Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[HVC]

They'll be able to vote but not sext each other or buy a pint in a pub. A bit of a muddle but probably not important.

Let's fix the buying a pint one next.

That's what the uk needs, more underage drinking . Although I guess that's one way to fudge the stats

[Sheilbh]

They'll be able to vote but not sext each other or buy a pint in a pub. A bit of a muddle but probably not important.

Let's fix the buying a pint one next.

That's what the uk needs, more underage drinking . Although I guess that's one way to fudge the stats

Unironically, yes

[Richard Hakluyt]

I started drinking in pubs just before my 16th birthday. You had to behave yourself or the landlord would suddenly refuse to serve you. It was a far better training than the alternative, ie teen only parties with cheap cider.

[Josquius]

Yep.
It's the norm across Europe that you can be served beer in pubs from 16. It works well. Theres no market for white lightning on the continent.

I've said before but if I were in charge I'd put in place policies to help the pub industry overall. People are going to drink either way - rather than doing it isolated at home better for many reasons that it should make  financial sense to do it in a community space.

[HVC]

From my understanding*, the problem with uk drinking culture is that it's a binge drinking culture. Would younger legal access help that?

*Although I do recognize that that understanding could be faulty.

[Sheilbh]

And Tories propose bringing back national service for 18 year olds - either one year in the forced or 25 days of volunteering.

Honestly, like with votes at 16, I don't really hate it

Edit: And worth noting the forces bit is capped at 30,000 and only in the non-fighting bits (but I imagine it would/should be used for recruitment). So 95% would just be doing some sort of volunteering scheme.

[Valmy]

One year vs 25 days? Seems fair.

Though I guess you get paid for your year.

[Tamas]

I don't really hate it

Which part you don't hate?

[Admiral Yi]

Youtube has not left me impressed with British 16 year olds.

[Valmy]

Youtube has not left me impressed with British 16 year olds.

What Youtube channels are you watching that feature British 16 year olds? 

[Admiral Yi]

What Youtube channels are you watching that feature British 16 year olds? 

I don't keep track of channels.  I get videos of kids throwing rocks at cars, kids mouthing off to cops, scooter crime, etc.

[Jacob]

Just your usual "kids these days" feed 

[Josquius]

Conscription - no. Transparent culture wars crap.
Though weird choice of minimal time period vs a full year in the military.
And it comes back to the apprentice chat... Can the cyber defence people really handle a bunch of untrained kids who don't really want to be there?

If staffing of these jobs is a problem, how about using the money they plan on using to fund the slavery policy to just pay people better?

From my understanding*, the problem with uk drinking culture is that it's a binge drinking culture. Would younger legal access help that?

*Although I do recognize that that understanding could be faulty.

Correlation doesn't equal causation... But in much of Europe it does seem to.
Beer and wine tends to be much harder to get smashed on than hard alcohol.

What Youtube channels are you watching that feature British 16 year olds? 

I don't keep track of channels.  I get videos of kids throwing rocks at cars, kids mouthing off to cops, scooter crime, etc.

After the earlier chat where I mentioned I'm a gay Indian and several others had odd pictures, I'm fascinated to know what the algorithm thinks of you.

[Tamas]

The tories reached the stage years ago when they would drop some surprise "policy" so everyone can talk about it for a week and then it never gets further than that.

Now that we are still doing that for them weeks before they are out of government is silly.

And Sheilbh is such a small c conservative. :p this conscription bollocls is entirely pointless.

[Sheilbh]

Parties announcing policies is kind and then people choosing (including whether to believe them) is kind of how elections work, no?

I don't know that it's entirely pointless. It's basically, from what I understand, not a million miles away from what Scandinavian countries have and has been floated as an idea by people like David Lammy before. I think the idea of basically a month volunteering in your community isn't a bad idea. And the 30k in the forces could be an opportunity to sell a career there, which might help with the recruitment crisis.