I can’t decide whether to have Bucks Fizz, or not to have Bucks Fizz.But you already have Bucks Fizz…I predict it will become the go-to phrase, because no one can agree on anything else, and it sounds pukkaOne for @TimSEnglish fizz is a colloquiallism that can never be used as an official designation because that would be as vulgar as Christening one's children 'Archie' or 'Lillibet'.
Sales of English Fizz are soaring
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/23/chapel-down-sales-champagne-profits-sparkling-wine
Particularly gratifying is the Guardian’s use of the phrase “English Fizz”
They’ve been searching for a name for this product and the name is right there. English Fizz. It sounds fun and with a hint of poshness - like Eton Mess - or indeed Prosecco
That’s what it must be called. Uncork the English Fizz
Here are some other suggested alternatives
Merret
Britagne (cringe value: 10/10)
Pefriog
I’m not joking: Pefriog
Nikki hasn’t pulled out. I believe that Mike meant the nutty guy (Vivek? Forgotten him already!)The nutty guy is the presumptive nominee.
Also, letting universities fail is fucking stupid, if the reason is solely down to wanting to reduce immigration numbers. Universities are a success story for the UK and deliver jobs, research and education - in no small part paid for by foreigners, which also helps the balance of payments.The easiest way to stop it would be to impose a limit on universities accepting overseas graduates and then be prepared to let universities fail. It actually would not be that hard but the Government will not do it because (1) it is scared of the squealing from the well-paid university vice-chancellors and (2) I think many, particularly in the Treasury but also in Government, see it as a less politically toxic way to get cheap labour in and so offset the effects of Brexit.I believe about 100-150,000 is Ukraine/HKHow much off that 1.3 million is Ukraine/Hong Kong and adjustments of student numbers after covid?It's a lot worse than "not delivering", they have done the opposite of delivering. We have had 1.3 million migrants in two years, which is: simply off the dial, unprecedented in our history, changing the country visibly and briskly, and is a larger rate per capita than any annual immigration into the "land of immigrants" - the USARound here a comment I’ve heard often is where have all these coloured people come from.This election is going to play very differently regionally. I expect the Tories to be all but wiped out in London, metropolitan areas and to have a shocker in the South West and Wales. Conversely, I think their vote will be stickier than expected in the midlands and in some northern county/small towns.I can't speak for the Midlands. For northern England they are going to get absolutely destroyed. Whilst there will remain pockets of shire Tories, all of the places where blue collar Boris Brexit Toryism exploded in 2019 will be lost. All. Maybe keep a random couple if they are lucky and the vote splits right to allow their collapse to still leave them on top.
Why? Because, to get all northern again for a minute, they've done fuck all round here. Too. many morons unexpectedly elected, fed the spin lines by head office which they parrot about all the things they are delivering. Whilst delivering nothing. Voters are used to nothing, but they're not used to being lied to about it.
Worse still is the parochial bigotry that was always close to the surface in many towns now whipped to a frenzy. They voted Brexit and then Boris to get the foreigners out. Gone. Its their fault we can't see a doctor, why the schools are crap, why there's no jobs and no money. And even in 2019 the lure of the further right was strong - the Brexit Party saved Labour in a stack of seats. I expect the number of FUKkers to be even higher this time, and vs 2019 they will mostly be transfers from Tory 2019 totals.
It is going to be a political bloodbath. And well deserved - will be fun to see what Lord Ben I'll Sue Houchen will do with his local support all gone and the wolves closing in on the scent of malfeasance...
And it’s not usually as a racist comment we’ve always had a few people of Asian / African descent but there are noticeably more than used to be the case
Granted a lot of the people complaining won’t actually vote but it does show how many people think Bozo and co have utterly failed to deliver what they promised
We are importing more people than America in the era of Ellis Island. Take a minute and grasp that
It is screamingly insane, it is a kind of Ponzi scheme, and all of this is happening as everyone admits the NHS can't cope, our sewage system can't cope, our infrastructure is fucked, and house-ownership is becoming a dream for anyone under 50
The Tories are going to be obliterated, and deservedly, to the extent they may never recover
However, Starmer will then have to tackle this issue. It cannot be ignored. What will he do?
Students dunno, but an awful lot of them have brought dependants (much more than usual), and a much higher propertion are now converting their student visas to work visas, so they stay
Now it's great that people want to come here, it's good our unis are attractive, I am sure 98% of these people are fantastic brain surgeons to be, but the simple fact is the UK cannot cope with 700,000 net immigrants a year. Remember when Cameron vowed to get it down to tens of thousands? Now it is SEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND
To grasp this nettle will take courage. Does Starmer possess it? I doubt it, and it's not in Labour's nature to clamp down on migration
They should name them after famous dictators. You'd take Hurricane Hitler seriously.Sorry to go off topic after such a header.The Economist published a survey a few years ago showing that in the USA ,hurricanes with female names caused significantly more deaths than male named ones . Given that male and female names are used alternatively the only explanation offered was that people were less scared of female named ones and so took less precautions
But I can't get apprehensive about Storm Jocelyn.
It's a bit like facing a Gladiator named Tristram.
I wouldn't run away from that one. I'd stay in my house and tough it out. I'd fight it in the kitchen, in the lounge, in the driveway, and in the garden. I'd never surrender.They should name them after famous dictators. You'd take Hurricane Hitler seriously.Sorry to go off topic after such a header.The Economist published a survey a few years ago showing that in the USA ,hurricanes with female names caused significantly more deaths than male named ones . Given that male and female names are used alternatively the only explanation offered was that people were less scared of female named ones and so took less precautions
But I can't get apprehensive about Storm Jocelyn.
It's a bit like facing a Gladiator named Tristram.