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Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
Add another one. Britain as an ad-hoc solution to a succession crisis.
Which essentially is what Britain owes its existence to. It came about thanks to dynastic problems in 1603 and 1707, arguably also 1688.
Britain is a very odd construct really.
Which essentially is what Britain owes its existence to. It came about thanks to dynastic problems in 1603 and 1707, arguably also 1688.
Britain is a very odd construct really.

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Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
The overwhelming problem is, and has been for eleven years, that Putin does not want peace, he wants Ukraine.The problem is Putin and Zelenskyy may want peace but Trump needs peace."Donald Trump says he is ‘very angry’ with Vladimir Putin over Ukraine"He's quite cross with him too.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/30/donald-trump-angry-vladimir-putin-ukraine-nbc
He obviously got Putin and Zelenskyy mixed up
If he wanted peace he could literally have it in 24 hours by withdrawing his forces.

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Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
An odd little vignette: my daughter has a singing exam so I have come into Manchester with her. On the tram in, a toothless crone engaged us in conversation in a wet rasping, spluttering Mancunian. At first I silently lamented my choice of seats - then felt glad to have sat where we did because we were clearly doing the woman good by giving someone to talk to - then felt glad to have sat where we did because we were being treated to a genuinely enjoyable semi-comic monologue, touching on the improbable medical histories of at least three people (including the time when she swelled up like the Michelin man and nearly died because of, if I understood correctly, a leaking boiler) - and concluding with telling us that this was all true, she never fibs, she'd never lie except to keep her husband from getting in trouble with the police.
I wished her a happy rest-of-her-day and told her it had been nice to talk to her, and genuinely meant it.
I'm now waiting, improbably, in a surprisingly opulent piano salesroom on an otherwise slightly disreputable street in the Northern Quarter. Nice to get out of your comfort zone.
I wished her a happy rest-of-her-day and told her it had been nice to talk to her, and genuinely meant it.
I'm now waiting, improbably, in a surprisingly opulent piano salesroom on an otherwise slightly disreputable street in the Northern Quarter. Nice to get out of your comfort zone.

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Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
Good article. I have had similar musings on Citizens of Nowhere and the effect of the Internet and Social Media on the national question.
Benedict Anderson in his influential book "Imagined Communities" linked the rise of the nation state to the rise of a national press, and increased literacy. Communication as the spark to nationalism.
That is now history. On this board I can argue politics with people on different continents, while my neighbours watch either Al Jazeera or satellite TV from India. I can read the Rand Daily Mail as easily as the British one.
On my travels, I note that middle class and professional people are increasingly alike and internationalisd. We have common interests and aspirations and similar lifestyles. It's not just deluxe hotels serving gin and tonics to ageing roues that have become homogeneous.
Is this the end of the Westphalian nation state? Or simply a return to what existed before? A return to polyglot multicultural empires, where loyalty was to class and individual, where French, German, Italian and British nobles felt more in common with each other than with the peasants that they ruled.
In other words are we back under the Hapsburgs, Ottomans, Aztecs and Manchus?
Benedict Anderson in his influential book "Imagined Communities" linked the rise of the nation state to the rise of a national press, and increased literacy. Communication as the spark to nationalism.
That is now history. On this board I can argue politics with people on different continents, while my neighbours watch either Al Jazeera or satellite TV from India. I can read the Rand Daily Mail as easily as the British one.
On my travels, I note that middle class and professional people are increasingly alike and internationalisd. We have common interests and aspirations and similar lifestyles. It's not just deluxe hotels serving gin and tonics to ageing roues that have become homogeneous.
Is this the end of the Westphalian nation state? Or simply a return to what existed before? A return to polyglot multicultural empires, where loyalty was to class and individual, where French, German, Italian and British nobles felt more in common with each other than with the peasants that they ruled.
In other words are we back under the Hapsburgs, Ottomans, Aztecs and Manchus?

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Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
Happy Mothers Day to all Mums, Eid Mubarak to all Muslims.
Re: Is inflation the key metric for winning the general election? – politicalbetting.com
Dear me - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce989vygkz7o.
I expect it was a "one-off" incident for the victim too. How many such offences must there be before action is taken?
I expect it was a "one-off" incident for the victim too. How many such offences must there be before action is taken?
Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
I think hanging the death of the nation state on the transience of a few high flyers and on social media interactions ignores that everyone, even most of the high flyers, live in their communities, send their children to school, work with people in their own communities. Each of these has extended and internationalised - I find my community online more than in the pub, I work with international colleagues to a far greater extent, but at the end of the day, the localisation of my interactions on PB, on social media, through my kids particularly, at work is still pretty strong. Yes, Musk and perhaps Leon overarch that - but Musk has an unusual domestic setup even for a top executive, those people always travelled and often have a spouse who acted in a supporting role, more rooted in a given place. Even Leon, broadly footloose and fancy free, were I to meet him, I know the places that would likely be, particularly as my daughter seems to share a lot of the thoughts processes as his.I'm in this camp, I have close friends all over the world, my family includes people with origins outside of the UK, but I am also deeply rooted in my local community, through school, through voluntary groups, through community arts projects, just from being neighbours. I also have family and friends spread over most parts of the UK. Being British doesn't mean being insular. And having an international mindset doesn't mean I've forgotten where I come from, or have turned my back on my own community. I think this nowhere vs somewhere stuff obscures rather than illuminates.
Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
A bit harsh on all the mothers out there, allocating them the one day in the year that is only 23 hours long.

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Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
Good article. I have had similar musings on Citizens of Nowhere and the effect of the Internet and Social Media on the national question.Those polyglot empires make the basic functioning of democracy much more difficult. It is no surprise that democracy started in well defined city states, was preserved in a debased form in geographically delimited Kingdoms and republics and, as Viewcode points out, was only really able to flourish after the Westphalian Treaties.
Benedict Anderson in his influential book "Imagined Communities" linked the rise of the nation state to the rise of a national press, and increased literacy. Communication as the spark to nationalism.
That is now history. On this board I can argue politics with people on different continents, while my neighbours watch either Al Jazeera or satellite TV from India. I can read the Rand Daily Mail as easily as the British one.
On my travels, I note that middle class and professional people are increasingly alike and internationalisd. We have common interests and aspirations and similar lifestyles. It's not just deluxe hotels serving gin and tonics to ageing roues that have become homogeneous.
Is this the end of the Westphalian nation state? Or simply a return to what existed before? A return to polyglot multicultural empires, where loyalty was to class and individual, where French, German, Italian and British nobles felt more in common with each other than with the peasants that they ruled.
In other words are we back under the Hapsburgs, Ottomans, Aztecs and Manchus?
Blair wanted an end to the Westphalian Settlement. What he was actually pushing for - though I don't accuse him of knowingly doing this - was an end to functional democracy.
Re: The matter of Britain – politicalbetting.com
I lost my mother on 3rd March. It is a great sadness to me that I cannot wish her Happy Mothers Day.
She wrote the Manual on how to be a good Mum.
She wrote the Manual on how to be a good Mum.

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