This was true when I was at university. And that was decades ago. Literally entire faculties would collapse without foreign students and their fees.

Watching vids coming out of China (in response to being called peasants) demonstrating how 'luxury goods' are made and what the real cost is, I thought the same. But I doubt it, the underlying need to fill an emotional void with something physical will remain, even if the 'filler' changes.

But it wont. Enough people will be kept comfortable enough for long enough to prevent that. Most people are inherently selfish and short sighted enough to delay action until the problem is affecting them directly. And things can get really really bad before a good chunk of society feels actual pain.

Except the super-wealthy make money no matter what. And increasingly it looks like the harder life is for everyone else the more they make.

Green voters got lots of vitriol for criticising Labour when everyone wanted the Tories out. But as warned, we jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

(a bit like a rocky version of the Tele-Tubbies land.)

Correction Image 2 is Fairy Glenn, Isle of Skye.

View from the Quiraing, Isle of Skye, Scotland (1 & 2).
Fairy Pools, Isle of Skye.
#Stunday
And for interest:
Glen Finnan Viaduct (Harry Potter train)

The rules around elections only work because reasonable people buy-in to them. This is what culture is - a series of collective agreements. Once culture is usurped by malignant narcissists the agreements have been broken. People have to realise and form new agreements - excluding the malignants.

Have been there, it is truly stunning. I saw images of the lakes in an art gallery first and assumed they'd been enhanced in photoshop. But there's no arguing with the colour when you're there. Driving around that area in the off season when the roads are really quiet is quite something.

True. But no more true than the fact that ownership is by agreement of the masses. We elect the people who make the laws. It will always be the case that 6 billion people can overthrow a few thousand and make it look effortless. It just takes some co-ordination. (billionaires are a global problem).

The guy had a 1st term and proved who he is.
Then he published a detailed plan of destruction for this term.
So, the problem is that for Trump to have been elected again, there has to be a greater than average chance that the flag is upside down because of stupidity rather than distress.