The history is long and ugly, but here’s the short version. The Home Office hates the BMA. UK doctors are frequent participants in judicial reviews, tribunal cases and applications for injunctions against the Home Office. Pesky cases like trying to prevent pregnant women being held in isolation at immigration removal centers or forcibly returning previously tortured refugees to the countries that . . . tortured them. The LAST thing the Home Office is going to encourage is more interaction with the BMA or the NHS.

Just think about it . . the Home Office will take the word of your local publican over your GP. In what world is that normal???

Advertising, political parties and religions. All of them.

I will quote George Washington to explain the why: “However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

Alternatives:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_democracy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sortition (we use this in 1/3 of our government today - juries)

Political parties and religions. All of them.

I did! Hello from Scotland . . .

Hello my fellow Scot!

If you need color, then I highly recommend the Epson EcoTank line of printers. No printer cartridges AT ALL - just raw 4 color ink. They cost more than most inkjet printers up front . . but more than save in the long run. And NO DRM in site . . rather difficult to put DRM into liquid ink . . .

https://epson.com/ecotank-ink-tank-printers

12 years for my primary account, 11 years for my “other” one. Like many at the time, came over during the Digg meltdown. Just before the API went to paid, used a tool to delete my 15,000+ posts/comments. Deleted both accounts in early July. Used Teddit a bit to still follow one or two subreddits, but now that has stopped working. Unless it pops up in a search, I doubt I will ever visit again. RIP.

Non paywall version here: https://archive.li/73Df4

Trying to. This is a FANTASTIC tool to find new “subreddits” on Lemmy: https://sub.rehab/