AnnaCupani

Thanks, I am acutely aware or that.
Schengen is an example of a (partial, I know) Removal Of Borders that did not bring collapse and starvation. Borders are artificial and the way they are managed can change.

I also lived in places different to the one where I was born *inside Schengen*, the requirements were not remotely as demanding as immigration ones. We can split hairs on here for ages, the reality is that borders (and their policing) are a man-made concept, not inevitable.

I had no idea how many people on blue sky are open borders advocates. Complete madness to think a country should have no control of immigration numbers.

Have they never heard of the Schengen area? I'm old enough to remember the 1st time we drove through the Austria-Italy border w/o checks. I was young & optimistic and thought "This Is the future, why were we spending money on that?!"
(removing the handle or some man will come and tell me off again)

That's not how it works in reality, though. Name a big city that starved *because people moved there*. What happens is in fact the opposite: more people, more skills, more commerce, more things being built, more art, more education, etc.
Stop seeing people moving as Takers rather than Givers.

Two years ago our landlady increased rent by £250. I called Citizens Advice to learn what I could do and was literally told "you should not complain, we have seen much worse".
Rent alone was already 50% of my salary. Every year in October I have sleepless nights waiting to hear how much it'll go up

I'm waiting for the report on UK child poverty which usually comes out at this time of the year. Last year it was an awful number, 1 in 3.

I'm already recruiting my friends' kids because I already feel behind!

It baffles me that there is no widespread campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated. I am coming out of a very unpleasant cold+cough and will get a flu vaccine tomorrow yet every person I mention it to seems unaware it is available.

It's equally pompous and robotic. Are we sure it is genuine?

Look, I am in favour of upholding The Ministerial Code like the next person, but this sounds like a headmaster of an early 1900s elite school telling off a child.
Is this how our government communicates?
I wish I had seen half this energy in setting the record straight on immigration.

No reduction in Gaza hunger since truce: WHO The World Health Organization said Thursday there had been little improvement in the amount of aid going into Gaza since a ceasefire took hold -- and no observable reduction in hunger.

No reduction in Gaza hunger since truce: WHO. "The situation still remains catastrophic because what's entering is not enough." f24.my/BW8U.X

I have friends who tell their children "say hi to auntie Anna!" - I think this nonsense outrage is just pathetic.
It also makes him more and more relatable, frankly!

I really don't know why we are made to believe these people have some interesting stuff to say when it is always similar nonsense.

Well, good morning!
I'm waiting for my landlady to tell me how much my rent is going up next month.
Which is, let's remember, an arbitrary number of her liking. I can then beg her to lower it (which we do every year). Half my salary for 45sqm in zone3.

OMG, I'm totally down for a trip and a meet-up, then!
To be honest I cannot afford the 2bed either so who knows...

I'm so glad the algorithm brought your reporting into my TL! How else would we know about this stuff?
Next pod is going to be A Thing, can't wait!

Und warum bleibt der Osten anders?

Nothing against Colchester which is, I am sure, an absolutely delightful place. But I know myself and my life. I am old enough to have lived in various settings. Right now, I don't need a 5bed in Colchester, I need a 2bed in London. And we should want a world where this is possible.

I'm surprised this is not in violation of road safety regulations, TBH.

One for the mortgage broker who insisted that instead of the 2 bed in N London I was considering, I should move to Colchester and for the same price get a much bigger 5 bed with garden.
"It's only 1h by train and you are in Liverpool St!"
Nope.

And here I was scrolling mindlessly, thinking it was another initiative by @vaginamuseum.bsky.social to talk periods...

Oh my dear, no, why?!
I'm sure the thing they'd care the most is that we are happy women, possibly freer than they were, and up to some good. My grandad (who went to school until the age of 10) still stuffs some cash into my hand "for ice cream" when I go and say goodbye.

We should simply say that politicians who keep repeating this are lying and racist.
That "the British people deserve better" actually means "we'll make some unfortunate non British people even more miserable". That austerity and Brexit are responsible for what worries people, not foreigners.

Yes, I'm about to buy a flat and honestly am asking myself if it really makes sense.

The national conversation around immigration is a total horror show at the moment, my cortisol spiking every second day.
Thankfully I listened to this episode last weekend and I learned True Stuff around immigration that I think more people should know.
(the pod is a lot of fun!)

I am genuinely disgusted that as a society we are made to believe that people like this man are a problem to welcome.

Yes. And that's not immigrants' fault, let's be clear.

I got the "I can't really place your accent" enough times to feel tired.
To be fair though, I have also been told the weirdest nonsense Even by people who knew where I was from. As if they wanted to let me in their small sick world.

Not holding my breath about a Labour response to this...

There we go!
bsky.app/profile/caro...