I agree. Heard on TV news a night or so ago that a Labour win is a 99% certainty. The Guardian reports the same.
Listened to an audio excerpt from âThe Wind-Up Bird Chronicleâ written by Murakami. I also read the same extract in Kindle written form. I was captivated by the audio extract but was somewhat put off by the written version, found it a bit boring to read.
Writing style can put me off from reading a lot of books, which is a pity â I should try harder.
Iâm listening to books more often now than reading them.
I listened to an audio extract of Rory Stewartâs book and found it rather tedious - so much detail. Interesting though!
The very wealthy donât actually work, just watch their investments earning more and more cash. The health divide under this administration has increased by a huge amount, your life chances and life expectancy have actually reduced in recent years and not just because of COVID. Diet plays a major role in health and food producers make food that is unhealthy but cheap, which is appealing to those on low incomes. Schools rarely teach cooking skills these days because of cutbacks, and parents who both work donât have the time to teach their kids these skills or even to cook from scratch, so a generation of ultra processed food consumers is developing and along with that comes: diabetes, heart disease, kidney disease etc and this government even u turned on asking food manufacturers to reduce sugar. Well they donât have to eat this crap, so why do they care.
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I agree with much that you say but I think this business of âunhealthyâ food needs to be viewed in perspective, this is a first world problem - if you think food is unhealthy try not eating (Iâm sure the population of Gaza could give you an insight into that as well as many other parts of the world).
Obesity is much more of a problem than the food per se, though I would agree itâs much easier to get obese on foods which are high in sugar or easily digested carbohydrates.
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Of course itâs a problem of the developed world and the desire of Capitalists to get people addicted to ensure sales. But we were talking about the UK.
Hard not to be addicted to food - see the point about not eating.
You are drifting into conspiracy theory - you donât need to, âcapitalistsâ do not need to conspire to get people âaddictedâ, they just want to maximise profit and producing cheap high sugar food is a good way to do that because the fact is that people on a budget tight for both time and money will go for low cost convenience a lot of the time.
Sure, itâs exploiting peoples needs and predispositions but thatâs much easier than engaging in conspiracies.
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Mmm - not so sure. I saw it in the tobacco industry. They werenât doing any of it for the good of our health. And food manufacturers have known for a long time how unhealthy some of their ingredients are.
Thatâs different, I think, as no one actually needed to smoke, and we see it in the vape industry with products aimed at teenagers.
But we all need to eat and we have a natural predisposition to sugary foods. Weâre sitting ducks for food producers with shady morals.
Please donât patronise. Capitalist is how you refer to those who are engaged in these activities and they do it for profit. Iâm not a conspiracy theorist, Iâm simply stating facts.
If only Labour had a you know⌠policy.
Something other than the "Iâm-not-Rishi Weâre-not-Toryâ policy, would be useful.
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Thatâs not how it appeared - probably worth choosing words carefully in order to carry your argument forwards.
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As usual these threads turn into personal attacks. Iâm out of here.
Completely. They are just the left cheek (as opposed to the far right cheek) as Ayatollah Galloway might quip. Quelle shambles 
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Oh no they donât⌠(oh yes they do. etc. etc.) Seriously, itâs only a debate, a chat. Donât bale out, just take it all at face value 
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If that looks like a personal attack then bailing is definitely the best thing you can do at this point. Or you could take the advice onboard, word things so they carry your intention unambiguously and without unwanted overtones, then debate with people.
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I read somewhere recently that being an optimist can add years to your life. Iâve always been a deep-down optimist and I look forward to Labour becoming the next government. That will add a few more years to my life in the sense of a great relief â relief from the current regime.
I want to see Water being nationalised, the NHS truly reformed etc etc etc and I wish the Labour government the best of luck in its endeavours, whatever they may turn out to be. Couldnât be worse than the current failing Tory pledges.
I hope this doesnât turn out to be nothing more than optimism (as I fear it might be). My concern is that, a little like Obama getting a Nobel prize for not being Bush, Labour win the election for not being Tory. There are many things they might do much better, but TBH I really donât think they will - however I would like to be proved wrong.
I am reasonably optimistic about Labour this time around - like many I wish they had been clearer about setting out their policy goals but I suspect that playing their cards close to their chest will be seen to have been a wise move - the Tories have already âborrowedâ a few Labour ideas in advance of the election.
I think there is an element of ânot spooking the Red Wallâ (how I hate that term) as well - I would like Labour (and the Lib Dems, FFS) to be much more outspoken about the damage done by Brexit and how they are going to mitigate and ultimately reverse it, but I think they have calculated that a good portion of the electorate is not ready to admit âwe screwed up by listening to Borisâ, and so are keeping schtum on that for the time being. I hope so anyway.
Starmer is rightly accused of being a bit boring and uncharismatic but I think he is competent and that is probably whatâs needed after the years of Alexander dePfeffel making ridiculous undelivered promises and the Lettuce ravaging everyoneâs pension funds and the economy in general.
They will also need to hold their nerve in the face of an onslaught of criticism from the Tory press who will slam them for not magically fixing everything overnight and blaming the new Government for the shortcomings of the last.
Anyway we will see. Sunak is rumoured to be considering a June election in order to preempt off a â53 lettersâ revolt by his back benchers and a leadership challenge.
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Talking of Rory StewartâŚ.plus Alistair Campbell, both of them introducing working class Angela Rayner.
