Tales of Home [4]

I assume she is on the buckie!   

Maybe the discussion about banks and how evil they are should be for a new thread! I have plenty to defend myself with!

Is it that humans as a society really, dont know what they do want ? for as soon as they get it it causes more problems ? How CAN it be possible to have all that you dream of without striving for it & enjoying it more because you EARNED it ? We all need water, food, warmth, travel etc medicines, Drs. but, if we ALL laze about & rely totally on machines, robots, androids, as in "I-Robot" film, & with the growing world society, what will humans regress to ?

Or what potential might we reach, freed from work to further personal goals, have new experiences unlimited by our financial constraints?
Free to improve ourselves and to to take part in more things together as societies.

Oh yes, I agree with that to a point but, how many people will now strive to be better Drs or Bakers or policemen if they dont receive sufficient reward ? Will the 'I cant be bothered' attitude over shadow the 'I will do better' feeling ? I agree there are people in this world who are solely happy as a pig in shat to help each other, like Aid work for poor people that live in ghetto's filled with disease, but what about the others ? Am I to brain washed by money to see ? Its all Ive ever known. Who will be brave enough to make the change that will turn the world economics upside down & on its head forever ?

I am not proposing a communist style everyone gets the same, a top surgeon would still be materially better off than an unemployed person- just that there is no longer any reason for poverty in rich western countries- its not that the money or the resources to make everyone comfortable and without worry about healthare, heating or food doesn't exist, its that the money is either held by very few or ridiculously squandered (just look at the MOD overspend which is now over a billion- more than the current governments  apparent absolutely necessary cuts to welfare, and that without adding in the cost of a bunch of stupid wars we should never have been in).

The problem is we live in a world where advancements mean less and less need for large workforces, but our government promote the idea the poor are poor because its their own fault- that they are just lazy feckless con artists happy to live off the work of others- it a modern myth perpetrated by those in power who control the money.

Oh I so agree with you Petty ! Poor people are seen as parasites, a systamatic drain on the resorces of this country & boy ! has the Government done its best to drive that home & create a bigger, deeper wedge so that one is almost ASHAMED to say......'erm, no, Im not working at mo'..... Yet Ive known someone who worked for Government & they said its all bollocks ! Benefits are NOT the biggest drain, its propaganda whipped up.

The bulk of the welfare bill goes to pay pensions- unemployed benefit are a negligible part of the total.

The average MP probably spends more on a single lunch at a London restaurant than an unemployed person gets to live on for a week.

Its suited this government to put the blame for current problems on the poor, even though it was the rich, national institutions and privately owned banks that caused the problems in the first place, and that was simply down to pure greed, nothing more.

But somehow the Tories have convinced the middle classes that they are not being squeezed because of the greed of the ruling classes but because of the cost of paying for the poor- a blatant lie that even a cursory look at the numbers will dispel, yet people have bought it.

  

Pettytyrant101 wrote:You know in the past, from the dawn of the machine age and automation, people looked to a future where everyone had leisure time and the right to pursue their own interests whilst the machines worked, somewhere we lost this utopian idea.

I am off the opinion that since the start of automation to the present day and on into the foreseeable future there will be less and less jobs- why hire a building full of people when machinery or computers can do the same work with 6 people?

Completely agree. In Oslo I've seen several grocery stores that offer "self service" - you just register what you're going to buy and pay in an automat. I've been avoiding these on purpose because I don't like this particular development. How many people wouldn't lose their jobs if these were to become common in all stores? Technology has robbed enough people of their income already.

Exactly, and thats not a problem thats going to get better its going to get worse in the future.

We will always need specialists, scientists, enginers, ect but the mass work that for centuries employed the majority of people are getting less and less every decade.

When my father entered the work place the shipyards here hired thousands, they used to say you left school and the gates closed behind you and the shipyard gates opened in front of you- now they employ a few hundred specialists.
This will only keep happening as technology progresses.
Which leaves the question what do you do with the bulk of the population for whom there is no meaningful employment or income?

You cant just throw them on the scrapheap and you cant just pretend forever its all their own fault and you cant leave them in poverty (well you can, but you shouldn't as its unjustifiable in countries with so much wealth).

The storms in the south of England and the flooding there have been pretty devastating, and today an important rail line was destroyed in the storms- but all I could think looking at the pics on BBC news was 'what a bloody stupid place to put a railway line!'






I mean nice place for a house, good sea views, oh and trains two foot from your front door rattling your windows and walls every-time they go by, and why is right on the waterfront? Surely a break water at least is required- never mind storms a railway line that close to the sea here wouldnt last a normal winter. What were they thinking?

Didn't the sea wall collapse there though? So there was some defence against the water... just not enough to deal with yet another bloody storm!

Sure I see the same thing every week. '100 mph storms... but worse to come.'

I thought that also Petty ! What a silly idea ! but, carry on as we are in this green & wonderful land of ours &, who will rebuild this track, (preferably a LOT more inland ?) where will the metals come from ? who will transport the metals ? who will supervise ? check etc ? who will run the Cafe these guys will go to for a sarnie & a cup of tea ? The list goes on & on, Then theres environment issues, daft as this will sound but, after tracks are re built, there has to be gardeners/landscape workers needed to tidy up & make good with the soil or with re planting. Beach maintainance, list getting longer, more men needed, where are men ?... on the fooking dole, not wanted, cheaper by automation.

And another thing that pees me off is, This Government, no matter what codswallop they spout, is stripping people, dare I say especially men, of PRIDE. I know several men friends, (husbands of my friends etc) that feel like utter shit cos they cant do what they want to do, cant provide well enough for their families, feel theyve let their families down ! poor sods are working bloody hard, even to the point of hardly seeing their kids & wives, missing out on school 'do,s', trips in the evening to the cinema, cos of work ! iF they are lucky enough to have work. And STILL after slogging away, there's not enough income !   And Im not talking about guys wanting yachts & sulking cos they cant have their annual holiday to their own private Island & being taken in their own private jet, Im talking about ordinary guys wanting to take the whole family to the Carvery one night or go see a tourist attraction at the weekend, simple stuff some people take for granted but, seems elusive to us !

Thing about that railway, and th ehouses, is why they are so close to the sea.

Why hasnt that be extended out long ago?

In my town back in the Victorian era the water front was likewise right up against the buildings- heres a pick of the Argyll Hotel at the entrance to the  main street from bygone times-



As you can see the front doors damn near open out onto the water!

Here it is in more modern times-




Not only is is it no longer right on the water front but to the right, out of shot there is also a road, a carpark beyond it, then a water break and a pier.
The sea has been pushed back- dont they do this sort of thing in England and if not why not? I dont think you can complain the sea is in your living room if nothing has been done to prevent it.



Regards your point about pride Azriel I agree entirely, its soul destroying.

Ayup Jason...

I'll stick up for Brunel, and my family in Dawlish, because the Victorians didnt think like us nowadays.  when they saw a problem, they usually saw a solution and sorted it. I think its a bit disingenuous to slate part of a Hundred and sixty year old railway line for colapsing under the worst Extreme storms for some Decades. It's had some patching now and again, but the last I believe was in 1907 or so... So its given good value for money, and is Testamient to all the engineers and Navvies who built it.

A Link to a summary of the towns history... Enjoy.

http://www.dawlish.net/aboutdaw/history.htm

Plans, Petty, always plans ! People ask Government agencies for help but, as often, get told, "there's not enough money in the kitty!". Many places along my stretch of the coast line has simply vanished into the sea, leaving the odd brick dotted about or a piece of rock sticking out.
Belle Tout Lighthouse was an exception tho...It was moved away from the edge of Beachy head by 56ft,.......

Not knocking the original workmanship of the railway, just the logic in not moving the sea back a bit in the years since, especially as flooding has, even before this year, been a problem in England, what with it seeming to be crumbling round the edges into the sea as Azriel highlights.

i like how you're country is like slowly being eaten by the sea..

Norc wrote:i like how you're country is like slowly being eaten by the sea..

And yours is so good all the best people in yours left over a Thousand years ago... Leaving only Pig farmers ...

Jase, I know what you're saying, But the UK weather has been in extremis for some time. the shifting of the Gulf Air stream has created Havoc around the globe. Any wall will break if its pounded like that for too long. Even if the walls made of Granite.

feanor 1999 wrote:

Norc wrote:i like how you're country is like slowly being eaten by the sea..

And yours is so good all the best people in yours left over a Thousand years ago... Leaving only Pig farmers ...

what the hell? was that necessary? was that really necessary? did u really feel the urge to throw an insult at me just like that  out of the blue..

Take it how you will.

It isnt an insult, just a Historical fact. Unlike your 'Statement', which could be percieved as an Insult, but i'll let you off.

I think Norcs comment was humorous banter not an insult.

As a Scot I obviously dont think England falling into the sea is funny at all {{{{  }}}}}

Damn, where ma' pigs gone off to?! Looks like a 48 year old child stole them