Your insurer should be fighting this for you anyway, that's one reason why you pay for insurance in the first place.

But it's just your view Jeremy and one I (and many others) disagree with, because I prefer cellular science over your definition of worth. Who says that relationships and empathy are the measure of worth? Some mammals are also capable of that btw (whilst some humans aren't). I find it equally absurd that you place so much importance on something that isn't essential for life at all. It really doesn't matter to the planet and life if humans exist. We really are that insignificant, whatever delusions we like to fill our minds with.

Yes the response was insane Otta and definitely steeped in class issues. The actual riots themselves though were a spntaneous act of 'I can, therefore I will', helped to swell by social media. Had facebook spread the word about a mass demo taking over parliament, many of those rioters wouldn't have got out of bed. But tweet free stuff and no Police around, up they all get. It's what it reflects about our culture that's more interesting to me. The importance placed on things and the kudos associated with them over anything of real substence. We have a generation of kids who hate the Police and authority but can't articulate why. A generaltion of kids who want everything for nothing and so on. Not all kids I know but the malaise is there, and worrying.

I agree too. Mark Duggan was a criminal (just the posession of a firearm makes him one). Live by the sword die by the sword. Absolutely no excuse for the riots and wanton looting that followed.

It pretty much means moving out of your home for three days. Plenty of empty properties in London that would suit though.

'Bloodline' seems to be the next thing to watch. Sissy Spacek and Sam Shepherd.

But by what measure are they unequal? A life is a life. And the most basic instruction of all cellular DNA is replication. Just because we surround ourselves with things doesn't make us more worthy in terms of the basic science of life. All of our constructs are geared towards self preservation and replication. The same is true of the fox. You live, you reproduce, you die. That's all that life is for most people. And in several millions of years all trace of it will disappear as the sun expands and begins to swallow us up (our atmosphere having been burned away long before then of course).

I got the Shetland Islands lol....even though I hate cloudy days and cold :D

Thanks EDLove. I'm a bloke by btw lol. I'm learning fast that there are some voices on this forum that don't like being challenged. Being told to go on another forum just makes me want to yawn! And Jeremey, it is not natural to value members of your own species at all, as many species do no such thing. And it's because people DO reccognise the importance of species to the eco system that we still have fish and the EU banned a chemical thought to be decimating the bee population. You can only spend your life not thinking about any of it because others do. As EDLove has correctly summarised, it is right to challenge any view that an animal should die because someone doesn't like it. And my main point remains true. Urban Foxes do virtually no harm compared to us humans who seem to hate them so much.

Not sure if that's true to be honest. Whilst they might tinker at the edges with things like public services, tax etc - they are pretty close in all other respects - certainly economically. Which is why nothing really changes on that front (we continue to hurtle towards a low waged economy that can't raise the tax receipts needed for public services and it's been that way for decades now). Modern versions of all parties believe in that economic model.

We do a weekly bake day and make our own veggie ready meals to go in the freezer. Even something liked mashed potato freezes really well. No need to spend huge amounts on stuff that isn't as good as home made. Will check those soy balls out Sue. Might work well with a sweet chilli sauce and sounds like something my kids might like.

The kind of work people who have 'lost the plot' do :D http://home.bt.com/news/odd-news/budi-gets-a-buddy-watch-rescued-baby-ape-meet-another-orangutan-for-the-first-time-11363970487259

Well thank goodness some of us have 'lost the plot' then, bacuse otherwise we would have many more extinct species and worse animal cruelty practices than we already do. Humans are not as clever as they think they are. We are destroying the world we live in. We live by a system that values profit over people. I don't see animals doing any of that. And btw. Nowhere has anyone said animals are more valuable than humans, just that humans aren't necessarily any more valuable than animals. I really do wish people would read what is actually written, rather than what they think is written, before then belittling that view to madness. Out of interest, let's hear just why you think human life is more valuable than animal life? Because that eco system, that is extremely important for all life on this planet couldn't possibly be as important as humans could it?

I couldn't agree agree with you more Loz. Totally spot on.

That's fair enough MissMad :) Jim, that wasn't my point and you know it lol.

The whole left right thing though is just a label for particular sets of views though isn't it? Most people I think establish philosophies for their lives based on how they morally and ethincally view the world and themselves in it. It just happens that we define collective philosophies as left and more individualistic philosophies as right (economically speaking) and many people have views from both sides of fence. Die hards on either the left or right tend to be far fewer than we think, but also tend to be most vocal. It all goes out of the window when we look at dictatorships of course. They can be either left or right. I think traditionally we are a centre left/right country, and in the past, the party that wins general elections has typically been the one best able to occupy that ground.

People are bigger vermin. The rubbish, waste and shit produced by billions of people on the planet compared to foxes is much more in line with any definition of vermin? Or is that too complex for your understanding of how species evolve? If you can form an intelligent disproof of that statement then go for it. Have a think about it and ask yourself if your view of foxes as vermin is logical and reasonable? The truth is that you have more to fear from the poor hygiene of people around you, than you do from a fox.

Oh Uncle. Typical shift of focus from my main point to something totally pedantic and irrelevant. 99% of voters vote out of self interest Uncle. That's why ALL parties have targetted policies doh. And socialist lines are the reason why we have public services at all. Don't forget that. In the free market utopia of the opposite view, there are no state provisions, just the foolhardy belief that the free market will take care of everything. We know it doesn't. So a compromise between the two is definitely better than either/ or. We are all as much socialists as we are capitalists. We all want health care and education for all. We used to want housing, food and jobs for all too.

It's Keeky who is the troll Sam (and not a very bright one either - most trolls aren't). Ignore it.

I thought we were talking about foxes? But for the record, people share their homes with rapists, peadophiles, thieves, despots, tyrants and a whole bunch of animals with far worse characteristics than a fox. Just because you crap in a toilet doesn't make you any different. The crap has to go somewhere. Rats thrive in our sewers because of OUR shit. They carry disease from OUR shit. The rubbish they feed from is OUR rubbish.