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I wouldn't disagree with most of what you say Adam, but I was only responding to Jayne's post.As for Royal Mail  - privatising it was never going to be a good idea bearing in mind they were still expected to adhere to conditions others were not, when it comes to parcel deliveries it is not an level playing field. My view is that any privatisation will be more focused on profits  and shareholder dividends than customer care and a decent service, for example our utilities. If you look at the way Amazon operate - they treat their staff appallingly - if you don't mind working people not having any dignity or the right to join a Trades Union to represent them - fine, but many people have fought for those rights and they are precious and needed, never more so than now. Also, let us not forget the Post Office and their criminal treatment of the sub postmasters - and still no-one has been brought to book, for ruining lives with terrible lies and double dealing, which the management were all too happy to perpetrate. The world should change, but I despair of that happening anytime soon - if at all ever, look at COP27 if proof were needed. If the government cared to look - they might see just how much public money went to private individuals and companies for PPE contracts and the like during the pandemic, that's without all the fiddling that went on with the loans made - they wasted millions if not billions and they are doing nothing to try and get the money back or prosecute the people who conned them, so it's no wonder councils will have their funding cut, someone will have to pay -  and as usual it will be us. As for dentists they have been saying for years that there were huge problems looming, to no avail, they cannot make the NHS payments work. I'm afraid if we are waiting for the current government to sort this out - it will be a mighty long wait.

Vanessa Smith ● 319d

I've never been personally affected by the protests Robert, and the basic principle behind the protests is one I concur with.  The issue I have is that the reality is that these protests won't make a jot of difference in the grander scheme of things, and the people who suffer as a result of these protests are the average person in the street.  And no, as a result of being inconvenienced the average person in the street doesn't align with the protesters, arguably precisely the opposite.The world is, quite simply, 'f**ked' because of what humans have done to it.  The imbalances in the world, be it at global, national or local level, are all down to two things, greed and selfishness.  We live in a world where some people haven't got access to a fresh water supply, and in that same world footballers earn £865k a week.  We live in a world where sporting events (and I'm not just on about the World Cup) will take place wherever the highest bid comes from, and/or clubs can be owned by companies directly linked to the ruling elite of countries that will happily assassinate their critics.  We live in a world where a significant minority of people, because they don't want to graft, will do whatever it takes for their greasy pay-cheque, be it appearing on I'm a Celebrity, having sex with as many professional athletes as possible in order to sell their story to the tabloids, or becoming a social media 'influencer' using platform populated by amoebas who live in a world of instant gratification where they can pick and choose precisely what to watch (so they struggle to cope when they can't have what they want) and rather than cooking for themselves rely on 24/7 food delivery services. We live in a world where the public sector is totally bankrupt and struggles to provide any level of service, be it the NHS, the police, Councils and so forth.  To give an example, Havering Council has to find £44 million of savings by next year.  Meanwhile, private companies (including the likes of BP) are raking in billions of profit.As I said in my earlier post, China has over 1000 coal-fuelled power stations and that number keeps on increasing.  The UK will have 0 by 2025 (I can see one of the remaining 3 out my window as I type).  The powers that be might go along to COP and give their little spiels about doing something now, but they've been rolling out those spiels for over 30 years and the situation has only got worse (coal usage in China has more then trebled since 1990).So the sad reality is that, and it's an unfortunately ironic saying, these protesters are protesting against something that is a drop in the ocean compared to be bigger picture.  Unless and until the world becomes more 'even', in every respect, nothing will ever improve.  To me the start of that  process would be a salary cap across every profession, taxing the absolute hell out of the uber-rich, sporting teams and ruling bodies turning their back on chasing every penny and so forth.Yes this post is totally negative, but it's also the reality, a reality which people don't want to face up to because it might depress them.

Adam Beamish ● 320d

Og geez, get a sense of perspective.China has over 1000 coal-fuelled power stations and is building ever more, the UK has 3, all of which will be closed down by 2025.It never ceases to surprise me how many people still don't bother to separate recyclable from non-recyclable waste, how many people still litter, how many people rather than walk or get public transport will get taxis to go everywhere (and often all of these behaviours are the actions of young 'adults' who we're told are being denied a future) and how much unnecessary packaging there is.I'm usually amused (in a tragic irony sense) at the total hypocrisy of some of these climate change protesters who get arrested and it turns out they've got 5 kids and yet have the nerve to preach as though they're holier than thou.I'll do my bit, I'll recycle as much as I can, I won't litter, I don't get in a car, taxi or public transport (electric or otherwise powered) everyday, I haven't got 5 kids, but I'm be damned if someone is going to tell me to not take a handful of flights year.It's just like everything else, so many of the worlds problems could be solved/minimised if every country imposed a salary cap to prevent people, regardless of what line of work they do, to earn silly amounts of money, but no, we have footballers on £865k a week and so on.  No-one in any position of power or influence has the balls to do anything meaningful, so instead it's just the average person in the street that suffers whilst the problems continue to grow, be it economic, environmental, whatever.

Adam Beamish ● 322d