National Risk Register/National Resilience Update - Nothing new to us.

[Everything Mac]

So, 6 local people who i know well are not telling the truth??? Jumping to conclusions because of skin colour???
Careful language ,as we know is rife for a good reason.
You don't know my community, I don't live in a big town. Strangers in town are known.instantly.

Employees calling the police and an armed response to a non local, instantly noticed, foreign looking person demanding drugs at knifepoint in a small rural comunity.
Of course we jumped to conclusions, and we're proved right.

If you arenot local in this community, you will be noticed.. you don't need to be of foreign origin.

my comment was more about 18 police with firearms were not able to catch the oik!!!!! And the police website is silent about the incident. As are local papers.
This is a highly unusual incident round here.

Maybe for those who live in more populated areas, its sadly normal behaviour, and not at all remarkable.

Ps, two of my best friends are not white and live in town, so your remarks are out of order! Only comment on what you know, not conjecture, and for one who didn't want to be political, you definatly were!
We are trying to stay away from that, you should know better!

If you are being toungue in cheek, or cynical... you need to make it a wee bit more obvious. Xxxx

I was not being tongue in cheek or cynical I'm afraid. I understand the point you were trying to make about the way life has changed but the fact that the person in question was 'foreign" is entirely irrelevant and frankly given the heated climate around this topic at the moment perhaps you can understand my possibly regrettable reply.



In the interests of keeping the thread moving in the right direction I will gladly see these posts deleted.

 

[Woody girl]

I was not being tongue in cheek or cynical I'm afraid. I understand the point you were trying to make about the way life has changed but the fact that the person in question was 'foreign" is entirely irrelevant and frankly given the heated climate around this topic at the moment perhaps you can understand my possibly regrettable reply.



In the interests of keeping the thread moving in the right direction I will gladly see these posts deleted.

Would you be happier if witnesses lied and said he was white? That would certainly send the police in the right direction wouldn't it? How on earth can an honest description be irrelevant?
You realy don't seem to understand how to describe someone.
Out of curiosity, How would you describe a foreign looking man?
And would you have the same objection if he had been described as white?

 

[Everything Mac]

Would you be happier if witnesses lied and said he was white? That would certainly send the police in the right direction wouldn't it? How on earth can an honest description be irrelevant?
You realy don't seem to understand how to describe someone.
Out of curiosity, How would you describe a foreign looking man?

Aye ok pal. You have a good day.

 

[Woody girl]

Aye ok pal. You have a good day.

Well well, no answers eh? Come on let's have a civilised discussion and answers. After all you are saying the description is irrelevant. I'd seriously like to understand why you'd think that.
Im not trying to be combative, just trying to understand that way of thinking. Without a civil discussion, you leave me in the dark. It doesn't make any sense.
You can't call a spade a fork and expect anyone to take you seriously.
I think your reply shows you know you have no real answers, and im happy to leave it here if you wish, but it leaves me with an impression of you that could be wrong.
No rancour just confusion.

 

[Pattree]

Out of curiosity, How would you describe a foreign looking man?

I don’t think that it is possible @Woody girl . British citizens whose British ancestry goes back further than mine come in every shape and size on Earth.

It’s one of the things that make me proud to be British (and Irish)

As to guns:

I shudder at the idea of arming myself or my family against the possibility of catastrophe.

Enough rice, flour and oats that I can take to my local community shelter is fine. Enough water to keep us going till we find some more, fine.

Once guns are involved I have to ask myself, “What am I surviving for?”

 

[Stew]

Would you be happier if witnesses lied and said he was white? That would certainly send the police in the right direction wouldn't it? How on earth can an honest description be irrelevant?
You realy don't seem to understand how to describe someone.
Out of curiosity, How would you describe a foreign looking man?
And would you have the same objection if he had been described as white?

Mentioning that the person was a foreign man is unnecessary unless their nationality is directly relevant to what happened. Including it can create an association between the person’s actions and their being foreign, which risks reinforcing negative stereotypes. It can also unfairly tarnish foreigners more broadly by making it seem as though this individual incident reflects on people from other countries as a whole. It would be more appropriate to focus on the person’s actions and what actually happened, rather than their nationality or background.

 

[GeraldTheBonsai]

I don’t think that it is possible @Woody girl . British citizens whose British ancestry goes back further than mine come in every shape and size on Earth.

It’s one of the things that make me proud to be British (and Irish)

You could pick me up and plonk me anywhere from the UK to the middle east (and beyond) and I would look like a local. Byproduct of the British Empire....

 

[Woody girl]

I don’t think that it is possible @Woody girl . British citizens whose British ancestry goes back further than mine come in every shape and size on Earth.

It’s one of the things that make me proud to be British (and Irish)

As to guns:

I shudder at the idea of arming myself or my family against the possibility of catastrophe.

Enough rice, flour and oats that I can take to my local community shelter is fine. Enough water to keep us going till we find some more, fine.

Once guns are involved I have to ask myself, “What am I surviving for?”

Yes I agree to some extent,

Mentioning that the person was a foreign man is unnecessary unless their nationality is directly relevant to what happened. Including it can create an association between the person’s actions and their being foreign, which risks reinforcing negative stereotypes. It can also unfairly tarnish foreigners more broadly by making it seem as though this individual incident reflects on people from other countries as a whole. It would be more appropriate to focus on the person’s actions and what actually happened, rather than their nationality or background.

So how can anybody who wasn't here know that? Nobody said he was foreign, but witnesses all agreed what he LOOKED like and those in the surgery confirmed by his ACCENT when he threatened them.
So what else were they supposed to say? Im genuinely interested.
how on earth do the police know who to look for without an accurate description?
No use saying he looked white English if he wasn't. I don't see a problem. People would describe me as white and English, all true. Don't have a problem with that. Why should I want someone to describe me differently?.... for the sake of some pathetic ideal of not injuring some scroats feelings.? Or is this political correctness gon bonkers!
I had a cousin, now passed, who looked foreign. Her mum English dad Indian. But she looked foreign! She was English as far as she(and we) were concerned ,just didn't look it. So that is the point im making. No good describing her as English looking, she didn't look like that.
I think there is some confusion with what someone "looks" like, as against what they actualy are.
We are simply talking about appearance, not actual ethnicity, as to date, he hasn't been caught so nobody knows any more than his appearance, and accent.
So we can all untangle our knickers and climb down from the high moral horses and calm down. Crikey!

 

[Chris]

Creates a wonderful environment for my foreign wife and I to live in when we have discussions like this where 'foreigners' are blamed for things. Woody, you are the one who first mentioned 'foreign', and then even confirmed yourself you really meant something else (hmm, I wonder what you could possibly mean) when you said:

Note also the word foreigner being used, too afraid to use the correct term.

The following Friday...... armed robbery on the surgery.


See something, say something,
..nah, don't be stupid ...he's just an innocent foreigner..

You don't get to be all self righteous about it now that you've said it, you were being a bigot. Even more worrying if you refuse to acknowledge that and keep trying to come out with the old classics like "I am not racist, my best friend is <black or brown>".

You didn't need to even mention 'foreign' in the first place. What the person looked or sounded like has absolutely no relevance to this thread.

 

[Tony]

Hey all,

This thread was pulled for a while because it was going off track and needed looking at.

Some things have been said that aren't appropriate for here. We don't do politics and we don't do provocative subjects, as everyone knows. Threads like this can go sideways very quickly once people start pushing into those areas.

Sometimes it's the original comment, sometimes it's someone reacting to it, and sometimes it's people getting into an argument about what was meant. Either way it gets messy fast.

If you think something has crossed the line, please report it rather than jumping in and making it worse.

We've put the thread back because there's a lot of useful discussion in it and plenty of people are trying to keep it that way.

But if it goes off track again and we have to pull it, I do not expect the mods to spend hours going through it and trying to rebuild a cleaned up version. That's not fair on them and puts them in a no win situation. This thread is the most reported of any thread in a long time, and the most whining about the Mods inaction or action (depending on where you stand). If it gets pulled again it will not come back.

So, we've reinstated the thread. Please just move on with it, keep it non-political, non-inflammatory and don't make things personal.

TeeDee had the right of it the other day when he said:

BUT... previously similar useful threads have become closed and shut down by the Forum moderators ( doing their job ) because people have been unwillingly/unable to stop themselves from commenting in areas of politics even when politely asked and advised to do so.

Which is a shame and a loss.

To all.

As a useful tool/analogy I try to think its like discussing the concept of a library without having to refer to the librarians themselves in person - we are here to discuss the books available in the library and not much more.

That's a good way of looking at it.

Let's keep the thread useful and keep it open.

 

[Toddy]

Trying something.....

 

[TeeDee]

Also trying something...

 

[Nice65]

Also trying something.

Hopefully this is regarded as ok to post. There is a live event discussing El Niño today at 1PM here:

 

[Nice65]

Also trying something.

Hopefully this is regarded as ok to post. There is a live event discussing El Niño today at 1PM here:

Ah, apologies, seems it was a sign in only thing. Hopefully it'll be made available in a recorded format soon.

 

[Falstaff]

Not sure if I've mentioned it on the forum before:
Swept the stove of a professional long range weather forecaster recently, and cheekily asked for a long range forecast.
The impacts of El Nino apparently affect two years not just one. Was very clear and firm, that the USA and European heat events were natural global climatic events, that follow old predictive patterns, that had nothing to do with man-made climate change claims.
Mid-late October and November will become very wet and cooling but no really cold temperatures. Continuing wet rather than snow. Coldest period will be January/February but still not dire.

This fits with something PM Burnham said previously curiously, about there was going to be a lot of rain. So I think he has been briefed to expect lots of flooding drama and emergencies.

Actions therefore: Before it really breaks, I need to get my gutters cleared (and my connected neighbours). Actually set up my envisaged water catchment barrels to hold water for the long dry summer afterwards. Plus, finish the greenhouse, so that I can germinate under glass & get plants outside earlier, to be more drought resistant.
Any ideas what else? Or other potential effects we could proactively do something about?

 

[Tengu]

Some rain might be good; my perched springs still dry.

 

[Falstaff]

Oh I forgot the other bit of the forecast - gales & high winds October & November.
So I need to sort out a loose tarp over some timber, and trim all the high fence-line growth before it brings the fences down.

 

[slaine_23]

I’ve read the very opposite https://www.eunews.it/en/2026/06/26/scientists-insist-europes-heatwave-is-caused-by-climate-change/
Regardless of the cause however, the weather is going a bit mental. Anything which could mitigate its effects seems sensible.

 

[Nice65]

This NEB talk has now been published and is more explanatory than any weather forecast.

 

[Nice65]

Any ideas what else? Or other potential effects we could proactively do something about?

Stop gap measures are one thing, but it's important to get people on board with the bigger problem. The NEB will kit you out to show the hour long film in your local village hall, hopefully with a full room of concerned townsfolk, some local councillors and your MP. Afterwards is a Q&A. These are good meetings, linking communities. Listening to forecasts and making guesses is one thing. Listening to a meteorologist who says we are going to experience El Niño as a super El Niño and therefore we WILL have the accompanying weather that goes with it is another.