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Count me in! Team Grebones FTW!

I'm not really going to go too in depth but a lot of the above is not true or relevant and shows a lack of understanding of our railway system, feel free to correct me if I am wrong on any of the below but to convince me I would need to see some tangible evidence (I will leave it with you to look into more depth if you want a deeper understanding or you can choose not to) - - Shareholders in the railway industry do not invest in the rail network and infrastructure. Our privately owned railway companies run, own / lease and manage the trains. The government run and maintain our railways, railway stations etc and invest the most into our network - https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/2036/rail-industry-finance-uk-statistical-release-2020-21.pdf But to point out, the issues we typically have with our railway network don't stem from the state of the tracks or the stations that are owned by the government, typically it's because trains don't run on time or the service is incredibly poor etc that are privately owned. - Yes if you invested in your corner shop you would want to see a return / uplift in profit. However where a shop differs is that as a customer I can choose to go to a different shop. I can choose to go to the one with lower prices that has not had any investment or I can choose to go to the shop that has invested and pay the higher prices. If I go to my local railway station to go to my local city, I have one train company that I can use and it goes one route. There is only the option for me to choose what time I go and that affects the prices I pay. So the returns that train company is going to get are as close to a gaurantee as you can get judging the running of that train service over the several years prior. - There is a negative view but it is largely justified. Yes investment by private companies have led to some advances i.e. smart phones but they are all for the benefit of the wealthy to make more money. Those advancements have not been made to make life better or easier, it's purely profit driven, the benefits that have come about are purely happy coincidences. - HS2 is publicly funded - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/high-speed-two-limited Any investment in HS2 has not been directly in HS2, it has been in businesses that stand to gain from the building and creation of HS2. It is down to a gamble by those who have the wealth in the first place. Yes there are investors who stand not to gain anything from HS2 for 40 years but they are also people who won't struggle to eat or live in a house or clothe themselves if it doesn't pay off.... But that is the key point isn't it, you only get rich people investing in these schemes that then stand to get richer, there is a saying that if you have money you can make more money or if you give a poor person a pound, then they need to spend that pound to eat. If you give a rich person a pound they don't need that pound so can put it towards making more money. I am going to leave it there, I find that getting drawn into these discussions tend to find that neither party will budge from their views these days because as a nation we have been encouraged to disagree, wedges have been driven and everyone always has to be right. I hope that gives you food for thought.

Playing fifa the other night and it was discussed what games are coming up over the next couple of months. The past 6 months has been somewhat quiet with a couple of exceptions so thought to raise awareness about games that are coming up it might be worth us just talking about games we are looking forward to turning up in the near future so just to begin things - Saints row - This looks like it might be a return to form with the last couple of games getting too wacky (is that a thing with saints row?) one of the noteworthy additions with this new game is that there is going to be the addition of drop in co op so you could play through the main game with a friend! Hogwarts legacy - My wife is a huge fan of the series and I enjoyed it growing up. This looks like it could be the harry potter game everyone always wanted though it has been marred over the past year with some of J.K Rowlings opinions. That won't personally stop me and I am quite excited for this. Marvels midnight suns - This is basically x-com with a marvel skin on it so far as I can tell. The recent x-com games have been brilliant so I can see this doing well. Stalker - The original games were great so with the financial backing of microsoft I can see this really doing well. A true competitor to Fallout and let's be honest it won't take them much to be less buggy! Final Fantasy XVI & VII Rebirth - I'm a huge fan of the series so these 2 are very high on my to buy list, I'm not really sure they need much of an introduction with how well known the series is.

I've signed up for the beta. Used to love playing the first Overwatch with you guys, so satisfying when you won a game getting the payload over the line in the dying seconds or holding on to a capture point in amongst all the mayhem of a team fight. Like others have said though it seems to have lost its appeal so be interesting to see what OW2 brings.

If we can sort out the impending ecological disasters heading our way the future is bright for technology in gaming. With devices like Magic Leap showing what is possible I'm still holding out for the Star Trek style holodeck 😁

There's a few games like this where it would be great if we had a little group on PC. There's a whole bunch of hardcore shooters that are just crying out to be played. Squad, Tarkov, Hell Let Loose, Arma, Insurgency and many more. I've had Squad for years. It was lacking features,when i first bought it, so I've barely played it. Might give it a go though as I hear its in a good place now.

An element of it is just nostalgia as well, I have a much greater affinity with the games in my collection that I have had since I was little. I have Final Fantasy IX for example on a whole host of devices (I have probably bought it 5 or 6 times in addition to the original PS1 version) but I would happily sit there and connect up my PS1 and play through it on there over the other options every day of the week. Main reason my older consoles don't come out at the moment is because my daughter is a wrecking ball and would likely destroy them 😄

Just to provide a little more to the rail strikes discussion and mostly I agree with what @phil bottle has said - - Last year train companies paid out a total of £800 million to shareholders and then moments later told employees they won't be able to give them a pay rise in line with inflation - The pay is for every member of the transport union that this affects. This isn't just train drivers on higher salaries but this will likely include cleaners and the such who are likely on a much lesser if not already minimum wage. - In addition to making all of that money for their shareholders last year, they now plan to make a load of redundancies, the union is a counter to that by trying to protect all jobs within the industry Yes the cost of living is going up, but you only have to compare with other nations of a similar ilk to see that ours is going up a heck of a lot faster than most (if not all), the reasons why are mostly for another discussion but the simple fact is that our government is not doing anything to combat it because it benefits them. I use the price of fuel as a prime example, there is plenty of tax in there and fuel duty that could be cut, but because the price has gone up they are making more money in that VAT is applied to the whole cost as a percentage and not a fixed amount like fuel duty. If there aren't general strikes at some point this year with the way things are going then either the government have had a lucky break or the British people are too far gone to help anymore. The country has been divided and conquered by our elite and we really need to break out of it.

The impacts of the strikes The whole point of a strike is that it has an impact, it would be pretty redundant as a tool for leverage otherwise, no? The idea is that if the company is making massive profits and paying its leaders massive salaries it should be sensible and reach an agreement with its employees via the union before any strikes are required. Government hubris and ideology made this impossible because they are dealing with a very well organised union that represents its members very well. Unions taking a lead The Labour party was formed from the union movement to represent the working person's interests. Unions have a function in terms of collective bargaining for their workers, it's a bit of a stretch to expect them to act in any other way. They have their congress and their influence on Labour but that's it. Personally I prefer anarcho-syndicalisnm which is a different type of union, similar to those found in Sweden. What the UK rail employees earn relative to other people The have decent earnings because they have a good union. It doesn't matter what they earn, the industry makes massive profits. Have you checked what the CEOs earn? I don't see you making the case for spreading the profits to the people that do the work. No, let them take the burden and the blame for the economy. That's a cop out our government loves to hear. I find it a weak argument and more of a personal attack to elicit jealousy from the weak minded and selfish. Barristers going on strike I hope the whole country goes on strike because things are fucked up and they are going to get worse, particularly for those at the bottom of the pyramid. We have a lying, corrupt government that feathers it's own nest. Grant Schapps and his multiple alter egos did fuck all for the P&O workers, what happened there? All they want to do is keep changing the law so no-one can do anything. Our rights to protest and demonstrate were recently eroded in law with barely a whimper from any of the free speech brigade. Mick Lynch and how much he earns. Yeah, earning more money than the workforce that employs him I don't personally agree with. There's a lot about the structure of unions I disagree with but here's the thing. So what? What has his wages got to with the strike? Absolutely nothing. It's simply a personal attack which has nothing to do with the strike, and we all know that when people are using personal attacks it's because they don't really have an argument. As a side-note, It's illegal to blacklist people in this country, he was blacklisted from the construction industry for his work as a shop steward and he makes no secret of it. Cash grab / blackmail That's tabloid language right there, the politicians and fat cats love to hear working people speak for them. Did you know that a big chunk of the money the government put into the rail industry during the pandemic ended up in off shore bank accounts? The railway employees worked during the pandemic but they didn't see any of that money. If the nurses don't get fair pay is that the railway workers fault or the government? Essentially it's the government that we have elected that has manufactured this and we should be speaking more about the people in power and holding them to account. Union activity, and there will be more of it, is simply a symptom of a country where too many things are upside down, a country where people in work still have to claim benefits, as they don't get paid enough to live on. Where the rich made a fortune out of the pandemic and the government helped itself and its mates. So, while I could write an essay on my criticisms of unions, it's not them that have created the mess we are in and it's not on them to be responsible for it. I hope some of that makes sense 🤪

I'm in no particular rush for a new game but here's what's on my wish list for 2022 and 2023: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. It's been delayed further and I hope it's worth the wait. I still play a modded version of the originals on PC that blends them all into one game and map. As I say, I hope they get it right 🙂 Starfield I'm expecting a buggy Fallout in space so I don't get disappointed when that's what it turns out to be 🙂 Warhammer 40k Darktide I'll be keeping an eye on this as I have friends who only play Warhammer games, table top and PC. Baldur's Gate It's available now in early access but I'm waiting for the proper release, as it's £50 on Steam. Escape From Tarkov Not technically a new game as it's been in early access a while...but a new patch drops tomorrow and their most anticipated map drops later this year. Will also look out for Saints Row as previous titles were a lot of fun.

I love how his guitar looks like an AK-47 😂

I need some help from 15 other FGers to try out something we went to years ago but didn't quite pull off. If this can work just alongside our usual fun nights of gaming then we can keep making them along the way! I'm trialling fun little tournaments ahead of making the section fully open to all different kinds of stuff we can do. Here's the dealio: On CoD MW, a Gunfight (2v2 mode, random guns each round gamemode) knockout tourney that i need 8 teams of 2 people. I could put you all in one big group and pull people out at random but lets face it, its hard enough to get people to turn up sometimes! So find a partner in crime, and create a team with its own name on the Tournament pages: Step 1 - Create a team >>> On the main tournaments page, this is where you can find a place to create a team >>> https://forevergaming.co.uk/forum/index.php?/tournaments/ Step 2 - Go to the tournament details page and join the tournament (it then asks you to select a team to enter it with): If you can't quickly find a partner, just put your interest here and we'll just partner each of us up. Remember, this is about having a laugh with each other and not a super sweaty tournament, although i'm sure you'll have good banter shooting each other in the face! We can then organise your games on a night which will only probably take 10 minutes, and you can then move on to Warzone as a whole group or whatever else you were gonna play that night! Extra people can jump in and take the Codcaster role if they really want to spectate too! 😄 We'll come back to this topic when its running and keep people informed of the scores and when you might play to make a night of it. Anyway, lets have some fun. I'm in it, but I need a partner in crime so need to see some names below so i can ask you (or you can ask me) to group up! Funny team names are allowed too, just grab a pick and add a description - my team that has been entered is called 'Shotgun and Pliers' and you can see who else has entered one along the way. If this is a success we can keep doing these - I'm counting on you FG!! 😄❤️

According to Steam, Q3 emails start getting sent from 30 June. So, while I'm not sure I can afford it, I'm also hoping to be in the first few batches🙃 I'm itching to play Disco Elysium and see how Rimworld plays on it.

As Peter Tosh said "do not criticise it" 😁

I haven't got much to add to what I've said already. Strikes are very effective, and that's where you're quite wrong. Just take a look at France. The government decided to make the retirement age higher and the whole country said 'fuck that' and now the retirement age stays the same. I could give you hundreds of examples. Just look at the most successful countries in Europe, they all have the highest rates of union membership, particularly Scandinavian countries. But I'll leave it there, as long-serving forumers will know that as far as I'm concerned how we as a society organise ourselves economically and politically is not fit for purpose and actively creates misery and crime. Also, trying to make a point saying people who blame the government are stupid is not an argument. I don't use Tik Tok but I do have a politics degree👊

Strikes are an outdated mechanism IMO which is why the UK is so backwards and hasn't evolved from the 1980's in this respect. Causing major inconvenience that harms many sectors including children and people in need of medical assistance is not the answer. When the strike is over, everything goes back to normal and in most cases, nothing is resolved or gained. Unions need to be more creative these days rather than making knee-jerk statements that last a few days. They have been pressed to broaden their negotiations including supporting a pay rise to inflation scaling model yet most have refused to do this because it will ultimately make them irrelevant in the long run. Rail profits do soar but so does investment and that doesn't mean employees are automatically entitled to raises. A lot of the growth seen has been down to a near £100bn investment in the infrastructure and in creating over 40,000 new jobs. People biting the hand that feeds them whilst already receiving way above average salaries and overtime prospects is a bit greedy and narrow-minded. HS2 alone has probably revitalised and secured the industry for the next 60 years. The government now may be the punching bag for everyone's issues but Labour really haven't shone in the spotlight now or in any of their terms especially during the recession of around 2008 and nor has the unions. There needs to be a grounded focus on reducing inflation first and foremost which would reduce the cost of living significantly. This was not an issue when inflation was stabled/leveled so a lot of frustrations are because of that ultimately but people are using other means to shift blame. Certainly it is appropriate in some cases where there are sectors that are ridiculously overpaid but as per usual, hypocrisy comes in to play - how many people who complain about such things go on to support Premier League football and how many shop at Amazon? Labour were the OG's to not want to cap high earners because of their taxing potential. So I reiterate that it's a very complex situation and it goes beyond what's happening right now. TikTok may want to blame the government for anything and everything but this is something that's always existed but it's just more apparent now with inflation. Outdated unions need replacing with proper industrial bodies with local points of contact because it's clear they have no scope or any original forwarding strategies. Right now there are just fat cats taking a lion share and piping up when the country is at its most vulnerable. They should be seen as a functioning supporting body every single day and not go into hibernation for 5 years when the money is rolling in and everything is hunky dory.

I'm willing to get my ass wooped again for the good of FG competition!

Honestly I have never completed a diablo game. However I did pick up Diablo 3 for my switch the other day which i'm planning to play on my holiday in a few weeks 😄

Yeah definitely is funny, I wouldn't say I like all his stuff. His live performances the ones I've seen are as rough as a badgers arse. I personally think that is one of his best tunes and albums. What's your thoughts on Peter Tosh? Some of his solo stuff is awesome. The reggae cover of Johnny B Goode is out of this world. I hope you have heard it? 😀

Yep, I can definitely agree and understand that view. In fact, I would say the Switch option with the available apps is the one that I would and definitely have a look at from time to time, due to the accessibility and portability of the handheld console. I still love playing Super Tennis on the actual SNES than that though, can't really explain why!! Just feels so good getting that cartridge out 🤣

Agree 100%. The current route of emulation, such as the apps on the switch for NES/SNES, or even collections that publishers dish out like Konami has done with Castlevania, Contra or their classic arcade lines have added that little needed feature to make retro gaming a bit more appealing. Saving mid-run or just in general adds so much to the experience. Especially in this day and age when time is limited for some, and it allows you the option to pick-up, play for a few, save and carry on with your day. Granted, save states are available for most emulators, but with something like the switch that has that portability aspect makes it a bit more appealing for most.

Partner me up please. Or what you could do is put all that's interested give each member a number then use a number generator to make it random.