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Post by Simey on May 19, 2008 11:03:48 GMT -5
I would far rather pay 20-40% tax and have a comprehensive public transport system and national health service than have 7% tax, a cheap lifestyle and then still have to pay for everything else! Agreed. However, whilst I'm lucky enough that my state of health has kept my interaction with NHS fairly minimal so far - pretty much always a good service when I have needed it though - the idea that we have anything approaching a comprehensive public transport system in this country is quite hilarious (though I'm not suggesting that you were suggesting we did! ). The buses and trains have been privatised so they run for the profit of the companies rather than the convenience of travellers whilst at the same time being MASSIVELY subsidised by the government (therefore by us) because proper public transport does not, cannot and will never make a profit. You would've thought that somebody might have noticed that that's why public services are called public services. They're not there to make money, because they can't. They're there because they're a basic necessity of life for everyone (getting around, being made well, having your rubbish collected, etc.) that can only be reasonably and fairly provided if everyone pays for them via the state which then provides them. It's typical of the non-commital, half-way house approach to public servies in this country that we have private train companies that can only operate by receiving huge government subsidies. They wouldn't in a million years be viable businesses if left to their own devices, so why privatise them in the first place!?!! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh! Having said all that, I spent over ten hours on trains over the weekend and everything was on time, clean and staffed by only occasionally surly individuals, so I shouldn't complain on this particular occasion. Okay, so there was obviously so much slack built into the timetable that they could afford for the trains to mill about for five minutes at half the stations, and spend far too much time trundling along at 50 mph rather than shifting at over 100 like they are perfectly capable of, without running late, but I suppose that's what you get when government gives companies targets: they lower the bar so they can reach it.
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Post by Beowuuf on May 19, 2008 12:52:28 GMT -5
The train prices are hideously expensive except now you can't get a seat half the time on cross country ones thats I have been on. Similarly, lateness didn't used to be a problem (I have done some ropey cross countries before) but would be scared now. They are now going to create a 5.30pm commuter price hike, which will hit cross country commuters if I understand it correctly.
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Post by Simey on May 20, 2008 16:14:12 GMT -5
Yep - the prices are insane.
Of course, you can get more reasonably priced tickets....if you book a month in advance!!!! Why should you have to be able to predict when and where you want to travel weeks ahead of time in order to pay a fair price for a ticket!?
I forget if I ranted about this on TotS, but I knew a Korean a couple of years back who wanted to travel by train from Birmingham to Edinburgh and knew that he wanted to do it in December when he was on Christmas break. Early November-ish, he went to inquire about the price of a ticket and was quoted about £40, which he thought was okay, and was looking forward to going. He went back a couple of weeks later - now within, as you might guess, one month of when he wanted to travel - to buy his ticket and they wanted about £80 for it. His English was not great, especially trying to understand what other people were telling him, so he was - totally understandably - rather confused as to why the price had doubled since he first enquired. I felt really sorry for him, 'cause he couldn't afford to pay £80 for the trip and so never got to visit Edinburgh. I can think of no better example of how crazy and unfair a system the train companies operate.
You've got to love the change from British Rail to the private rail companies - the fares have gone from a bit steep to sky high, and the service has gone from not great to absolutely abismal. Good stuff.
Not that this annoys me. At all.
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Mydnight
New Member
I zaps you with me lighting bultz
Posts: 49
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Post by Mydnight on May 21, 2008 3:36:34 GMT -5
Oh you don't say!. Everything's getting insanely expensive now in Singapore too. And we haven't got a countryside to run to!
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Post by Agrarvyn on May 21, 2008 6:28:52 GMT -5
The English countryside is rapidly disappearing too! There may be some left in Cumbria and Devon though.
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Post by Simey on May 22, 2008 16:03:56 GMT -5
The English countryside is rapidly disappearing too! There may be some left in Cumbria and Devon though. Ah, now that's where train travel is very good - you get to see that there is actually an awful lot of greenery between most of the built-up bits. Not that there isn't way too much building on green belt land going on - there is - but England, and even more so the other countires of the U.K., is still a relatively green and pleasant land.
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Post by Agrarvyn on May 24, 2008 8:36:48 GMT -5
And did those feet in ancient times, eh? I'd far rather see the population cut by 10-15 million and see the countryside and social welfare recover than have a massive economy and so on.
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Post by Izziel Darkblade on May 26, 2008 17:59:56 GMT -5
Still affected by the spirit of the 31st Anniversary of "Star Wars", I bought myself one toy that I've been dreaming about for 2 decades: a lightsaber (not a real one of course, but the Cool-as-Hell replicas made by MR, better known as Force FX). Honestly, it's the coolest thing in the world, lol! I really felt like a little kid when I turned the switch on for the first time and saw the light extending, along with that humming sound that we all made with our mouths at some point of our lives Man, oh man... If you have no idea of what I'm talking about here's a video from youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YLEYvymEUUBTW, mine is an Anakin from "Revenge of the Sith" (also the one that Luke uses in the first 2 movies, and the one that is in the hand of Agrarvyn's avatar ;D ).
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Post by Agrarvyn on May 26, 2008 20:14:02 GMT -5
My geekyness only extends to avatars, the films and the occasional game - I really don't go in for the merchandise, no matter how cool!
How much did said lightsabre cost you?
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Post by zipp on May 27, 2008 10:01:52 GMT -5
Don't even start me on the terrible state of health care in America. I don't have insurance, can't afford it. And that means that even basic health care becomes ridiculous. The doctors tell me I need asthma medication, but I haven't taken any in years because of the cost. I do take some anti-anxiety pills, and it's about all I can do to afford them each month.
And yet I still pay a ridiculous amount of taxes, especially considering I only make about 12,000 a year, if that.
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Post by Izziel Darkblade on May 27, 2008 16:11:02 GMT -5
My geekyness only extends to avatars, the films and the occasional game - I really don't go in for the merchandise, no matter how cool! How much did said lightsabre cost you? 135 Euros- not a bad deal, considering that there are people paying +300 for them right now.
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Post by Agrarvyn on May 27, 2008 16:39:21 GMT -5
£90 is still a lot of money. I'd rather buy a PC upgrade or three stonking games for that price!
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Post by Simey on May 27, 2008 17:35:47 GMT -5
Don't even start me on the terrible state of health care in America. I don't have insurance, can't afford it. And that means that even basic health care becomes ridiculous. The doctors tell me I need asthma medication, but I haven't taken any in years because of the cost. I do take some anti-anxiety pills, and it's about all I can do to afford them each month. That is a bit scary. The U.K.'s National Health Service is far from perfect - and don't let anyone, including Michael Moore, tell you any different - but if a doctor said you should be on asthma medication then you'd be prescribed it and would pay only a nominal prescription charge (perhaps not even that, since you're a student) rather than the large amounts demanded by the drug companies. Maybe it's just growing up under our system that gives me a particular perspective (I've never known anything else, after all), but I do struggle to see why a state's provision of health care - of all things! - should possibly be linked to how wealthy the individual needing that health care is. Bizarre.
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Post by Agrarvyn on May 28, 2008 3:38:37 GMT -5
It's an extreme case of only buying what you can afford, Simey. In the good old US of A, that paradigm also extends to vital things like education and health and so on
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Post by NightHunter on Jun 1, 2008 14:15:28 GMT -5
Bad and good news. I was trying to overclock my processor last week and my motherboard broke. An Intel D975XBX2 that have cost me 350 tomatoes 1½ years ago. Still on the warranty(I hope) so I'm waiting for a answer from Intel support. The good news, I have bought yesterday a new motherboard, a piece of shit of Asrock about 65 tomatoes but it's doing the job for now. Yeah, I'm still able to lurk on TotS forum as always.
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