RayC

Stating the obvious, London is a big place and there are many areas which I know very little about (especially NE London), and which might have deteriorated. However, the areas with which I am most familiar (Inner South London, Westminster, the City and parts of West London) are imo, on the whole, much better places to live/ work today compared with 40 years ago.

The Trump effect: Probably. The Starmer effect: Unlikely.

Indigenous people: Who might they be? Pure blood descendants of the Celts? The Anglo-Saxons? The Romans? The Vikings? The Normans? Mix of (all) the above? That last one opens up a can of worms. 95%+ of immigrants to the UK work. In 2023, the unemployment rate among immigrants was less than that found among native-born Brits (Source: Migrationobservatory) Foreign aid as a percentage of UK GDP has been declining. Foreign aid often comes with restrictions e.g. having to buy goods from companies within the donor country The UK economy will inevitably crash. An opinion devoid of any facts or analyses.

Sterling hasn't "crashed" in the past week. Sterling has fallen significantly against the US dollar, but then so too has every other major currency. Sterling has fluctuated within a normal range against other currencies over the past week. It is a case of the dollar firming not sterling weakening. Mortgage rates have increased because lenders had previously priced in another cut in the base rate drop in December which doesn't now appear likely.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr5m7mp96l8o

UK householders do not give EDF money, they purchase electricity - the price of which is regulated - from them.

Your first paragraph is simply untrue. France has been a net financial contributor to the EU budget - often contributing more than the UK - for all of this century. Your second paragraph: And ...? Bye.

I'm sorry that you got mugged but, unfortunately, it happens. However, it certainly doesn't prove that London as a whole is some crime-infested cesspit as some posters have suggested, or that London is a worse place to live than it was 40 years ago. The demographics change. Imo most of South London is a much healthy and wealthier place to live compared with 40 years ago. Some areas (e.g. Tower Hamlets?) may be worse.

I've no idea why you would reach that conclusion. She embellished her CV. Is this really that important? Why 'apparently' and quotation marks around economist? Is there any doubt that she was an economist at the BoE? So experience in a broad range of business related processes. False argument leads to false conclusion. Time will tell.

No it wasn't https://markets.ft.com/data/announce/detail?dockey=1330-1000914114en-7T4PD6PCHCKR3ERM89GBSJ3P0O#:~:text=In 2023 EDF was the,down by 26% from 2022.

Despite the categorisation of London as "crime infested" dump by some posters - whose recent experience of the UK capital city probably amounts to no more than a couple of hours every few years - London figures highly (top 20%) in many surveys such as the annual Berkshire Hathaway Safest Cities of the World and The Economist Intelligence Unit Livability Index, more often than not ahead of cities such as Bangkok, NYC and Paris. ahead of New York City, Tokyo, and Paris.

So the fact that Reeves hasn't run a business is irrelevant then? Running an economy is not the same as running an individual's personal finances.

How so?

That was in 2022. EDF returned €10bn profit in 2023.

Agreed but the post to which I replied seemed to imply that EU regulation was a barrier to member states' having an efficient energy industry. The French experience suggests otherwise.

Bad food? 50 years ago you were right. Nowadays - thanks to immigrants mainly - choice and quality of cuisine has greatly improved. Bad teeth? Maybe but those braces and uniform pearly whites seen in the US mean that sunglasses are a necessity. Speak funny? Now you are 'aving a larf?

And yet by following the same EU directives and regulations as the UK, the French energy sector has thrived. Very strange.

Neither have many recent chancellors e.g. Osborne, kwarteng.

Can I interest anyone in a bowl of whale head soup or, perhaps, some bear cub pate?

Another of your private conversations?😉 In any event, that may or may not be the case, but it's not the answer to the question which I posed.

Where is the evidence to support that contention?

Didn't you state previously that "Oirish" - your often used prefix - Joe Biden was anti-British? However, you now suggest that American Liberals - presumably this grouping includes Biden? - are obsequious in their dealings with British Royalty. Seems contradictory.

So basically women are money-grabbing prostitutes in your eyes?

Nothing like the same thing. And btw in your example a crime will have been committed.

Thanks for posting a fact. Unfortunately, it lives in splendid isolation amongst the bias, misogynist opinion in this thread. I have no idea whether a rape took place as I haven't followed the case or read the evidence. However, trivialities such as having a prior knowledge of the details of the case do not stop the misogynists knowing that McGregor has no case to answer. Instead, they know intuitively that the woman was an opportunist, who was influenced by McGregor's purse for the Mayweather fight among other things to gain a 'pay day'.