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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 4, 2024 9:58:23 GMT
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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 4, 2024 16:09:18 GMT
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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 5, 2024 7:36:39 GMT
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Post by hild1066 on Apr 5, 2024 9:59:52 GMT
They will be very reluctant to rebuild any homes in the North of Palestine. They're already building a road across the middle of it with massive ditches on the Palestinian side. Some Israeli settler groups and MPs are calling for Israeli houses on the land already and some have been offering beach side land!?!
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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 6, 2024 10:25:40 GMT
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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 9, 2024 18:37:56 GMT
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Post by marispiper on Apr 9, 2024 19:23:43 GMT
Thanks for that Riki..I feel positively youthful 😍
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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 11, 2024 8:30:16 GMT
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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 11, 2024 22:02:57 GMT
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Post by marispiper on Apr 12, 2024 8:31:24 GMT
It was extremely sad seeing youngsters on the news who had received puberty blockers. They didn't even appear angry - it was just as if a light had gone out inside. Then graph was shown of the exponential rise in referrals by children - about 50 in 2009 and nearly 3 thousand last year. It just makes you wonder at the part social media played in this both for those going down this party AND for those promoting these drugs with irreversible effects. Such is the power of their voices, even doctors and medics were afraid to speak out on what they could clearly see was unsound and damaging practice.
If only we could be a bit more tolerant with people and how they want to present themselves to the world, especially while young. It should be no big deal. I think gender reassignment (with drugs/surgery) should only be permissible for an adult. I am glad that clinic has closed.
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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 12, 2024 11:05:40 GMT
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Post by hild1066 on Apr 12, 2024 15:42:00 GMT
It was extremely sad seeing youngsters on the news who had received puberty blockers. They didn't even appear angry - it was just as if a light had gone out inside. Then graph was shown of the exponential rise in referrals by children - about 50 in 2009 and nearly 3 thousand last year. It just makes you wonder at the part social media played in this both for those going down this party AND for those promoting these drugs with irreversible effects. Such is the power of their voices, even doctors and medics were afraid to speak out on what they could clearly see was unsound and damaging practice. If only we could be a bit more tolerant with people and how they want to present themselves to the world, especially while young. It should be no big deal. I think gender reassignment (with drugs/surgery) should only be permissible for an adult. I am glad that clinic has closed. I also think that this is such a huge decision that people should be adults before making these choices. I work with two trans people and one was 29 and the other 48 when they had surgery. It must be said that most NHS Trusts took a lot longer over this than the clinic in London. Up here children had to go through a process to ensure there weren't other things going on like autism, ADHD, Bi-polar etc. Then they had to go through 2 years of support for that before any further discussions about gender reassignment took place. Overall that made them between 19-25. No puberty blockers were used on children but the contraceptive pill was sometimes used to regulate periods because being 12 and having terrible heavy painful periods can make some girls want to do something radical to stop them. Psychologists also need to be sure that there isn't abuse of some kind behind this desire to be someone different. I think it's wrong to stop people exploring but with children, talking, reassurance, investigation into other problems should be explored first. Then a slow transition should be planned. However big the figures seem, they still amount to a teeny proportion of the population.
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Post by rikiiboy on Apr 12, 2024 16:34:04 GMT
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Post by marispiper on Apr 13, 2024 8:11:09 GMT
Such sanity you show Hildie (on the trans subject) It is just the kind of compassionate acceptance that's needed for any youngster.
On a more mundane note - I see the Sunderland branch of M&S is down for closure 😬
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Post by hild1066 on Apr 13, 2024 17:22:18 GMT
Yes it is and everyone is furious. It's a very busy store. They just relocated the town hall behind and have built two office blocks and are building a new Eye Infirmary just yards away. It's close to the uni - equidistant between both campuses and 80% of the students live within walking distance. It's a prime site with an attached car park.
The council did what it could, even offered free parking for M&S customers.
They're relocating to Washington. One of those strips of out of town shops, with very little parking. I only go to Washington once or twice a year because there's not a lot there except a nice garden centre. You can go there without going to the shopping centre at all.
There are only two buses that go through Washington and the bus station is the other side of the road with a steep bridge to get there. I can't see many people going. I won't make the effort. Staff who don't drive wouldn't be able to get there very easily.
I did find out something interesting though. About 5 years ago M&S did what Woolworth's did and transferred its property to a holding company. M&S owned most of its pre 1970s buildings mortgage free, as did Woolworths so a lot of property. Since it was transferred stores have had to pay rent to the holding company, in return the holding company has done very little refurbishment or updates. The holding company decides on closures and I imagine the site is worth more than keeping it open.
I would imagine that all M&S Senior Management have transferred their pensions and shares into the holding company, just like the senior managers in Woolworths did, thereby protecting their pensions and shares.
It's awful really, because that only leaves Iceland as a supermarket in town and lots of people live near the city centre and didn't need a bus when Tesco, M&S were still there. There is a market with a very good butcher, fishmonger and some greengrocers.
We were told that Wilkos is becoming a B&M, and the world doesn't need anymore of them and Debenhams is being knocked down to make a green space.
Sunderland is quite a modern forward looking city. A lot of the older buildings were bombed in the war and they are gradually restructuring the 60s replacements. Those older buildings that remain have been refurbished with grants to independent businesses.
The council do try up here and we're getting a new library in the city centre soon.
I wouldn't say Sunderland is a particularly attractive place but it has a beautiful sea front with 5 beaches and harbour, lovely parks and quite modernistic buildings. We are also getting a new bridge, with no begging needed from the govt.
Shame about M&S though - not everyone wants to shop online or click and collect do they.
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