Things that have made you happy today 2025

Local cherries are on sale here, bought some yesterday off a stall at the garden centre, very nice too, she said if the weather stays good she will be there for 6 weeks, so I'm hoping we dont get any real rain.

 

Finding out that the Sewing Bee is back on the 15th.

 

I took this photo today, nothing special - but it came out OK.

 

Watching Reeves crying. As an OAP I have no sympathy for her.

 

You may have no sympathy for her, but taking pleasure in her distress is something I cannot understand or agree with..

 

I won at freezer lottery, I defrosted a vacuum packed thingy and this morning it turned out to be diced venison. So venison casserole is on the menu.

 

@NigelJ I can understand @waterbut enjoying seeing Reeves crying.

The woman is deeply insensitive, lacking empathy and common sense and is unimaginative and not a socialist.

A 5% additional tax rate on the very rich, especially those who hide their UK wealth in overseas tax free funds and other dodges, would raise enough to cover the funds she thinks she'll save by withdrawing help from the vulnerable and would go a long way to improving NHS and social care as well as housing and better school buildings and education facilities.

At the mo, as I understand it, the highest tax band is 45%. I can remember the Beatles song about a 95% tax band which is clearly a disincentive to stay and work and earn in the UK but a happy medium can surely be found.

If housing stock was improved with no more people living in damp and mould infested rooms, having poor education and aspirations, student debt, poor health services in deprived areas and so on, it would go a long way to reducing the number of people on long term benefits for depression and other debilitating illnesses and make them happier and more productive. The more serious cases who have physical disabilities should not have to beg for decent accommodation and equipment to make their lives bearable and should not be left feeling guilty because they need help.

 

Unless you know her pretty well personally I don't think these are more than assumptions, the fact that she was observed showing distress would indicate your assumptions to be wrong.
As you are currently living France then her policies will have little or no effect on you.

As for these while I agree with them they are not her direct responsibility, being down to the Government's policy.

How human can take pleasure at another's distress completely escapes me.

 

It's because she's causing more distress to helpless people than she can possibly be feeling herself in a position of power @NigelJ .

If she had any empathy she'd have come up with something less cruel.

And the day Trump and his cronies get their come-uppance will be a day of rejoicing all over I imagine. Ditto Putin, the north Korean régime and many more.

 

@Obelix-Vendée what is she doing please? We don't get a lot of "non headline" news here and I would not know which newspapers over there to read to get an unslanted report.

 

I have no empathy yet it doesn't make me a sadist.
The problems with British housing stock significantly worsened with the reign of M Thatcher when she decided it was a good idea to sell off council housing stock at discounted prices. Since then no real funding has been given to councils to rebuild this stock and the few that have tried promptly run in the NIMBYs

 

On a more cheerful and on topic note; the venison casserole smelt very good especially with the addition of a couple of handfuls of fresh redcurrants. Hopefully it will taste as good it smells.

 

She took away a winter fuel payment of around £300 from pensioners on an income of only about £12,500. She increased National Insurance payments, which really impacts small businesses and has caused a fall in recruitment and job opportunities. She has left the wealthy pretty much untouched, except for getting some chump change out of them when flying.

She has exaggerated the problems she inherited and said she is solving the black hole in the country's finances, while actually making things worse.

 

@NigelJ Thatcher's sell off was designed to empower people stuck in council tenancies and unable to buy on the open market but, as ever, she didn't think things thru and no provision was made for people who still needed social housing and no quality controls imposed on what was left of council stock and the new housing associations so people are living in hovels again with damp issues, molds, inadequate insulation/heating/ventillation. That has knock-on consequences for the NHS and the people whose health is affected.

Yes, welfare payments need an overhaul to reduce fraud but not in such a sweeping way that genuine claiments suffer. They should also be looking at supporting carers, especially children and older partners or parents looking after loved ones and saving the state a fortune.

I think she's going after the wrong people cos it's easy and not because she's considered all other options.

 

That's a lot more pension money than what I get. 50% more actually. Having worked many years for companies who up and went to the states along with our pension contributions left a lot of us scrabbling every month to make ends meet on our goverment pension. That said, some of your costs might be higher than ours so that would likely make mine comparable to yours.

For a politician and to cut into that is nasty and mean. I have never collected welfare and always managed to find ways to bring in supplementary income which pays for my hobbies. Gardening, sewing, baking etc and am happy I am physically able to work even now in my 70's.

Hopefully this woman's tearful performance wasn't crocodile tears and she reverses some of her policies. If not, I hope she lives to regret her meanness!