UKC

Please have a read of this. It's really quite chilling:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/may/07/the-great-british-brexit...

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

I tried but life is to short

In reply to JEF:

Ironic...

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

You need a new tin foil hat, your old one is wearing out.

In reply to Dax H:

No tin foil hats needed. what this article describes is well documented, and that sort of data acquiring and processing for the purposes of targeting people is the reason companies like Facebook or Google make their money. In fact the 'leave' campaing is under investigation for not having declared the services from Cambridge Analytica as 'donors', so its use is as official as it gets. (Just noticed this is mentioned in the article as well)

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.…" Churchill in the commons, 1947, but quoting apparently.

It's a lot cleaner that the majority of the world. Is life in the UK that bad? (Probably needs a separate thread!)

In reply to jonnie3430:


It never fails to amaze me how many people on here can bare living in the UK the way they go on.
Why don't they just bugger off to one of their wonderful, enlightened countries elsewhere.

In reply to Lusk:

To be honest, it has a lot to do with our press and politicians saying how things are terrible, we do seem to do everything down. I'm in South Sudan at the moment and think that things are utterly terrible here, am heartfelt glad that I my family and my loved ones were born in Britain and am looking forward to coming home.

In reply to Mr Lopez:

As a remainer and someone who has worked with international securty experts in the IT area, I think its very concerning series of developments and almost certainly true but it only weighs the dice. It doesn't put a 6 on every face. Ask yourself how had we got to a point where 1% changes could swing the vote? Its hard to think of any significant body of UK remainers who didn't feel the EU required reform. When reform is too slow and times are tough many people were bound to get frustrated and vote on emotion.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

That the rich and powerful have sought to influence the public has been well documented in every age and every society from the dawn of recorded history. Only the technology has changed.
What is really striking about the modern age is how much the internet and ubiquitous camera phone has democratised people's media consumption.

In reply to Stichtplate:


I think it's also affected their reaction. Instead of writing a letter to your MP, protesting, or getting involved in your local political party, people are keener to post on the internet (hmm,) and sign online petitions. I think a better balance will come, it will just take time.

In reply to jonnie3430:


I agree. The problem at the moment is one of demographics, in that the young are far more digitally engaged than the old. The result being disbelief in the twitter sphere etc at recent election results.

In reply to Lusk:


So is your argument that we should tolerate inequality, lack of democractic accountability, a declining and undermined health service and a path heading blindly towards possible economic disaster simply because living standards here remain better than in some other countries?

And that people who are concerned by all this should just "bugger off" (as though starting a new life in another country is a simple matter), instead of staying and fighting for something better?

In reply to Stichtplate:


Might there be a sense of fatalism about the whole thing too? For somebody young, anti-Brexit and wanting a better future than the vision provided by the Tories, it can feel like swimming uphill. The election already feels like a done deal. There's some bitter comfort in screaming and ranting into an online echo chamber and having your peers agree and sympathise.

Of course, if my generation as one got up off their arses and did something, things would change.

In reply to Trevers:
>Of course, if my generation as one got up off their arses and did something, things would change.

Things are always changing. The UK has never been as equal and inclusive as it is now. The health service is certainly underfunded , but if you're a patient , your chance of a good outcome has never been better. In material terms , the average UK citizen has never been better off (admittedly, discounting housing). As for politics, we're seeing seismic changes across the West.
Yeah , there's lots going wrong in this country, but it's not all black.

....and the majority of your generation seem admirably level headed and engaged.

In reply to Stichtplate:


Engaged perhaps, but why is turnout consistently lower than among older generations? Is it this fatalism I suggested?

I do wonder whether engagement is really positive. I have strong feelings about politics which I can justify. I'm not just the natural Tory hater that I've been dismissed as. My intense dislike of certain politicians is an indictment of the miserable state of politics, not my own engagement. But I do see a lot of unreasoned vitriol on facebook. Have these people really thought about it or is it just fashionable?

A lot of other people are engaged via a Guardian live feed of political events, which is addictive and probably not good for one's sanity (I regularly find myself wondering why I feel the need to know exactly what is happening and when).

I campaigned on the day of the referendum last year and my abiding memory was talking to 16 and 17 year olds who were highly engaged and absolutely furious that they were denied a vote on their futures. This was when Remain was expected to swing it, mind. It's tragic really.

Just a few thoughts and observations, nothing approaching a reasoned and thorough argument...

In reply to Stichtplate:

Probably true provided you'require not referring to income.

https://www.ft.com/content/24e88c30-bc5f-11e6-8b45-b8b81dd5d080

That might be behind a paywall but finding it with google seems to bypass that.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=income+inequality+uk+ft

In reply to elsewhere:

Yeah, going the wrong way on income currently, but I'm sure a couple of regular posters will be along shortly to argue otherwise.

In reply to Yanis Nayu:

In most democratic countries you are very unlikely to get what you want even if "your" party win. I don't understand party loyalty at all given that the voters get none in return.

I think Douglas Adams had it about right.

In reply to Dax H:

This story is not entirely new if you follow the technology and science output of the BBC - it's been out there for a while

In reply to Lusk:


What? Are you kidding?!?!?!? We all know that taking responsibility for one's own life is verboten to a section of society, and whining on the internet until the state/Government/EU makes things better for them is their only option.



Yes, I may be being slightly sarcastic, and yes, I know that some here will take this point seriously and claim that I actually hold this as my true belief .

In reply to Offwidth:


Lovely to be in full agreement with your for a change.

In reply to Big Ger:


Come on , what's wrong with a good whinge? Isn't that exactly what your coming back to Pom land for?

In reply to Stichtplate:


That and the lovely weather.

In reply to Big Ger:

They say even a stopped clock is right twice a day..... Yet being serious for a moment and breaking my normal rule of not replying to you: you have it in you to make your perfectly valid political points in a much more constructive and friendly way (like you music postings), such that you add to the experience of being here on UKC, rather than being a megaphone bore.