Scotland The Great

@Lyndonx Reform’s tax cuts are the advert; the product is a smaller state, weaker public services, harder migration rules, less climate action, tougher welfare rules, more private-sector healthcare, and weaker rights-based protections.

I have spent the last week comparing policies between Reform, Labour and Green. This is not a biased post, it’s factual: Reform is the party most likely to impose the least day-to-day lifestyle restraints and leave people with the most retained income. Its economic pitch is lower taxes, lighter regulation, and rolling back climate rules, while Labour and the Greens both accept more state direction and more policy-linked costs. State direction and control is not a good thing. Look at other countries that have state control and high taxes.

@Lyndonx And you're completely ignoring: Leaving the ECHR Scrapping Net Zero Hurting those on PIPs Scrapping a lot of employment law to make us more like america (where you can be sacked at any time for anything) Not to mention - where's the money for the tax cuts to come from?

@PBaboins @JackBMontgomery No one has said it's criminal. He's not being prosecuted just for sleeping with a 16 year old. He's been charged with rape and sexual assault.

@ScotlandTheGr8 @JackBMontgomery Creepy sure but that I don't think is grounds for criminality

What's strange about the Russel Brand discourse is that everyone (including me) is unsettled by the idea of a 30-year-old "dating" a 16-year-old, but no British commentators are following this through to its logical conclusion to say the age of consent needs to rise.

@SammiePressdee @piersmorgan @PiersUncensored @rustyrockets There's a quote from a TV show I once heard and I think it pretty much sums Russell up here... "A faith of convenience is no faith at all"

There is a MISLEADING clip circulating of Russell Brand and his Bible. I understand some might not have the attention span to watch a two hour interview. Try 4 minutes please. Here he reads a passage and recalls another BY HEART! Writing in Bibles is TINY. Russell’s faith may be the only thing keeping him going. Think of his wife and small children. Think of all the people he helped get off drugs. Wait for the jury to decide his fate. Let’s not break Gods commandments by bearing false witness. CONTEXT matters.

@Essex_Patriot Tell me you don't understand progressive tax rates without telling me you don't understand progressive tax rates

YOU KNOW WHAT'S INSANE? If you're on a 40% tax rate, you're handing over 40p of every £1 you earn. That means. JANUARY. FEBRUARY. MARCH. APRIL. You're working 4+ months a year just to pay the government. But that's just income tax. Now add: VAT on almost everything you buy Vehicle tax & licence fees - Council tax & land tax - Fuel duty & road tolls - Stamp duty, insurance taxes, "luxury" levies. When you add it all up, if you earn £100k, you're likely working 5-6+ months a year just to cover taxes. That's half your year gone before you even see a pound for yourself.

@TheFox89688362 @JohnWad84222151 Yes but clearly you've not read the petition. It's specifically for single lane roads like you get in the country. Some idiots see the 60mph as a target...when those roads you'd be lucky to get to 30 half the time.

@JohnWad84222151 It's a government petition

Millions of Brits do not back this call. When will these anti-driver zealots stop? 'Thousands of Brits have backed a call to halve the national speed limit from 60mph to 30mph' share.google/MdvfAp75DqxI7z…

@SandyofSuffolk If he's paying tax on it, it means he's got another pension there (private) as the current state pension is still below the tax threshold. So I'm not gonna shed any tears for you.

Husband's private pension went up by £23 but because it's a pension, not a benefit, he's only seeing £8 of it. The rest has gone in tax for Labour to waste.

@areyoflight Dentures are also an option...you don't need implants.

This is how broken dental health is in the UK right now. 👇 A few weeks ago I badly cracked two teeth. Couldn’t find an NHS dentist anywhere, so I’ve been holding them together with a DIY filling. Finally got seen today. I told them: I’ve already lost 3 teeth. If you pull these two, I literally won’t be able to chew food anymore. Their response? A shrug. Then came the quote: root canal + two fillings = £1,699. I asked what happens when the rest of my teeth start collapsing (because they will). ‘Teeth implants. £2,500 each.’ So…I’m looking at eventually replacing ALL my teeth. Zero chance I can ever afford that. No wonder so many Brits have fucked-up teeth. How is this acceptable in 2026? 😡

@UsmanAbidemiEsq attempted murder I'd say. You can't murder a dead person, and a dead person isn't classed as a person for Battery. But B. Just requires intent and taking steps to do it which she fulfilled. Might also be unlawful discharge of a weapon and interfering with a body too

Criminal law students should attempt this.

@BotFinderUK "But we're not racists"

Today's Restore Britain St George's Day rally in Nuneaton

@JustMaggie1st I'll take "things that never happened" for $200 please. To have self-serve tills open, they need to have a till-trained operator on duty for a start (they deal with all the "unexpected item" and such).

A friend in Tesco with full trolly. No cashiers open. Manager explains that she had to use self service as he had no staff to operate tills. She said, including you I can count 6 staff here. Well I’m sorry but they’re not till trained. She said, and neither am I! Have your trolley back!

@sacredgeometry @JamesMelville People do that with 60 though...that's the problem. They don't get that it's just "unrestricted" so defaults to the national speed. Idiots look at that and go "oh well that means I can drive at 60", so in theory it's better they thing "30". I agree it's pointless though.

@ScotlandTheGr8 @JamesMelville Its a stupid petition. People should be allowed to continue deciding the appropriate speed of travel on these roads. Setting the speed limit is dangerous as it insinuates that there is a decided appropriate speed. And people will use it.

“Thousands of Brits have backed a call to halve the national speed limit from 60mph to 30mph on single carriageway roads.” This is absolutely ridiculous for so many different reasons.

@WasAcop Because when it comes to matters of health, it's important that the patient understands fully. I can get by with French and hold a conversation, but if things get into technical details, I'd struggle. This is the same for people here.

If migrants are ‘learning and speaking English’ as claimed, why did the NHS spend £64 million on translation and interpretation services in 2024/25 alone—more than double the £31 million from 2020/21? That’s over £175k per day of taxpayer money.

@sacredgeometry @JamesMelville Sorry, morning brain not functioning...I thought you were saying there were only 4 single lane carriageways. The petition is specifically about single lane carriageways with just one lane. So basically country roads, typically around farms...not highways etc.

@ScotlandTheGr8 @JamesMelville There are single carriageways with more than 4 lanes in the UK? I dont think there are. At least I have never seen 6+ lane single carriageways.

@joemichalczuk We have a private provision. Bupa etc. I used it for an issue I had with migraines. However, when my wife had a serious medical issue last weekend we were seen within a day, she was put on the right meds, and is now seeing a specialist in a few weeks.

A shower screen shattered all over my wife this week. Over the next 72 hours, the NHS got almost everything wrong. A cautionary tale of a system that is broken (with the usual caveat that everyone working in it is doing their best) 👇 I called an ambulance. All good at first: “It’s on its way.” Ten minutes later: “Actually, there are no ambulances for hours - can you get her to hospital?” So I loaded my bleeding wife into the car, along with the kids and the dog, and drove to A&E. Ten hours later, she came home - having given up after not even being offered a plaster. The next morning, we called our GP: “Any chance she could see a nurse?” “No - as the ambulance referred her to hospital, we can’t see her.” So I went to the pharmacy and bought a first aid kit. Because apparently that’s where we are now - me and a pack of plasters, in one of the richest countries in the world. This morning, still in pain, still untreated, and with a ballooning foot, we went to an urgent treatment centre. At first, smooth. She was seen in under two hours. X-ray done. “Nasty cut, but nothing broken.” Relief. Two hours later, the phone rang. It was the hospital. “Sorry - we got that completely wrong. Your foot is broken and the wound needs antibiotics.” If it wasn’t so serious, it would be laughable. And the truth is - anyone who uses the system has a story like this. We need to stop clinging to an idealised version of the NHS and have a grown-up conversation about how to fix it. Free healthcare for all should remain a principle - but pretending the current model works isn’t helping anyone. Almost every other developed country combines public healthcare with some level of private provision - and all deliver better outcomes as a result. Yet in the UK, even suggesting that tends to get shut down before the conversation starts. That’s not protecting the NHS. It’s protecting a cult. We don’t need ideology. We need honesty about what works. We need a brilliant NHS in practice for all of us - not one we’re told to revere while it quietly crumbles, and where anyone who speaks up is dismissed or discredited. When are we going to get serious about the things that actually matter - and have the difficult national conversations needed to fix them? We don’t need to abandon the NHS. We need to be honest about fixing it. We shouldn’t just shrug our shoulders. We have to be better. We need to vote for real change.

@Thy_Planet @JamesMelville Can and should are different things. And yes, morons will be morons ... Honestly I don't care about the petition it just annoyed me the initial tweet and headline were clearly rage banging and inaccurate

@ScotlandTheGr8 @JamesMelville There's definitely places where you can do that. Morons would be doing 60 even with a 30mph speed limit.

@sacredgeometry @JamesMelville There are definitely more than 4 across the UK

@ScotlandTheGr8 @JamesMelville Thats not what it says, There are 4 lane single carriageways

@seagull4a @JamesMelville I don't get your point...as I said, the petition is basically for single country lanes...it wouldn't affect any other streets (nor do I think it'll actually go anywhere)

@ScotlandTheGr8 @JamesMelville I live in SW London. On Saturday it took me 35 mins to drive 2.5 miles, largely due to roadworks, cycle lanes and the fact that the A306 has now been reduced to 20mph despite it being dual carriageway with a central reservation & no housing on one side.

@GavSRob @JamesMelville Because it was never really 60. It's just currently "national speed limit" rather than a specific limit. 60 isn't a target either. So it's more about adding a limit rather than taking one away.

@ScotlandTheGr8 @JamesMelville Literally where there's half the capacity of two lanes we halve the speed to make it a quarter. How does this make sense? I could see an argument to turn 60 into 50, but how could previous judgement be 100% too much???!