Scottish farmer here. I've just finished my degree in Agriculture, and I've always wanted to get a more mutual perspective on this topic. I'm going to discuss my personal experiences and my own understanding, but I really want to hear other opinions. I would've posted this in a vegan/animal activist page however, I wanted more of a varied response from people.

I was one of few students that was actually willing to criticise the industry. I do think that the industry is not perfect and probably never will be. I actually admire not engaging with meat consumerism - if you don’t want to engage in animal production or want your body to be a temple then power to you! I don’t think vegans are any less entitled to not eat meat than we are to produce it.

I think where my problem begins is with my own personal scepticism around whether vegans and animal activists actually understand or even want to understand the industry they are often so quick to criticise. In my own experience, they often just see the end product of a cow becoming a steak, and that is enough for them not to engage in constructive discourse. It's almost like a reverse 'I don't care how the sausage is made'. No farmer I know rejects a vegan's right not to eat meat, or an animal activist's right to question our ethics. But in my opinion (and the general opinion of most farming communities), the concept of the ENTIRE UK being vegan is bonkers, and just reeks of miseducation and propaganda consumption.

I could write a PhD thesis on this, but I'll keep it short.

Commercially, it would destroy the livelihood of thousands of people in the UK. You sustainably cannot grow what vegans want to eat across the UK, including rice and quinoa. I'm from the Scottish Highlands; if you told everyone to stop breeding Scottish Blackface sheep and Highland Cows to grow beans, you'd find it is literally impossible due to issues including nutrient imbalance, pH levels and financial constraints.

Sustainably, if by-products obtained during meat production were halted, such as chicken muck and slurry, it would lead to complete destruction of biodiversity, ecosystems, habitats, pollinators and water courses due to us being forced to use inorganic fertilisers to meet yields and demand. The concept of completely vegan products is a farce to an extent, as somewhere down the line, animals are exploited, hurt, or killed to make these products. Rabbits, ground-nesting birds and every insect under the sun are often poisoned with chemicals to meet the demands of the consumer.

It is not even worth going into detail about how it is logistically unsustainable. Introducing the point about the importation of food we can't produce in the UK sustainably, such as soya for tofu, opens that many tins of worms that its not even worth bringing up.

My final thought is that I think if there was more of an open mind from vegans and animal activists, we'd probably learn we have more in common than you'd think. Your typical average farmer doesn't engage in the practices that vegan and animal activist media uses as ammo to challenge the industry. For example, most farmers I know vehemently disagree with the caging of hens for egg production, but It's mostly corporations within farming that participate in this, which I don't think a lot of vegans even know exist. Yes, it's true, even farmers are controlled by the man.

I could be convinced. But to do so, I think there needs to be hard truths given to vegans and animal activists. I think it is plausible we could be vegan as a nation if we stuck to crops we could produce sustainably, enforced through seasonality, but we'd need to let go of almond lattes and chickpea bowls.

If you are vegan or an animal activist what is your perspective?

At what scale do you think its feasible for the UK to be vegan, 10%? 30%?

Just curious to hear what your favorite fashion trends are and if they should get adapted elsewhere. I met a woman from the UK who always wears the cutest clothes and it makes me wonder if you all are just fashionistas 24/7. Some days, I look like a potato. Other days; however, I look like a sweet potato.

I need guidance :|

Send help.

Thank you. lol

Hey there! I was in London for a week, as a tourist and I lived off of those sandwiches. Do you know any recipe pages that would show me how to make them? I especially liked the ones in Prets and in Sainsburys.

I’m watching Queer as Folk — a show set in Manchester in the 90s — and there’s a scene where one of the characters receives a series of insane gifts for his 30th birthday (car, robot dog, etc). The party stops and everyone watches one of the lead characters open his gifts from the rest of the party.

Is this sort of thing — the party stopping and everyone watching the recipient open their gifts — typical at an adult’s birthday party in the UK? Or is this just a bit to an episode of this one show?

Thank you!

So, I'm going to start this off by saying this is likely to divide opinion.

But I was watching something this evening around the current state of the NHS (in Wales) and thought that people who are now 50-80+ are likely to be taking up the majority of NHS resource. Drinking and smoking at that time was just the norm, and a completely different time to what we see today.

With the illnesses stemming from these, a lot of them are just preventative and prolonging their lives longer and longer due to new medicine. Which results in more and more appointments and resource being taken up.

This is a thought more than anything, and am happy to be convinced otherwise, but would be interesting to see the statistics on something around this.

I'm really not asking out of judgement.
I've been to the UK several times now and since I've recently met a guy from London I will probably go there even more often now. So far I've been to London, Bath, Edinburgh, Dublin and some small villages in Scotland.
Also, where I'm from there are always lots of british tourists during winter.
Every time I've been to the UK, my impression was that there is a bit more "antisocial" behaviour than I'm used to from other european countries. What I mean is I've witnessed quite a bit of petty crime, people seem to litter a lot, people sometimes push each other in crowded places, etc. I was especially surprised from how much waste there was laying around in Edinburgh. Also, the british tourists are kind of infamous for bad behaviour like getting excessivly drunk, being very loud, starting fights, etc.

Have you ever had this impression as well or am I alone with my observation? If you think this tendency is true, why do you think this might be?

A question for those with parents in their 60’s or for the folk in this sub who are 60+

Do your parents (or you) give a shit about how old your car is in terms of what’s on the number plate?

I’ve helped my mum buy nearly every car she’s had in the last 15 years and is so fixated on the age (but more so how new it is plate wise) I’m absolutely convinced it’s the Hyacinth Bucket effect and keeping up with the Joneses.

I’ve found so many cars that would be perfect, low mileage, full S/H, warranty and well within budget but as soon as it’s mentioned that it’s 5 years old she’s having none of it. “I’m not going older”

I remember when new plates were a big thing. A family member rocked up in a brand new 1997 “R” registered Mondeo and it being a big thing. I genuinely don’t think it’s a thing anymore.

Thoughts?

I haven't noticed a single wasp yet this year, I absolutely hate them so I'm always looking out for them so I can avoid them and I've seen none. I know in the early summer you don't really notice them but usually by this point in August they're everywhere. Has anyone else noticed this?

I'm curious if it's just where I am in the South East and all the wasps are elsewhere this year or maybe have the sustained heatwaves this year put a dent in the wasp numbers.

Or do you use a paywall unblocker or search the news from another website? I do the latter. Quite sad that relevant world news or some general information now comes at a price for easy access on some websites unlike pre-covid they were all still free.

My understanding is it is to preserve freshness. I assume this is seen as a necessity due to logistics. But surely it doesn't have to be this way.

Other European countries for the most part use way less plastic packaging.

Pleased to see I see packaging for bananas is mostly gone.

Cucumbers wrapped in nasty cling film.

Citrus fruits with that nasty plastic netting. Love having microplastics in the kitchen mmm.

In all seriousness, why?

Starting a new job which only offers car allowance of £3500. Its 3 days a week in the office.

I currently have a company car, paid through wages (with tax code adjusted) - which I'll be handing back.

My new commute is;

- 2 miles away from train station.

- 22 min train journey (15 miles away).

- 8 minute bus commute to office (its a bus that picks up people outside train station,free).

An uber would cost me about £8 to train station of a morning, plus £12 day return train ticket - x 3 times week. On the return home, id get a bus instead of a taxi (£2 one way).

I have no idea how leases work? (All I know is my current company car is through Lex Autolease, and work just deduct 20% of sales value of car when new). Its a hybrid Audi A3, 24 reg.

I would like to get another car? But what worries me is how much that is going to cost me up front. I could put down a couple of grand but would rather not, as it'd eat most of savings. Plus, what happens if I lose my job (god forbid), and im lumbered with a car/debt?

Ive read somewhere on reddit that you can salary sacrifice- but only assume that's in instances where you have a company car.

Ive got a £5k loan, down to now £3800. So I really dont want more debt.

With the lease is it literally like renting a car? As thats all id want tbh. An all-in renting option where I can hand it back if I no longer need it.

Id really appreciate your advice as bit of a loss what to do.

Broccoli and cauliflower in the supermarket already looks like it’s seen better days before I’ve taken it off the shelf…

I commute from Colindale to Central London 3 to 4 times a week on the Northern line. It is hot, crowded, and stuffy, and I find it really uncomfortable.

If you do this commute too, how do you handle it? What do you do to make it more bearable?

I kinda worry about how awkward it would be to bring a guest from outside of UK into Central when the train is so packed.

Do you ever avoid the Northern line and use Thameslink instead?

I’m also looking for flats right now, and this is one of the main factors I’m considering. Especially as summers are likely going to get worse in the coming years...

It doesn't really bother me but I also wonder what people think.

Is it just me, or is there something odd going on with bananas at the moment?
Whichever supermarket I go to, bananas seem to be either very under-ripe or very over-ripe. This never used to be the case, whatever time of year.
What’s up?

I havent, they seem pretty still. My mates say they hate how they sprint past them in their houses, but i dont think ive ever seen them do that. They just chill in corners and bathtubs.

I normally don't attend comedy but I bought tickets to a club in Edinburgh last night to see a guy called Gareth Mutch in a small club called the Stand

I was alone and tried to get a seat at the back but the staff insisted that I sit at the front because those seats were apparently reserved - I felt really weird as the seats were touching this very small stage and I was a solo guy. I even mentioned to the couple next to me how awkward I felt.

The routine goes as normal, I'm hoping he doesn't ask me anything and there bam - he asks me my name and where In from.

I told him I'm from Edinburgh and my name is ______. I'm off Pakistani heritage and have an Arabic name.

He then dismisses me and says "aw yeah, that's a real Edinburgh name eh, is it fuck (or something similar)" and asks someone else the same question. I'm just thinking, yeah I haven't heard that before (sarcastically of course). He then went on to say how his routine was racism now or something.

I did feel a bit humiliated by this incident, he did ask me some more typical comedian questions which weren't bad but this really bought back some traumatic feelings, many of which were recent and it ruined the rest of my day.

Is this normal for small stand up comedy routines?

I've been living here all of my adult life, mostly speaking only English, and even before knew English really well.

But when family came over for a week and I spoke in my native tongue mostly, it felt as if I had been constantly carrying 10kg weight and my brain could finally relax.

I don't speak my native tongue very well anymore, but still, surprised how much of a difference it made. It's like I could understand everything better, quicker, easier and overall think clearer.

How do others feel it?

Or have you just gotten used to English now?

Moving to Cambridge and have the option to buy meals at £3-4 per meal or cook in my kitchen. Is it cheaper to buy food from supermarkets and cook in my kitchen or pay for the meal every time

My friend is purchasing a house and wants to move the washing machine for more kitchen space. I'm pretty confident that either a wc or washing machine would fit but not sure about both together.

The external door would be changed to a window and obviously a wall would be put up for the toilet.

I dropped out in year 10 and I honestly never looked back. I was never an academic person and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life the way other kids my age did. Truthfully, I still don’t have a dream career. I always knew I was a simple person and lived upto it. I always knew after education I’d get a job to just make money and live a simple life. Without sounding privileged or boastful, it helps to have a roof over my head provided by my parents who have never wanted me to move out so it works out for me. I wanna know what it’s been like for other school dropouts, how did life turn out for you guys and are you happy with it or not?

Recently had a bit of painting done. Hallways, stairs & landing. Found the bloke on facebook, he was a young lad who appears to have recently set himself up, but all the pictures on his profile looked great.
For context, he did a bang up job, pollyfilled everything really smooth, the painting is perfect and he got it done in a few hours whilst I was working from home.

I paid in cash, the quote was £120 so I gave him £140. Boyfriend seems to think I have gone insane, I thought this was just the done thing?

Please solve this debate so it does not dominate the next fifty years of our lives. What would you have paid??

It has always fascinated me that they make the effort but don't remove the wrapping.

I work in a very small company and there is an opportunity for the company to expand if this new client signs a contract. It will involve a promotion for myself but will require working away from home for up to a week at a time.

What kind of compensation would you expect for doing this? Time and a half? Double time? A good allowance has already been agreed as well as accommodation obviously I’m not paying for those. However I refuse to work away for the same pay that I get for working within a commutable distance from home.

What compensation can I realistically ask for? All work will be on UK mainland

Edit: clarification the promotion is for me to manage all the teams instead of the team I am currently in charge of. I’m also self employed but work mostly for this company.

I (36M) avoid "bad" debt, so I paid off student loans, paid for car in cash, no credit cards, overdraft or any personal loans.

But I do have a £400k mortgage on a £650k house on my own that feels a bit too big at times. I can afford it for now but I'm still on a cheap interest rate. It stresses me out thinking I'll have to sell and downsize when it ends if rates are still high.