UK News and Discussions

[firestar464]

As we all know, social media, as the only type of technology in existence, is the only way to learn.

And as we all know, preserving GOP political power is absolutely desirable, and that there are no benefits to democracy or the general welfare to be had from resoundingly forcing them as they currently are out of the legislative branch. Perhaps the party of Trumpstein isn't so bad after all, because datacenters or something!

[wjfox]

I am going to make a prediction that the uk will be below Mexico, Brazil and India in 40 years as an economic power in terms of gdp because of this ban. You're literally separating children from the ability to use tech and to compete as future adults. South Africa, Nigeria, India and even Pakistan don't do this as they want to move up the scale, but the UK wants to lose. I mean wow!

You are going to produce lower quality adults that can't compete in tech. This will become worse then separating from the EU as you're doing this to your own people and their ability to dream.

It's a sad sight to behold. I pray to god America doesn't follow this crap! A few months ago I really wanted the democrats to take it all back but we can't afford one party to hold all power after this and the datacenter crap.

I hope the democrats get the house to stop the anti-lab science crap, anti-attacks on the safetynet and to hold Trump in check on trans rights.

I hope the republicans keep the senate by one vote and that remains so until at least 2032 in case Newsom wins in 2028.

It's rather ironic that you complain about "anti-science crap", while ignoring the science about children and social media.


"Children and adolescents who spend more than 3 hours a day on social media face double the risk of mental health problems including experiencing symptoms of depression and anxiety."

https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/repo ... index.html


“Students who spend over four hours on digital devices for leisure before or after school had lower mathematics scores than those spending between two and four hours.”

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/fi ... ent-6.html


“A UK study found that introducing school mobile phone bans was associated with test-score gains of 6.41% of a standard deviation, with the biggest gains among low-achieving students.”

https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1350.pdf


"Students who used their smartphone at school in most maths lessons were 1.4 times as likely to be distracted than students who did not."

https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/e ... 624-en.pdf


"On average across OECD countries, students who reported being distracted by other students using digital devices in at least some mathematics lessons scored 15 points lower in mathematics, after accounting for students’ and schools’ socio-economic profile."

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/pi ... nt-10.html


"Problematic social media use has been associated with less sleep and later bedtimes, potentially impacting adolescents’ overall health and academic performance."

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/25 ... tal-health


Social Media and Adolescent Health states that "digital media use can disrupt sleep quality and duration", including through delayed bedtimes, notifications, light-related circadian disruption and psychological stimulation.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK603429/


"New data from the WHO Regional Office for Europe reveals a sharp rise in problematic social media use among adolescents, with rates increasing from 7% in 2018 to 11% in 2022. This, coupled with findings that 12% of adolescents are at risk of problematic gaming, raises urgent concerns about the impact of digital technology on the mental health and well-being of young people."

https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/25 ... tal-health


"Ofcom’s 2025 research found 37% of 8-17 year olds who use social media or messaging apps agreed that ‘people are mean or unkind to each other’ on these apps all or most of the time."

https://post.parliament.uk/approved-wor ... ng-people/


Ofcom found that 39% of children aged 8–17 had experienced bullying either online or offline. Among those children, bullying was more likely to happen on a device (84%) than face-to-face (61%). The most common forms were text or messaging apps (56%), followed by social media (43%) and online games (30%).

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/online-safety/ ... an-offline


"Students who spend an excessive amount of time on digital devices for leisure have a lower sense of belonging at school."

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/fi ... ent-6.html


"Students who spend more than two hours a day on digital leisure activities are less satisfied with their lives overall than those who spend less time"

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/fi ... ent-6.html

[weatheriscool]

[firestar464]

b r u h

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

Pressure mounts on UK Prime Minister Starmer amid reports he could resign within days

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/2026 ... r-minister

[weatheriscool]

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[firestar464]

Me: How have Keir Starmer's policies affected the UK?

Claude 4.8 Opus: Starmer announced his resignation this morning (22 June 2026), so this is now a retrospective on a premiership ending in collapse. An Ipsos poll found him the most unpopular prime minister since their records began in 1977, with 13% satisfied and 79% dissatisfied — a net rating of minus 66. But it's worth separating two things that tend to get fused: the measurable effects of his policies, and the political collapse. They're related but not the same story, and the attribution problem on both is real.

On the economy — the dominant story — the honest summary is stagnation with sticky inflation. Growth has averaged roughly 1.2% across his two years, with 2026 tracking around 1% — what analysts have started calling "stagflation-lite." Inflation sat around 2.8–3.1% in spring 2026, with real wages barely positive (about 0.3% after inflation). Unemployment rose to 5.0% (from 3.8% in early 2024), youth unemployment hit 16.2%, and the ONS estimated over 200,000 payrolled jobs lost since July 2024. Some of this is genuinely his — the October 2024 budget's £40 billion in tax rises, the biggest at a single budget since 1993, including raising employer National Insurance to 15% — and businesses point to the NICs hike as a drag on hiring. But a chunk isn't: the 2026 energy shock from the Middle East conflict pushed inflation back up and weighed on growth, and the UK's weak-growth problem long predates him.

The flagship "fix the foundations" pledge on public services produced real but unspectacular movement. NHS waiting lists fell only about 4% to 7.3 million — welcome, but as the King's Fund put it, not transformational. And there's a measurement wrinkle worth flagging: some of the apparent drop came from administrative removals — people moving to private care, dying while waiting, or not answering texts — rather than purely more treatment delivered. Meanwhile the share of people going private rose to 16% from 9% in 2023, which tells you something about lived experience versus the headline numbers.

Immigration is where the gap between promise and outcome is sharpest, and also where attribution is hardest. Labour scrapped Rwanda and bet on "smashing the gangs." Crossings actually rose through 2024–25, then fell — leaving them about 13% higher year-on-year than when Labour took office, though down 23% from the autumn 2025 peak. The "one in, one out" France returns deal had sent back around 350 people by early 2026 — roughly 2% of arrivals. The Migration Observatory's caveat is the intellectually honest one: it's genuinely difficult to attribute crossing numbers to specific policies, since smuggling-network dynamics and conditions in origin countries often matter more than anything a UK government does.

The part that'll actually outlast him is the structural reform, which got less attention than the polling drama. Rail renationalisation began in 2025 and is rolling through operator by operator toward Great British Railways. GB Energy, planning liberalisation, the employment rights bill, steep minimum-wage rises for younger workers, the abolition of NHS England in March 2025 to pull functions back toward ministers, a wholesale shift of the asylum system to temporary rather than permanent protection from March 2026, and a significant change in nuclear posture via F-35A jets for NATO's dual-capable mission. Whatever you think of these individually, they're a substantive institutional footprint.

So why the collapse, if the record is "mediocre-but-not-disastrous"? Partly self-inflicted choices and a missing through-line. The winter fuel payment cut for pensioners was the single most toxic early move, and reversing it in 2025 didn't undo the reputational damage. Then a pattern of U-turns — winter fuel, the welfare/PIP climbdown that triggered ministerial resignations — corroded the sense that the government knew what it stood for. By late 2025 roughly two-thirds of people thought Labour was out of touch and unclear about its purpose. The structural reality underneath is that Labour won in 2024 with the smallest vote share of any majority government since popular-vote records began in 1830 — a loveless landslide built on Tory collapse rather than enthusiasm, which left almost no cushion when things went sideways. Reform UK built a consistent polling lead and the Greens closed in on Labour, and the 2026 locals saw Labour lose around 1,500 councillors and a projected 17% national vote share.

The fair structural reading: he inherited a hard fiscal and public-services hand, delivered modest real improvements plus some durable reforms, got hit by an external energy shock he didn't cause — and then squandered whatever political capital he had through a handful of unpopular calls and a failure to articulate any legible project, against an electorate that never actually liked him to begin with. The policies didn't transform Britain in either direction; the politics is what cratered, and a lot of that was about narrative and trust rather than outcomes you can put a number on.

[weatheriscool]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

[wjfox]

Nigel Farage to make statement 'on future in public life' after finance row

• Nigel Farage says he'll make a statement on his "future in public life" at 14:00 BST
• The Reform UK leader has recently faced a series of questions about his financial affairs
• At the weekend, the Sunday Times accused Farage of not declaring benefits, including staff and security, received from long-time ally George Cottrell
• Farage denied wrongdoing and said he was considering legal action against the newspaper
• He has also faced questions about a £5m gift from Reform UK donor Christopher Harborne in early 2024 which he did not register

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn0v9l9x0g8t

[wjfox]

Nigel Farage just resigned as MP.

But will stand again in a Clacton by-election.

[firestar464]

[firestar464]

[wjfox]

If he actually stands and wins, it will be the most epic troll in world history.

[wjfox]