Comments by "Roger Smith" (@rogersmith8339) on "The Times and The Sunday Times" channel.

  1. I think what you are saying there goes a long way to illustrate what I said earlier about things having been unsustainably good for far too long at the cost of people far away.
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  2.  @truth.speaker  It goes to show that purely giving away money is not always the solution and sometimes just makes things worse.
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  3. Why is it that when some people get interviewed about the poverty they are facing, their houses are filled with useless stuff and are much bigger than mine. I was brought up in what would now be considered abject poverty, 5 kids in a 3 bed council house with only dad working in a manual job. Never had a foreign holiday until in my 30s. Like my siblings, we are all now comfortably off through hard work and careful spending.
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  4. It needs people to go there and spend their money there rather than cheap foreign holidays. Our economy needs to become more "circular" for us to survive in the world.
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  5. @Captain Blacktooth The Scandinavians in general have a much better way, but very sadly, that is changing as their whole ethos is being eroded by those who do not share it.
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  6.  @MOJORAPSCALLION  I am sorry you have to live that way, but out of interest, how did you end up like that? Sadly, I have known a few people in your situation for whom they only have themselves to blame and they are often the most "entitled", thinking that the world owes them!
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  7. The pub issue is a very interesting one - my city used to have one for each day of the year it was claimed but that has dwindled. Every now & then a new one pops up and then disappears. Social habits have changed so much in recent times that even really good pubs no longer have the number of regulars they did even 10 years ago. A good illustration of this is not a pub but my sailing club. 20 years ago, it was really busy on Sunday lunch time, Wednesday evening and Friday evening with loads of big social event throughout the year. Now it is rarely open and social events few and far between. The drinks were always way cheaper than the local pubs. You cannot blame the cost of living as most of us now have bigger and newer boats and quite a few fancy cars are seen there. This same change has affected many other community things too. I am not sure what if any the cure is or even should be?
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  8.  @DancingAmaya  When this lot gets kicked out at the next election things might change?
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  9. While I agree to a point, your dear president set a very good example of selfishness. What many people in the UK forget is the the military are already being paid anyway and instead of very expensive training exercises they are doing something useful. Events like that also bring in money from tourism and all the other people being paid have to spend their money somewhere and pay taxes. I know the UK economy is far from a "circular" one (unlike France and some other countries used to be) but enough of the money gets back in the economy to help.
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  10. @Callum Nowadays, I think there is no lack of opportunities for those who want them. The job market is so diverse and the chances to set up your own business is amazing if you have the will. Sadly, much of the will to do well for yourself comes from family and that is becoming the big issue now.
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  11. One of the big issues there is that everyone has got used to foreign holidays (not that I have ever had that many as I like Britain) and they have become too cheap at the cost of those in the destination countries. Many in society have become used to unsustainable and unrealistic expectations along with a number of other major changes in social behaviour.
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  12.  @leonhenry4861  Because they spend it all on things they could well do without.
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  13. And in some of the richer countries things are even worse for some!
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  14.  @sonyasmith1991  That is a big injection into the economy as that money doesn't simply vanish. Taxes are paid on wages and the wages are spent in the UK. I wonder how many contractors/ short term jobs were created that helped get people back to the idea of working for a living?
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  15.  @sonyasmith1991  Where does all this money that it costs go to?
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  16.  @kevinsyd2012  As they say, you could give three poor people £10,000 and after a year, one will have doubled his money, one will still be the same as always and the third will be even poorer than they were before.
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  17.  @banana9106  I think that one of the major factors is that we have simply had things too good and too cheap for too long, largely due to poverty in other parts of the world (typically the far east). People have come to have unsustainable expectations and they are now starting to bite us!
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  18. @Callum The old lady might not have been the best example of what I was saying, but you get the drift. Some people will still be poor however much financial help you give them, and some will climb out of poverty with little outside help. In fact, it has been proven that the wrong type of help (i.e. purely financial) actually makes things worse in many cases.
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  19.  @charlottetaylor4471  You used the term "comfortably", but the problem today is people's expectations of what comfortably is. We have all had things far too good and cheap for far too long to be sustainable and it is all catching up with us now.
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  20.  @charlottetaylor4471  Parts of Spain are pretty grim and many parts of the UK are world beating in terms of beauty and culture.
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  21. If you want to see truly hard times, have a look at Portugal or the US as two really good examples? Or maybe even some of the African countries who at one time (i.e. until we let them go) were pretty well off.
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  22.  @turnovertheleaf5505  Very sad but true in many cases, although more specifically the "Gen Z" lot don't want to do real work as that is beneath them. That said, I do know a couple of real exceptions who work hard and will go far in this world.
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  23. @ali kamal If no luxuries means just survival then a good 3/4 of the world's population is barely surviving! My motto for life (from an economic perspective) was that you can always save money on the things you need but never cut corners on what you want to make your life better!
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  24.  @levbronstein-red  Any government in these times!
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  25. @Max TheCat Sadly, like many charities set up to help people, it is against their interests to cure the problems. A bit extreme I know, but if poor people did not have any children for a couple of generations, there would be far fewer people living in poverty.
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  26.  @johnpugh3348  Did you not know that the guy in 1930's Germany was also very anti-capitalist (it is how he got his country out of the mess it was in earlier)? The problem with pure capitalism (same as any "ism") is that unchecked it leads to extremes and just like communism goes astray when the greedy and dishonest get to be in charge (even those who start out with good intent become corrupt!).
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  27.  @johnmoore9862  That is an interesting point but maybe it is linked to the reason that some western powers turned a bit of a blind eye to what he was up to early on? That or he saw through some of what was happening there?
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  28. It might just be what the world needs before greed and materialism destroys us all? The strong and the prepared will come out the other side stronger and better prepared for the next phase m
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  29.  @merlingeikie  I think you misunderstood my comment regarding an alternative to the current government. Many of these people would be poor whoever was running the country and more than a few still poor however many handouts they were given. One side gains support through poverty and the other cheap labour.
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  30. @Ama Daetz I think you are confused by what "entitled " is taken to mean these days. If you are talking about the government/ civil servants, then strictly speaking they are entitled (and infact empowered by the ordinary people of the country) to do what they see fit (right or wrong). These days, "entitled" refers to those who think they are entitled to have massive TVs, new cars and the latest designer clothes without really earning them or in some cases without a proper job. That is what is ruining our economy!
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  31.  @MsMesem  I totally agree with you on that. I am not a big supporter of the various royal "hangers-on" but there are not really that many and they have to spend their money somewhere. When you think of all the ordinary folk who have foreign holidays each year (I.e. spend money abroad) and buy masses of cheap foreign goods, it makes you wonder ho is doing the most for the economy / country?
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  32.  @RedEyeification  Not sure where you got that idea from? What about all the ordinary people who got paid more as a result of the event?
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  33.  @RedEyeification  The poor people as you put it, work for those businesses (or at least those who deserve any help do). More than a few very successful businesses were started by ordinary people. And then there is the question of how much many poor people contribute to society and the economy?
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  34.  @charlottetaylor4471  And oddly, it is the French who are some of the biggest admirers of our monarchy?
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  35.  @sonyasmith1991  And how many reasonably poor people are there in the UK? I would suggest more than a few million ( given by what is considered to be poor these days). If it was only 1 million, that is only £12 each, really not going to do much is that? And given that just money often causes more problems, at least they would not be big problems.
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  36.  @RedEyeification  Businesses pay what they have to to get workers, just like buying things in a shop. Make yourself more valuable and you get paid more, just like I did and many others.
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  37.  @RedEyeification  Then there is nothing wrong with some people doing well in life and others not so well. To each man, his worth?
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  38.  @RedEyeification  Does that include those who do nothing to help themselves? And where can I find a template for this utopia?
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  39.  @colettelondon8434  What is, that people are complaining about the big event that put a huge amount into the economy?
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  40.  @vacafuega  Totally agree with you regarding sustainability and a good quality of life. The problem these days is people have started to expect/ feel entitled to things in a way that is not sustainable. Just think about TVs as one example - I am more than happy with my 32" one as it fits my small living room. When it breaks I will not rush out and get the biggest I can find like some people seem to expect to.
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  41.  @kevinsyd2012  Exactly my thoughts. Peoples expectations have become unsustainable and it has made everyone greedy, generally at the expense of poorer countries. Some of these poorer countries have gained from this (e.g. China) but others have not. You only have to see how many of the younger generations behave to understand this.
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  42. @Dan Smith One of the reasons I voted for Brexit was the soaring cost of EEC and all the hangers on. The other was that very little honest effort seemed to be put in to persuade me otherwise.
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  43.  @leeetchells609  It is a bit misleading to quote just the money as it is equipment that has been sent and this has to be made somewhere by someone. It is also quite likely older, slightly obsolete stuff or things we wanted to be test in real world situations so it is not that clear cut. This is not to say that I support war in any form, specially one that could easily have been avoided!
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  44. @ali kamal I think some people use that as an excuse. I have a number of eastern European neighbours who have more than one job and drive round in much newer cars than me and seem to be pretty comfortably off. When I worked ( not any fancy job and certainly not middle management or anything) I was comfortable off enough and when you think that my generation went through periods of shockingly high inflation and interest rates it should not be all doom and gloom!
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  45.  @gubilasco9022  Is that why many other parts of Europe are going through hard times as well? I recall taking to various Europeans just after the Euro was introduced. They all said about the high inflation it triggered.
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  46.  @clintharper5509  By some people's reckoning it would be Brexit, the Conservatives or the Elites!
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  47.  @phillumenistfilms  Much of it the greed of ordinary people!
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  48.  @rhysdavies3479  It certainly can be for many people, often those who don't initially intend to!
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  49.  @BLUESKY-zt1nv  No need to stay celibate, there are plenty of ways of enjoying the pleasures of the flesh without the risk of bratts!
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  50.  @ageoflove1980  I most of the world, family look after the older generations but in the UK it seems many only care about what they will inherit from them.
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