UK British News Megathread - aka CWCissey's news thread

https://news.sky.com/story/row-over-new-greggs-vegan-sausage-rolls-heats-up-11597679 (https://archive.ph/5Ba6o)

A heated row has broken out over a move by Britain's largest bakery chain to launch a vegan sausage roll.

The pastry, which is filled with a meat substitute and encased in 96 pastry layers, is available in 950 Greggs stores across the country.

It was promised after 20,000 people signed a petition calling for the snack to be launched to accommodate plant-based diet eaters.


But the vegan sausage roll's launch has been greeted by a mixed reaction: Some consumers welcomed it, while others voiced their objections.

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spread happiness@p4leandp1nk
https://twitter.com/p4leandp1nk/status/1080767496569974785

#VEGANsausageroll thanks Greggs

7
10:07 AM - Jan 3, 2019
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Cook and food poverty campaigner Jack Monroe declared she was "frantically googling to see what time my nearest opens tomorrow morning because I will be outside".

While TV writer Brydie Lee-Kennedy called herself "very pro the Greggs vegan sausage roll because anything that wrenches veganism back from the 'clean eating' wellness folk is a good thing".

One Twitter user wrote that finding vegan sausage rolls missing from a store in Corby had "ruined my morning".

Another said: "My son is allergic to dairy products which means I can't really go to Greggs when he's with me. Now I can. Thank you vegans."

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pg often@pgofton
https://twitter.com/pgofton/status/1080772793774624768

The hype got me like #Greggs #Veganuary

42
10:28 AM - Jan 3, 2019
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TV presenter Piers Morgan led the charge of those outraged by the new roll.

"Nobody was waiting for a vegan bloody sausage, you PC-ravaged clowns," he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Morgan later complained at receiving "howling abuse from vegans", adding: "I get it, you're all hangry. I would be too if I only ate plants and gruel."

Another Twitter user said: "I really struggle to believe that 20,000 vegans are that desperate to eat in a Greggs."

"You don't paint a mustach (sic) on the Mona Lisa and you don't mess with the perfect sausage roll," one quipped.

Journalist Nooruddean Choudry suggested Greggs introduce a halal steak bake to "crank the fume levels right up to 11".

The bakery chain told concerned customers that "change is good" and that there would "always be a classic sausage roll".

It comes on the same day McDonald's launched its first vegetarian "Happy Meal", designed for children.

The new dish comes with a "veggie wrap", instead of the usual chicken or beef option.

It should be noted that Piers Morgan and Greggs share the same PR firm, so I'm thinking this is some serious faux outrage and South Park KKK gambiting here.

 

[Liechtenstein]

the actual tldr - the UK wants to force YouTube and other platforms to shut out all non approved news outlets. Basically all independent creators.

i am going to lose my mind its not even funny anymore. countries should genuinely start sanctioning the UK at this point.

 

[thefreshmaker]

if we stopped all migrant/NGO/charity/refugee/foreign aid/etc/etc payments today, would the 'triple lock' be as much of a political issue, or is it so much money we are just fucked?

It's a commitment to ensure the budgets grows larger than inflation or wages, which means higher than tax increases from bracket creep, which means it will outstrip fiscal ability at some date in the future. It's "locked in" to bankrupt the Treasury.

Of course, it's fine across millions of years if the increase is 5% p.a. on $50, and not a doubling from 2015 to 2025 when the economy is stagnating. There's already a strain to even be able to tax more, so it has to come from cuts - which are baked in as not possible due to the austerity years.

 

[Unyielding Stupidity]

Question for those who are more economically in-the-know, if we stopped all migrant/NGO/charity/refugee/foreign aid/etc/etc payments today, would the 'triple lock' be as much of a political issue, or is it so much money we are just fucked?

I'm not that much of an economist, but any public pension systems in general are inherently unfundable if your population isn't constantly growing, since you need multiple people working and paying into the pension system to cover the cost of each OAP, with the ratios getting even worse when you factor in all the working-age people that should be contributing who don't work (benefits scroungers, prisoners, migrants, etc). Constant population growth isn't sustainable, as even if all of that growth was from natural births from British people and not migrants, there's only so much room on this island. Any measure to try and fix the system and not just scrap it outright is just delaying the inevitable.

The only pensions that can be sustainable are private work pensions, and that's assuming they're receiving zero government funding or support with the cost.

 

[James X Maxwell]

I'm not that much of an economist, but any public pension systems in general are inherently unfundable if your population isn't constantly growing, since you need multiple people working and paying into the pension system to cover the cost of each OAP, with the ratios getting even worse when you factor in all the working-age people that should be contributing who don't work (benefits scroungers, prisoners, migrants, etc). Constant population growth isn't sustainable, as even if all of that growth was from natural births from British people and not migrants, there's only so much room on this island. Any measure to try and fix the system and not just scrap it outright is just delaying the inevitable.

The only pensions that can be sustainable are private work pensions, and that's assuming they're receiving zero government funding or support with the cost.

It's not even the pensions as well
It's the housing benefit
It's the winter fuel allowance
It's the sheer time and energy spent by the NHS to keep them going a few more years
It's the amount that end up on disability anyway and get mobility scooters (mobility scooters are a racket in this country)
It's the free travel that ends up with them clogging up public transport
It's the burning up of all their money on cruise ships and holidays to benidorm while children starve
It's the fact that society is literally creaking and breaking around us because no-one wants to say no

Britain is descending into being a gerontocratic police state where anarcho-tyranny and boatwogs are the name of the game

 

[teriyakiburns]

any public pension systems in general are inherently unfundable if your population isn't constantly growing

Doesn't have to be so, as long as the pension fund is ringfenced and invested properly. The problem with the state pension is that it isn't actually a pension as people understand the idea; instead, it's a calculated benefit based on your historic national insurance contributions, drawn from current funds. Your national insurance contributions are taken into the general fund and spent on whatever the government wants. The state pension should be operated like a private pension.

 

[thefreshmaker]

Doesn't have to be so, as long as the pension fund is ringfenced and invested properly.

The issue is any state pension has all the incentives to not do this.

A private pension (either defined benefit or contribution based) the person receiving the pension is incentivized to maximize their payout but there's few mechanisms to do so that aren't "earn more and save more". The fund itself is almost always ringfenced by design, and does not have a cash flow requirement until it meets the terms, ie: retirement age.

A public pension the person receiving the pension is incentivized to maximize their payout but there's few mechanisms to do so that aren't "vote more gibs". Additionally, the fund has a constant cash flow out for current retirees.

A public pension runs more like an insurance company - premiums are paid and a little is invested with a majority of the premiums going to claims. Fortunately, claimants can't just vote as a bloc and force the insurance company to pay for deteriorated 500 year old roofs and only charge $1/month in premiums. But they can for pensions, and the end result is continuously increasing outflows, decreasing inflows, and no ability to invest. Your insurance company also isn't owned by a conglomerate that pilfers half the premiums to spend it on something else, leaving the company perpetually forced to take short term loans to pay other short term loans.

The only question is when the scheme explodes, not if. It can be delayed significantly in certain systems that have major private pensions (think Australia's mandatory Super scheme), but even Australia is having problems. In a system where almost everyone is claiming the pension and it's triple locked, that collapse is moved far closer to the present.

 

[Vesperus]

Apparently a blind guy can see what's wrong with the police:
Police leadership needs 'ethical reset', Lord Blunkett tells BBC
To me, David Blunkett had always been a widdle wrapped in an enema. He was a Blair cabinet minister (and therefore a literal minion of Satan), but I can't actually think of anything bad that he did.

Pensioner edit:
After a lifetime of service* all the typical pensioner needs is a small house (if they don't own one) 40 hours per week minimum wage, and free dentistry. Free of taxes, rates, TV license and other such bollocks.

I'm pretty sure than the only reason that triple-lock is pushed over inflation-only is retired civil servants and politicians: I know if Vesperus Snr got £508.40/week tax-free he'd be quite happy**.

---

*Paying taxes
**Internet connection, two bottles of single malt and a pack of highland toffee to fuck up the dentures. Also a comfy chair.
When I grow up I want to be my dad.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

Apparently a blind guy can see what's wrong with the police:

No he isn't, much like the Guardian article above he's trying to paint it as people whining rather than facts.

Lord Blunkett was also asked whether he thought there was a problem with "two-tier policing", a term some politicians have used to argue that police may deal with people belonging to ethnic minorities more favourably than white people.

Last month in the House of Commons, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage connected it to the police's handling of the murder of Henry Nowak, a teenager arrested as he lay dying after his killer had falsely accused him of racism.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer rejected the claims, saying he did not believe there was two-tier policing in the UK, and accused Farage of exploiting the tragedy to create grievance and division.

Lord Blunkett said: "I think there's a perception. We've moved the pendulum.

"It's gone from the [1999] Macpherson report about outright racism in the force, particularly the reflections in the Met, all the way through to people saying 'oh, it's woke'.

Banning Israeli supporters because Birmingham has capitulated to Muslim extremists who'd have either murdered them in the streets or needed the sort of police crackdown that would drag that ugly truth into the public eye.
Law enforcement dismissing riots by minority groups over acceptable actions by the police (the bus burning gypos, the Manchester airport brothers, Chris Kaba) then cracking down on "the wrong side" with the full weight of the law.
Henry Nowak.

"Oh it's woke."

He's one more person white washing their behaviour because it's in line with Establishment policy.

 

[Vesperus]

He's one more person white washing their behaviour because it's in line with Establishment policy.

If you want to get published by the BBC, what can you say?
I don't think it really matters at this point. The UK is heading towards a resolution that will make the siege of Seringapatam look like a bouncy castle. With ice cream.

 

[Inquisitor_BadAss]

Are you ready for Manchesterism because London centric policies weren't bad enough? Are you all ready for all the under table cash to be moved from London to the "North" of England? I sure can't wait for all that money to be moved into an already over funded council. This is a city that had taken so much cash from the EU when we were a member that the same buildings were refurbished multiple times with in the span of a couple decades.

But don't look back in anger you'll hear Burnham say.

 

[Vesperus]

Are you ready for Manchesterism because London centric policies weren't bad enough?

The Norf remembers. And Manchester is not The Norf.

I felt a great disturbance in the Norf. As if a million Jeordies picked up a bottle, and suddenly bought a day return to Manchester.

 

[James X Maxwell]

The Norf remembers. And Manchester is not The Norf.

I felt a great disturbance in the Norf. As if a million Jeordies picked up a bottle, and suddenly bought a day return to Manchester.

If we wanted a true Norfen capital they should of chosen York or Lancaster as god intended

 

[Snekposter]

If we wanted a true Norfen capital they should of chosen York or Lancaster as god intended

I say get York and Lancaster to fight over who gets it, as is tradition.

 

[Vesperus]

If we wanted a true Norfen capital they should of chosen York or Lancaster as god intended

*Peers at rose*
No, that's a terrible idea. Although admitting that roses are better than "goat" curried in "cardamom" might be a start.

 

[KeeKeeCooch]

North No.10 should be in the centre of Bradford, don't ruin English beauty cities like York. It should also be placed near a halal slaughter house.

 

[UselessRubberKeyboard]

North No.10 should be in the centre of Bradford, don't ruin English beauty cities like York. It should also be placed near a halal slaughter house.

Nah, stick it in Leeds. Soulless city populated by foreign students and effnicks, it’s the perfect London in the Norf. And it’s on the correct side of the Pennines.

 

[Vesperus]

And it’s on the correct side of the Pennines.

The correct side of the pennines for these useless twats is the south side.

 

[Breadbassket]

North No.10 should be in the centre of Bradford, don't ruin English beauty cities like York. It should also be placed near a halal slaughter house.

Maybe North No.10 should be in a halal slaughter house?

 

[Vesperus]

Maybe North No.10 should be in a halal slaughter house?

Given where his voters are from, I'd suggest Islamabad.

 

[PandaChai]

I would prefer if this "№10 in the North" continued heading in that direction until the whole sorry lot of them were taking meetings with polar bears