merridew

u/merridew@feddit.uk
87 posts · 193 comments

Recent posts

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£10.6 billion to the UK government in North Sea revenue for 22/23 v. £2.6 billion for 21/22.

  • Equinor (Rosebank majority owner) revenues for 22: $75 billion

  • Ithaca (Rosebank minority owner) revenues for 22: $1.9 billion

  • BP (formerly state-owned; majority privatisation under Thatcher, from 1979) revenues for 22: $241 billion, for record profit of $28 billion (£23 billion)

Well

only one in 10 council planning departments are fully staffed, with 13% operating with fewer than three-quarters of posts filled

with

80% [of local authorities] reporting they did not have enough officers to carry out their workload

because

long-term cuts to funding have had a visible impact on planning departments’ ability to retain staff... there has been a 43% fall in resources to the planning system from local authorities since 2009-10.

https://www.lgcplus.com/services/regeneration-and-planning/planning-people-go-from-council-to-council-chasing-the-money-17-05-2023/

Instances blocked by lemmy.world include:

  • skinheads.[x]
  • breastmilk.[x]
  • cum.[x]
  • kiwifarms.[x]
  • pedo.[x]
  • hexbear

and now

  • feddit.uk

Well... hmm.

I know some people don't care for the British but still.

Following the investigation by The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4's Dispatches programme into Brand's alleged behaviour, published earlier this month, Olivia says she tracked down a recording of the programme.

The episode, which aired on 21 June, 2008, features this exchange between Brand and Matt Morgan.

This exchange on The Russell Brand Show was recorded minutes after the incident

Morgan: It's been 25 minutes since he showed his willy to a lady.

Brand: (Laughing) Very easy to judge! Very easy to judge!

Morgan: The receptionist…

Brand: (Laughing) Look…

Morgan: Receive this!

Morgan adds: "He got told off for ringing a bell, minutes later he's showing his willy." Brand can be heard laughing in the background.

Olivia, who has never worked as a receptionist, says she felt disgusted when she heard it.

Look, organisations with unpleasant views aren't universally stupid. Turning Point states upfront that its mission is to "identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote freedom", but dig down and you find fun stuff like this: https://www.tpusa.com/live/pro-choicers-are-sick-and-twisted

I'd also like to note that praising some historically left-wing policies, and criticising some loonies, should not mean that you stop looking critically at the other things a person says.

Authoritarian policies that deny women choice aren't limited to right-wing governments. If you support women's rights to choice, Hungary is not a country you would praise.

‘Baby machines’: eastern Europe’s answer to depopulation The conference in Budapest opened with a sand animation video of migrants rushing towards Europe, and was laced with references to the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, which suggests that shadowy forces want to replace so-called “native” Europeans with outsiders. “There are political forces in Europe who want a replacement of population for ideological or other reasons,” Orbán told the conference. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/04/baby-bonuses-fit-the-nationalist-agenda-but-do-they-work

on Hand and tea towels · c/askuk · 4 pts · 2y

Tea towels for everything (drying dishes, drying hands, moving hot things), washed frequently.

You know, pretty much all of that website seems to be written by one guy. So I looked up some of his other work.

the myth that women primarily work for reasons other than economics or family needs distorts reality https://medium.com/@daviddemos/women-under-siege-quick-notes-on-the-rights-assault-on-women-s-work-choices-and-family-formation-c3b27c6266e6

It's hard to draw conclusions. Who knows. But what I will say is that this guy clearly spends a lot of time thinking about how certain women can be coaxed into having more babies.

Women in Europe, North America, and some countries in Asia.

Not really. If your goal is to undo "retreating state support," you can do that without praising far-right regimes aiming to restrict women's rights to bodily autonomy.

The fact that they gloss over that little aspect is suspicious.

Their website is conspicuously opaque regarding its funding, and "stop population decline" is curiously close to (but notably more palatable than) the 14 Words, while still acting as an effective dog-whistle for people familiar with those words.

They have a bunch of stuff about "promoting fertility", eg

the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Israel offer lessons. These countries have managed to increase fertility rates by introducing pro-natal policies — a combination of cash incentives, subsidised childcare, and housing assistance

which all sounds lovely and idyllic, but in reality the far-right government in Hungary has been throttling access to abortion with new legislation that is

an extension of the government’s anti-abortion policies, aimed at boosting the birthrate

meaning that

legal abortions [have] become increasingly difficult as the compulsory counselling sessions were becoming more aggressive and difficult to schedule

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2022/sep/13/hungary-tightens-abortion-access-with-listen-to-foetal-heartbeat-rule

I can't definitely figure out the angle either. But they are a pro-fertility organisation praising a far-right regime that is implementing regressive "pro-life" policies at the expense of women's rights, and they are very careful not to highlight the true nature of these policies on their website.

They're also headquartered in Texas. So... draw your own conclusions.