What’s your low stakes UK conspiracy theory?

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/1iafkwa/whats_your_low_stakes_uk_conspiracy_theory/

created by shitthrower on 26/01/2025 at 14:15 UTC

1103 upvotes, 95 top-level comments (showing 25)

I am convinced that the “Extra” motorway services brand intentionally chose a logo similar the McDonalds in order to convince people to stop there.

Comments

Comment by AutoModerator at 26/01/2025 at 14:15 UTC

1 upvotes, 0 direct replies

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Comment by ans-myonul at 26/01/2025 at 15:04 UTC

1944 upvotes, 12 direct replies

Sainsbury's keeps track of what items I buy and then discontinues the items I buy the most

Comment by amboandy at 26/01/2025 at 17:09 UTC

354 upvotes, 6 direct replies

Badgers aren't as suicidal on the roads as their death toll suggests. Most of the carcasses I see look like they're just sleeping at the side of the road and not the victim of going toe to toe with a car or lorry. I think farmers shot them and leave them at the side of the road to get around wildlife conservation laws.

Comment by ChairmanChunder at 26/01/2025 at 15:49 UTC

512 upvotes, 7 direct replies

All those endless roadworks on UK motorways? They’re just a front to spend budget surpluses before the fiscal year ends—no one’s actually fixing anything. The cones? They’re shuffled around weekly to give the illusion of progress.

Comment by Acceptable-Fun640 at 26/01/2025 at 20:12 UTC

93 upvotes, 1 direct replies

Funky pigeon and moonpig are the same company, just targeted along a north/south divide

Comment by knight-under-stars at 26/01/2025 at 14:27 UTC

914 upvotes, 5 direct replies

Last year's Guinness shortage was a marketing tactic.

Comment by imminentmailing463 at 26/01/2025 at 14:19 UTC

1425 upvotes, 10 direct replies

Uniqlo pays people to go on British Reddit subs and hype it up.

Comment by Pretend-Ad-55 at 26/01/2025 at 16:28 UTC

197 upvotes, 4 direct replies

The only reason The Last of the Summer Wine lasted so long (still the longest running sitcom in the world) was because it was The Queen’s favourite show

Comment by BoltersnRivets at 26/01/2025 at 16:12 UTC

367 upvotes, 9 direct replies

there used to be a conspiricy in train spotting circles that the government was hiding a fleet of thousands of practically new steam locomotives off a siding inside box tunnel. the logic being that when the nukes fell diesel and electirc locomotives would be wiped out by the EMP pulse of any nukes dropped, so the nobel steam engine would rise like a pheonix to drag britain out of the ashes of nucliar armageddon from the clutches of their dirty diesel succesors (the last bit is exaduration on my part, but it;s the sort of sentiment at the heart of this conspiracy). I think the fall of the berlin wall put a damper on the conspiracy going anywhere

the irony of the conspiracy was that due to the beaching cuts we have more surplus track and steam locomotives than any other country in europe, so the government likely never had the need to put funds towards storing and maintaining a fleet of last resort like other nations such as sweden and norway did, they just let the preservationists do the work for them and left the question of requestioning the locomotives for the war effort as a question for after the bombs dropped

Comment by DarthScabies at 26/01/2025 at 16:41 UTC

165 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Televisions come with shitty speakers now so you have to buy a soundbar or decent system.

Comment by Whisky_Delta at 26/01/2025 at 15:43 UTC

252 upvotes, 3 direct replies

That whoever controls the variable speed limits on the A14 is after revenue and not safety, given how often the speed limit changes to 40 right on the speed camera when there’s no cause for it.

Comment by Unusual-Court-457 at 26/01/2025 at 18:01 UTC

116 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Supermarkets bake 1 in every 5 cookies with loads of chocolate chips in it, and put that cookie at the front of the pack. So you see the pack and think they look delicious, but the other four cookies have way less chocolate in them

Comment by klauswaugh at 26/01/2025 at 18:53 UTC

42 upvotes, 3 direct replies

Geoff Marshall's videos are a front for his county lines operation.

Comment by sk5783 at 26/01/2025 at 14:39 UTC*

614 upvotes, 10 direct replies

Aldi without question incentivises people to talk about them on UK subs.

The sheer number of posts praising them, people asking “what’s something from Aldi that’s better than the branded version?”, “what’s your best middle aisle find?” or just randomly shoehorning it into unrelated topics isn’t even slightly subtle.  I remember in a thread about coffee someone posting something like:

“Aldi have the best coffee at the best prices of any other supermarket. If you're looking for quality beans or ground then Aldi is your best bet”

Like, straight out of marketing. Very odd.

Comment by Rootes_Radical at 26/01/2025 at 15:29 UTC

69 upvotes, 1 direct replies

I’d always assumed it was a McDonald’s logo so… good job Extra I guess

Comment by tysmfm at 26/01/2025 at 19:15 UTC

129 upvotes, 5 direct replies

Pensioners shop at supermarkets at the weekends to fuck with people who can only go then because they work during the week.

I was at Tesco today and there was a woman standing in the middle of the aisle FaceTiming as harassed looking shoppers tried to get past.

Comment by parsl at 26/01/2025 at 16:29 UTC

179 upvotes, 2 direct replies

New Year. It’s just the old year, but with the number increased by one.

Comment by octopus_suitcase at 26/01/2025 at 17:20 UTC

178 upvotes, 3 direct replies

The DFS sale never ends. They just happen to change whatever they're discounting at the time

Comment by RichardsonM24 at 26/01/2025 at 18:31 UTC*

28 upvotes, 3 direct replies

When city won the league on the last day of 2011/12 season Joey Barton got sent off on purpose cos he had money on them to win the league

Comment by Frosty_Thoughts at 26/01/2025 at 16:28 UTC

230 upvotes, 7 direct replies

The police know a lot more than they let on about missing persons cases like Andrew Gosden or Claudia Lawrence but they can't go public with anything as it could ruin the entire case. I wouldn't be surprised if they've already solved some of them but just can't say anything for now.

Comment by Fdocz at 26/01/2025 at 19:48 UTC

104 upvotes, 5 direct replies

Hash browns were never part of a full English until about 20 years ago and everyone’s been gaslit into thinking they always were and are thus traditional.

I remember though. I remember the before times.

Comment by Minute_University_98 at 26/01/2025 at 18:33 UTC

85 upvotes, 6 direct replies

Mens clothes sizes have got bigger but claim to be same size as before..to make fat people feel less like , you know.  Fat.

Comment by ScroogeMcducker at 26/01/2025 at 18:26 UTC

40 upvotes, 2 direct replies

There are no places for cones to be stored. That’s why they’re always left on the road to be moved to the next job. For all the cones in the UK I’ve never seen a cone warehouse

Comment by ASL3312 at 26/01/2025 at 18:47 UTC

46 upvotes, 2 direct replies

Head & Shoulders and other anti-dandruff shampoos actually cause dandruff.. so you buy more anti-dandruff shampoo.

Comment by Lav_ at 26/01/2025 at 18:30 UTC

19 upvotes, 2 direct replies

All the "free" work coffee machines are made by places like Costa/starbucks to make you want to spend money on a coffee from the canteen instead.