Quick question. It’s 1 Dec. Is anyone here experiencing a slightly premature ‘oh f**k it, it’s time to break for Xmas’? It’s been a long, heavy year. It might just be me. Genuine question.
Churchwise, Advent Sunday was the earliest date it can be, which has made a difference chez Romford.
But there do seem to be plenty of house Illuminations up in our street already. Did the Season Of Lights shuffle earlier in the Covid years, and we can't face pushing it back to something a bit more seemly?
Tree up on Saturday probably. For a Jewish household we go all in on Christmas. Hanukkah is late this year and actually runs up to Boxing Day (which we'll be celebrating in the traditional way, watching Stockport County slap Crewe Alex about).
Looks as though his comments about Apple were economical with the actualite, too.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/11/30/musk-cook-twitter-apple-app-store-00071521 ...Musk had a much different tone Monday, when he issued a series of tweets accusing Apple of threatening to “withhold” Twitter from the App Store, among other unspecified “censorship actions” that he laid at Apple’s feet. Those tweets remained live on Musk’s Twitter feed as of Wednesday night.
Removal from the App Store would pose an almost existential threat to Twitter by making it impossible for iPhone and iPad users to load the social media app onto their devices. Musk’s accusation provoked a tide of anti-Apple attacks from Republicans, including lawmakers and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential GOP presidential nominee in 2024.
Republicans cited the alleged threat as evidence that Congress needs to enact antitrust legislation loosening Apple’s control over the App Store, a bulwark of the company’s $2 trillion-plus fortune.
Wednesday’s retraction is just the latest twist involving Musk..
It's almost as if eccentric and erratic billionaires controlling the media isn't a good thing.
I wouldn't call him eccentric or erratic, but has Bezos been a 'bad' owner of the Washington Post?
Yes. Bezos is a Bond villain.
Really? How has he been a 'bad' owner of the Washington Post?
No proper reporting on Amazon's worker abuse issues.
On topic I'm sure they'll work something out and Twitter won't be banned from the EU.
Musk seems to like to get into these tussles with the regulators, we saw the same thing with the SEC. I think it kind of works out well for both sides: He apparently enjoys the attention and the feeling of being edgy, while the regulators look good standing up to the rich and powerful and extracting some kind of a fine.
This is content moderation, though - put it this way I suspect Elon won't be visiting Germany in the next few years as Twitter is probably breaking their anti-Nazi / Fascism rules on a minutely basis and the buck stops at the owner.
Quick question. It’s 1 Dec. Is anyone here experiencing a slightly premature ‘oh f**k it, it’s time to break for Xmas’? It’s been a long, heavy year. It might just be me. Genuine question.
I finish up in two weeks having booked extra time off before christmas. Safe to say it's an increasing struggle each morning when the alarm goes off.
On-top of that though - a lot of people I talk to are just feeling worn out. Not sure if it's this year in particular or just the post-COVID-panic-adreneline comedown. But in general people seem to feel 'scunnered'.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
It has hitherto been deemed ‘transphobic’ to suggest not all trans people are the same and that some people claiming to be trans might in fact scarcely be trans at all. And yet here is the first minister accepting precisely that proposition. Not all trans women are women, some may be ‘men abusing a system to attack women’.
God loves and will forgive even a slow learner but it says something about this debate that even this concussion to palpable reality – predatory men will take advantage of even well-intentioned schemes for their own ends – counts as a moment of shining, revelatory, progress.
Harry BOPARAI (LD) 735 Helen Elizabeth COUCHMAN (TUSC) 63 Naz ISLAM (Con) 720 Khalid MUSTAFA (Lab) 383 Rory O’BRIEN (Reform UK) 144
LD gain from Con
A big swing away from the Tories, in Kwasi’s seat, especially considering the previous Tory Cllr died from cancer in her 40s. The new LD councillor is a defector from the Brexit Party - good luck to (and with!) him!
BXP to LD? Tsunami incoming for the Blue Wall.
Looks like an awful LibDem result to me, that doesn’t bode well to anyone wanting the Tory’s out of government - a squeaky win by failing to squeeze the large Labour vote. If this sort of thing continues on GE night the Tories can still remain largest party, by opponents votes not helping each other.
I seem to have a hazy recollection of our remoaner contingent being upset recently that a flood of cheap Australian beef was going to undermine our plucky British farmers. You could at least coordinate your stories and decide whether cheap food is a good or a bad thing.
A cursory reading of Janes this weeks informs that Baldy Ben's defence cuts are in full swing. The extra A400M buy announced in February (always a threadbare fantasy) is in the bin. Boxer is cut from 1,300 vehicles to 1,000 and MLRS upgrade is cut from 75 to 61.
This was always the danger of going round intimating that the Russians are a gang of boss-eyed drunks driving round up-armoured milk vans with Z painted on the side. The fat knacker should have been talking the Russians up to protect his turf.
While true, the not so stellar performance in Ukraine would surely be exposing the lie right now.
I seem to have a hazy recollection of our remoaner contingent being upset recently that a flood of cheap Australian beef was going to undermine our plucky British farmers. You could at least coordinate your stories and decide whether cheap food is a good or a bad thing.
I would have thought that our farmers being screwed over *and* our food costing £200 more would be more of a double whammy than an inconsistency?
Well The Today programme got it spot on this morning. No not politics, but the close with playing the whole of Songbird as a tribute to Christine McVie. The last notes of the piano fading away in perfect time for the 9am pips. Great bit of scheduling and a lovely tribute.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
It looks like English but somehow the words don't seem to link together to form a coherent sentence.
I seem to have a hazy recollection of our remoaner contingent being upset recently that a flood of cheap Australian beef was going to undermine our plucky British farmers. You could at least coordinate your stories and decide whether cheap food is a good or a bad thing.
I would have thought that our farmers being screwed over *and* our food costing £200 more would be more of a double whammy than an inconsistency?
(However, discovering that it is £200 over 2 years, or roughly £2/week puts a slightly different complexion on it! It also depends on where that increase is weighted; they are opaque as to whether that is weighted towards or away from the poorest; £2/week being a significant issue for the poorest, and a drop in the ocean for the average.)
"Britain is fast descending into chaos, and the Tories are powerless to stop it Who governs the country? Not the Conservatives, who increasingly appear to have given up completely Allister Heath" (£)
He was tried six years ago and didn't do too well. Four tests with an average around 15 and a high score of 56. Arguably too soon - he was only recently turned 20, IIRC. Looks like he's properly seasoned now (at least on the strength of one innings, which is usually enough for me to get far too enthused about a new opening batsman)
Given all the nice things ministers have said about Kate Bingham this is going to be rather damaging.
Britain is not properly prepared for another pandemic because ministers have deliberately dismantled vaccine capability, the former head of the Vaccines Taskforce said.
Dame Kate Bingham was “baffled” by government decisions in an attack on ministers’ handling of the legacy of the success of the pandemic response.
Rishi Sunak hailed the taskforce as a “blueprint” for tackling cancer and dementia as well as driving the innovative research that he argues will be the foundation for economic growth.
Yesterday Bingham said ministers had ignored all her recommendations about working with industry and experts and had handed control of key policies to civil service generalists.
Her taskforce was central to procuring a range of Covid jabs ensuring that Britain could begin vaccination before the rest of the world. But she said that the EU had overtaken us and told MPs on the science and health select committees: “Our approach seems to have been to go backwards rather than to continue the momentum”.
Wasn’t there an interesting statistic, huge disparity between batsmen and bowlers, the batsman from posh schools in the south, the bowlers working class northerners?
Meanwhile - “Labour would end tax breaks for private schools and invest in thousands more teachers, more mental health support in every school and professional careers advice to ensure young people are ready for work and ready for life”
I hate this gimmicky politics, and Labour leading the field in shit like this now Boris is out the game - that statement reads like a brexiteers magic money tree promise, because even at Labours best estimate it nets treasury £1.7bn, to prove how pathetic the game Labour are playing a reminder the current education budget is £100bn. And what about the obvious inherent vice of it not being paid at all nowhere near 1.7bn but creates new government costs instead as children switch to state schooling? At the moment is the better scenario of the wealthy subsidising education with their own money rather than dumping those costs on the state. Economically illiterate Labour think we are stupid.
I’m pleased my mum and dad didn’t send me away to a posh boarding school, I would have hated it and run away,
A couple of other examples of Labours economic illiteracy - the insanely expensive bucking of the energy market for 6 months was their idea. And ending non Dom status supposedly nets only about £3.2bn. There’s estimated 68,300 non doms actually paying £8bn in tax each year - what Labour don’t tell you the nom doms can so easily leave Britain once non Dom status axed , so Starmer doesn’t get the 3.2bn, and not the 8bn either, the policy actually makes the exchequer poorer.
It’s unproven the VAT on schooling will be paid so they can’t claim that 1.7bn. And Labour threatening the current 8bn tax paid by nom doms. Yet they are promising a wasteful “subsidise rich peoples energy bills” scheme the OBR said costs at least 60bn, and the latest OECD attacked too (not that Starmer read it) - Labour are clearly a long way short of properly funding their insanely expensive idea’s with these latest money raising gimmicks aren’t they?
And Starmer’s been promising tax cuts this week too!
With his silly no income raising tax gimmicks, making Labour look like Truss 2.0 (handing switchers back to Sunak) and his over preoccupation with regaining red wall by not just easily allowing opponents to dub him Brexit hard man, but actually nailing himself to the Brexit cross as part of his own strategy (no gains in Scotland now for Starmer, and no Lib Dem votes where he needs them either) Starmer is beginning to bugger up Labours election chances, is he not?
I seem to have a hazy recollection of our remoaner contingent being upset recently that a flood of cheap Australian beef was going to undermine our plucky British farmers. You could at least coordinate your stories and decide whether cheap food is a good or a bad thing.
I would have thought that our farmers being screwed over *and* our food costing £200 more would be more of a double whammy than an inconsistency?
The supposed screw over of farmers is a future scenario based on the scary prospect that British consumers would have access to cheaper imported meat. This is evidently a baaaaaaaad thing. Except it seems when we're bemoaning high food prices, based on increased costs of food imported from the EU. A statement consistent with 'Australiageddon' would be to celebrate British farmers' success in securing a great price for their produce. If you can't see the whopping inconsistency there, I don't know what to say to you.
I seem to have a hazy recollection of our remoaner contingent being upset recently that a flood of cheap Australian beef was going to undermine our plucky British farmers. You could at least coordinate your stories and decide whether cheap food is a good or a bad thing.
I would have thought that our farmers being screwed over *and* our food costing £200 more would be more of a double whammy than an inconsistency?
(However, discovering that it is £200 over 2 years, or roughly £2/week puts a slightly different complexion on it! It also depends on where that increase is weighted; they are opaque as to whether that is weighted towards or away from the poorest; £2/week being a significant issue for the poorest, and a drop in the ocean for the average.)
The price of the Milk we consume by itself has gone up more than £2 a week in the last year.
He last played tests 6 years ago - one of the first in the rotating carousel of openers to replace Cookie,
Cricketer of the year in 2016, at the age of 22. Had a mare against the spinners on tour, but I don't think they should have dropped him quite so abruptly. They've treated players better since, with some success, so he was perhaps a bit unfortunate in the timing of his debut.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
The screechy left have found a victim whose skin colour, class, nationality, age and obvious frailty require a boot stamping down on her horrible entitled face for ever. Well done ✔ for joining in. These 83 year olds can fight like rats when cornered.
Given all the nice things ministers have said about Kate Bingham this is going to be rather damaging.
Britain is not properly prepared for another pandemic because ministers have deliberately dismantled vaccine capability, the former head of the Vaccines Taskforce said.
Dame Kate Bingham was “baffled” by government decisions in an attack on ministers’ handling of the legacy of the success of the pandemic response.
Rishi Sunak hailed the taskforce as a “blueprint” for tackling cancer and dementia as well as driving the innovative research that he argues will be the foundation for economic growth.
Yesterday Bingham said ministers had ignored all her recommendations about working with industry and experts and had handed control of key policies to civil service generalists.
Her taskforce was central to procuring a range of Covid jabs ensuring that Britain could begin vaccination before the rest of the world. But she said that the EU had overtaken us and told MPs on the science and health select committees: “Our approach seems to have been to go backwards rather than to continue the momentum”.
Its more profitable to 'trade for it' than have our own capacity.
At least more profitable for the well connected people able to have the buying made via themselves.
Thr key decision makers in this process are likely to have been appalled that the British vaccine project became a widely recognised symbol of Brexit success. They will do their best to ensure that this isn't repeated, even through what amounts to sabotage.
He last played tests 6 years ago - one of the first in the rotating carousel of openers to replace Cookie,
Cricketer of the year in 2016, at the age of 22. Had a mare against the spinners on tour, but I don't think they should have dropped him quite so abruptly. They've treated players better since, with some success, so he was perhaps a bit unfortunate in the timing of his debut.
Played for a non-Test ground county when first selected and dropped. Had to do his time at a real county (in ECB's eyes) before being picked again.
"Britain is fast descending into chaos, and the Tories are powerless to stop it Who governs the country? Not the Conservatives, who increasingly appear to have given up completely Allister Heath" (£)
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Calling it "abuse" is really quite over the top and detracts from her case. Whatever happened to "assume good faith"?
He last played tests 6 years ago - one of the first in the rotating carousel of openers to replace Cookie,
Cricketer of the year in 2016, at the age of 22. Had a mare against the spinners on tour, but I don't think they should have dropped him quite so abruptly. They've treated players better since, with some success, so he was perhaps a bit unfortunate in the timing of his debut.
Played for a non-Test ground county when first selected and dropped. Had to do his time at a real county (in ECB's eyes) before being picked again.
Thats one view, but the lack of runs at the start was an issue. Arguably he was picked too young, and now may be a better bet. However one decent knock doesn't make a test opener.
"Britain is fast descending into chaos, and the Tories are powerless to stop it Who governs the country? Not the Conservatives, who increasingly appear to have given up completely Allister Heath" (£)
"Britain is fast descending into chaos, and the Tories are powerless to stop it Who governs the country? Not the Conservatives, who increasingly appear to have given up completely Allister Heath" (£)
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Pushing a needless line of questioning when the other person isn't comfortable isn't ladylike.
Organisational capture - groups largely funded by the Scottish Government write to the UN to defend the Scottish Government:
It appears the Gov funded sector in Scotland have sent a patronising & rather disingenuous letter to @UNSRVAW in order to prop up SG's increasingly troubled pet project.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
The screechy left have found a victim whose skin colour, class, nationality, age and obvious frailty require a boot stamping down on her horrible entitled face for ever. Well done ✔ for joining in. These 83 year olds can fight like rats when cornered.
Ah right, the problem isn't that representatives of the state's head institution are racially abusing people.
The problem in your eyes is that people are paying attention to it.
If an 83 year old is too senile, demented or frail to be treating people with respect without racially abusing them then they ought to be retired and not representing the state.
Somehow I doubt you'd be so quick to forgive Joe Biden if he ended up in a similar controversy.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
PB Republicans would post exactly what you posted. From lips of republicans it opportunistic and meaningless.
Are you 100% sure it’s not just asking about where your heritage is traced back to, that would be a perfectly fair question wouldn’t it? just clumsily communicated so just a great big misunderstanding?
For example, I am 110% British and 220% Yorkshire born and bred, but if/when anyone at a Buckingham Palace garden party looks at me not looking entirely white and fairly asks “what his your heritage” I happily tell them it goes long time back in Kowloon and not so long ago in Germany too on my other side.
Fair questions fair answers not racism question at all is it?
Edit. Actually not to mislead, I was actually born in Cardiff, but that was just a big mistake and doesn’t count.
Given all the nice things ministers have said about Kate Bingham this is going to be rather damaging.
Britain is not properly prepared for another pandemic because ministers have deliberately dismantled vaccine capability, the former head of the Vaccines Taskforce said.
Dame Kate Bingham was “baffled” by government decisions in an attack on ministers’ handling of the legacy of the success of the pandemic response.
Rishi Sunak hailed the taskforce as a “blueprint” for tackling cancer and dementia as well as driving the innovative research that he argues will be the foundation for economic growth.
Yesterday Bingham said ministers had ignored all her recommendations about working with industry and experts and had handed control of key policies to civil service generalists.
Her taskforce was central to procuring a range of Covid jabs ensuring that Britain could begin vaccination before the rest of the world. But she said that the EU had overtaken us and told MPs on the science and health select committees: “Our approach seems to have been to go backwards rather than to continue the momentum”.
With a response to Dame Kate Bingham from Dame Jenny Harries.
Given that Bingham spoke out against vaccinating everyone because she thought side effects would make it too dangerous, and Harries warned against early measures to reduce the spread of the virus because it would prevent herd immunity being reached by Autumn 2020 (!), one wonders why anyone in their right mind would take a blind bit of notice of either of them.
"Britain is fast descending into chaos, and the Tories are powerless to stop it Who governs the country? Not the Conservatives, who increasingly appear to have given up completely Allister Heath" (£)
"Britain is fast descending into chaos, and the Tories are powerless to stop it Who governs the country? Not the Conservatives, who increasingly appear to have given up completely Allister Heath" (£)
From the interview with the person concerned this morning on the Today programme it sounds like the conversation was originally a misunderstanding. Where are you from being interpreted as what organisation are you from. After that though it did sound like over sensitivity. The obvious reply to being pushed being 'I'm from x (town in the UK) but my parents came over from y (place abroad) in the 19zz. I mean one can be genuinely interested in people's background without being racist.
When I have a conversation with a call centre I always ask someone's name and then reply saying hi and their first name and introduce myself by my first name to get on friendly terms. If I can I make them laugh. If their name is unusual then at the end of the conversation I usually ask the origins of it. It is usually from overseas or from a song their parents liked or place their parents visited. If they have an accent I ask about that and then have a short chat about the place or name. I have never yet had anyone take offence (knowingly, although they might go away thinking I was a boring old fart, but I hope I actually made their day in the middle of all the irate calls they get).
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
Uh-oh, Leaky Sue’s “we’ve broken it” rhetoric is building the Reform/Farage Redux vote at Tory expense, just as Starmer’s mistakes have Labour on the slide.
The EU may be overestimating its leverage here. Twitter has relatively few users in the EU. For example there are more in the UK than Germany and France combined.
It’s not a question of leverage in that way; just that if Twitter doesn’t comply with EU law, then it might well face a ban.
My point is that Musk may not care as much as the EU thinks, and may even relish the optics of them trying to block access to Twitter.
Ultimately though it doesn't really matter what Musk thinks. It's what the advertisers think.
70% of their revenue comes from the US and Japan alone. They don't publish a breakdown for the rest of the world, but the EU will be a minority share.
If the EU tried to ban it, it would be as farcical as Russia banning it while Dmitry Medvedev continued to tweet. There's no way they will achieve compliance so it will just make the Commission a laughing stock.
They can just impose fines, much as they do to successfully enforce GDPR.
But why would Twitter / Musk pay? He just says f**k you, and then complains to the US authorities. Sure Biden won't be sympathetic but, by the time any fines were imposed, RDS may be in the White House and the EU will back down as usual when faced by the US
I don't think the EU would be minded to back down against a Republican President.
On this topic RDS has threatened a congressional investigation of Apple for daring to not advertise on Twitter. It's full scale corruption now in US conservatism.
Tim Cook and Elon Musk had a meeting today:
@elonmusk Good conversation. Among other things, we resolved the misunderstanding about Twitter potentially being removed from the App Store. Tim was clear that Apple never considered doing so.
The threat from RDS related to a potential ban of the Twitter App from the iOS App Store. Which would effectively ban Twitter on iPhones.
Apple would not have done this, anyway, since there are repeated, ongoing investigations of how Apple uses the App Store monopoly on the iOS platform. By quite a few Democrats, incidently.
The actual meat of the EU story is that there is going to be a stress test by the EU regulator which Twitter will have to pass.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
PB Republicans would post exactly what you posted. From lips of republicans it opportunistic and meaningless.
Are you 100% sure it’s not just asking about where your heritage is traced back to, that would be a perfectly fair question wouldn’t it? just clumsily communicated so just a great big misunderstanding?
For example, I am 110% British and 220% Yorkshire born and bred, but if/when anyone at a Buckingham Palace garden party looks at me not looking entirely white and fairly asks “what his your heritage” I happily tell them it goes long time back in Kowloon and not so long ago in Germany too on my other side.
Fair questions fair answers not racism question at all is it?
Edit. Actually not to mislead, I was actually born in Cardiff, but that was just a big mistake and doesn’t count.
Francois Balloux, the UCL bug boffin, is speculating on Twitter that >1 million Chinese people will shortly die of Covid
If true that will be the story of the winter. Huge ramifications - economics, geopolitics, etc
1 million would be roughly 1 in 1000 of the Chinese population - which would be death rates not dissimilar to those seen elsewhere in the world. So not inconceivable. Though I would have thought that vaccination, rubbish though the Chinese attempt at it has been, might drive things down a little. I don't want to shrug off a million deaths, but in a country of 1 billion, this itself is manageable. The ramifications of it will come if news of this gets out (not in itself a given, either to China or to the Rest of the World), and the CCP is seen as having put the Chinese through three years of lockdowns only to see a result which matches everyone else's. Or, alternatively, if the CCP is spooked into locking down harder and longer. Or both.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
PB Republicans would post exactly what you posted. From lips of republicans it opportunistic and meaningless.
Are you 100% sure it’s not just asking about where your heritage is traced back to, that would be a perfectly fair question wouldn’t it? just clumsily communicated so just a great big misunderstanding?
For example, I am 110% British and 220% Yorkshire born and bred, but if/when anyone at a Buckingham Palace garden party looks at me not looking entirely white and fairly asks “what his your heritage” I happily tell them it goes long time back in Kowloon and not so long ago in Germany too on my other side.
Fair questions fair answers not racism question at all is it?
Edit. Actually not to mislead, I was actually born in Cardiff, but that was just a big mistake and doesn’t count.
Francois Balloux, the UCL bug boffin, is speculating on Twitter that >1 million Chinese people will shortly die of Covid
If true that will be the story of the winter. Huge ramifications - economics, geopolitics, etc
It will be a big story while it happens, but have there really been huge ramifications from the similar number who died in the US?
It will happen. It will be dreadful while it happens. And then it will be over.
We are only just beginning to comprehend the long term damage from Covid in the west: buggered economies, vast debt, Long Covid, excess deaths, cities in crisis, and much more yet to play out, worldwide. Yes it’s huge
Adding in 1m suddenly dead in China will only make it vaster. China’s health system could fail. The CCP might lose control. Global supply chains will seize up - again
The 2020s are not getting any easier. Unfortunately
A cursory reading of Janes this weeks informs that Baldy Ben's defence cuts are in full swing. The extra A400M buy announced in February (always a threadbare fantasy) is in the bin. Boxer is cut from 1,300 vehicles to 1,000 and MLRS upgrade is cut from 75 to 61.
This was always the danger of going round intimating that the Russians are a gang of boss-eyed drunks driving round up-armoured milk vans with Z painted on the side. The fat knacker should have been talking the Russians up to protect his turf.
If the MOD decided to go with armoured milk Van's instead I'd bet they'd pay the same as their current programmes.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
Really, Bart? I am happy to be questioned to any extent about the origins of my family. You probably think yebbut he is white, because you think black and white people need treating in fundamentally different ways. You are part of the problem, if not all of it.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
PB Republicans would post exactly what you posted. From lips of republicans it opportunistic and meaningless.
Are you 100% sure it’s not just asking about where your heritage is traced back to, that would be a perfectly fair question wouldn’t it? just clumsily communicated so just a great big misunderstanding?
For example, I am 110% British and 220% Yorkshire born and bred, but if/when anyone at a Buckingham Palace garden party looks at me not looking entirely white and fairly asks “what his your heritage” I happily tell them it goes long time back in Kowloon and not so long ago in Germany too on my other side.
Fair questions fair answers not racism question at all is it?
Edit. Actually not to mislead, I was actually born in Cardiff, but that was just a big mistake and doesn’t count.
No. But, "Where are you really from ?"
Honest question - due to a surname where all the vows were stolen by Cossacks, I often get asked where that is from.
Is that offensive?
It leads to some interesting points about context, history, protected groups being protected for a reason etc…
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
Has anyone analysed how many times VAR decisions favour the 'big' teams and 'famous' players ?
There has been some academic work in the past on whether referees in general favour "big" teams. But it's been a bit mixed. There has been some evidence for "Fergie time" - slightly longer periods of time added on when the team expected to win isn't - but not sure how reliable it is.
A problem with this sort of analysis is controlling for other factors. In general, for example, you'd expect the better teams to get into positions where VAR comes into play (e.g. more penalty shouts simply as they are in attacking positions more).
Overall, you'd expect VAR to reduce rather than increase bias effects just as a statistical point. That is because the studies do tend to show that VAR increases accuracy (it's bloody irritating when VAR gets it wrong as they've puzzled over it for ages and STILL done an injustice... but the evidence is fairly clear that it is more accurate overall than not having it). When accuracy is higher, incidents where there is bias tend to reduce simply because there are fewer errors being made that might disproportionately favour one side or the other.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
The screechy left have found a victim whose skin colour, class, nationality, age and obvious frailty require a boot stamping down on her horrible entitled face for ever. Well done ✔ for joining in. These 83 year olds can fight like rats when cornered.
Ah right, the problem isn't that representatives of the state's head institution are racially abusing people.
The problem in your eyes is that people are paying attention to it.
If an 83 year old is too senile, demented or frail to be treating people with respect without racially abusing them then they ought to be retired and not representing the state.
Somehow I doubt you'd be so quick to forgive Joe Biden if he ended up in a similar controversy.
What makes you say that about Joe Biden? It certainly doesn't spring from anything I have ever said about anything. Perhaps get checked out for unconscious sexism?
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
Really, Bart? I am happy to be questioned to any extent about the origins of my family. You probably think yebbut he is white, because you think black and white people need treating in fundamentally different ways. You are part of the problem, if not all of it.
No, I don't. I think grilling anyone, white or otherwise, about their background after they've answered the question and refusing to accept the answer they've given you is rude and offensive.
That you're happy to accept people being rude, is probably because you haven't had to experience it much. Doesn't justify it or make it OK, so no you read me completely wrong I think everyone should be treated with respect.
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us. 6/“
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
PB Republicans would post exactly what you posted. From lips of republicans it opportunistic and meaningless.
Are you 100% sure it’s not just asking about where your heritage is traced back to, that would be a perfectly fair question wouldn’t it? just clumsily communicated so just a great big misunderstanding?
For example, I am 110% British and 220% Yorkshire born and bred, but if/when anyone at a Buckingham Palace garden party looks at me not looking entirely white and fairly asks “what his your heritage” I happily tell them it goes long time back in Kowloon and not so long ago in Germany too on my other side.
Fair questions fair answers not racism question at all is it?
Edit. Actually not to mislead, I was actually born in Cardiff, but that was just a big mistake and doesn’t count.
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us. 6/“
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
You're right it shouldn't be a witch hunt, and if it was just a random old person saying something odd that would be the end of the matter.
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us. 6/“
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
Was it rude? Yes. Was it racist? Yes. Was it abuse? No. Did Hussey mean ill? No.
Is Fulani making too much of it? Probably. For political reasons? Quite possibly.
Does Fulani have any credibility whatsoever when she says she didn't want Hussey to lose her job? Definitely not.
Then again, all of this is just based on a single account of the conversation from one of the participants.
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us. 6/“
I don't really see a problem here. Covid A. kills fatties and oldies which is very very tragic, but China doesn't give a toss about any of its citizens, let alone the economically unproductive, so why would anyone else, and B. causes huge lockdown based economic and social disruption, but China cannot get any more lockdownier than it already is and has been for over 2 years. So what difference does this make?
Francois Balloux, the UCL bug boffin, is speculating on Twitter that >1 million Chinese people will shortly die of Covid
If true that will be the story of the winter. Huge ramifications - economics, geopolitics, etc
It will be a big story while it happens, but have there really been huge ramifications from the similar number who died in the US?
It will happen. It will be dreadful while it happens. And then it will be over.
We are only just beginning to comprehend the long term damage from Covid in the west: buggered economies, vast debt, Long Covid, excess deaths, cities in crisis, and much more yet to play out, worldwide. Yes it’s huge
Adding in 1m suddenly dead in China will only make it vaster. China’s health system could fail. The CCP might lose control. Global supply chains will seize up - again
The 2020s are not getting any easier. Unfortunately
I need to call this - he didn't predict >1M dead in China, he used the number in a thread about threats of new variants. There is no working attached to the number.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
You're right it shouldn't be a witch hunt, and if it was just a random old person saying something odd that would be the end of the matter.
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
And that's why Hussey was immediately "asked" to retire.
People are pretending that this justifies Markle's shit-stirring. It really doesn't (again, at least based on what we actually know so far.)
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
Was it rude? Yes. Was it racist? Yes. Was it abuse? No. Did Hussey mean ill? No.
Is Fulani making too much of it? Probably. For political reasons? Quite possibly.
Does Fulani have any credibility whatsoever when she says she didn't want Hussey to lose her job? Definitely not.
Then again, all of this is just based on a single account of the conversation from one of the participants.
And the fact that the palace booted her from her post without hesitation.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
You're right it shouldn't be a witch hunt, and if it was just a random old person saying something odd that would be the end of the matter.
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
And that's why Hussey was immediately "asked" to retire.
People are pretending that this justifies Markle's shit-stirring. It really doesn't (again, at least based on what we actually know so far.)
You're right, this doesn't justify Markle raising concerns about the racism she's suffered, because that was already 100% justified.
This just further confirms what we already knew, which is that there is a problem that ought to be addressed, but with Markle people wanted to abuse the victim instead of face the problem.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
Was it rude? Yes. Was it racist? Yes. Was it abuse? No. Did Hussey mean ill? No.
Is Fulani making too much of it? Probably. For political reasons? Quite possibly.
Does Fulani have any credibility whatsoever when she says she didn't want Hussey to lose her job? Definitely not.
Then again, all of this is just based on a single account of the conversation from one of the participants.
And the fact that the palace booted her from her post without hesitation.
Justified just by the affirmative answer to the first question - and definitely to the first two.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
You're right it shouldn't be a witch hunt, and if it was just a random old person saying something odd that would be the end of the matter.
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
You seem to have a blind spot for narcissistic bullies.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
You're right it shouldn't be a witch hunt, and if it was just a random old person saying something odd that would be the end of the matter.
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
I am totally and utterly agnostic on the whole farago of the Duchess of Sussex. I have no doubt that some in the royal household, perhaps royal, perhaps staff, may have made comments perceived to be racist. I also suspect that she has a very thin skin and an entitled attitude. Reputedly she was shocked to discover that Catherine ranks higher than her as she is married to the future king, not to the spare.
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us. 6/“
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us. 6/“
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
You're right it shouldn't be a witch hunt, and if it was just a random old person saying something odd that would be the end of the matter.
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
And that's why Hussey was immediately "asked" to retire.
People are pretending that this justifies Markle's shit-stirring. It really doesn't (again, at least based on what we actually know so far.)
You're right, this doesn't justify Markle raising concerns about the racism she's suffered, because that was already 100% justified.
This just further confirms what we already knew, which is that there is a problem that ought to be addressed, but with Markle people wanted to abuse the victim instead of face the problem.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
You're right it shouldn't be a witch hunt, and if it was just a random old person saying something odd that would be the end of the matter.
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
And that's why Hussey was immediately "asked" to retire.
People are pretending that this justifies Markle's shit-stirring. It really doesn't (again, at least based on what we actually know so far.)
You're right, this doesn't justify Markle raising concerns about the racism she's suffered, because that was already 100% justified.
This just further confirms what we already knew, which is that there is a problem that ought to be addressed, but with Markle people wanted to abuse the victim instead of face the problem.
Apparently anyone not believing every word Markle says is racism. Even though there are countless examples of 'her truth' which don't seem to coincide with the objective truth.
Francois Balloux, the UCL bug boffin, is speculating on Twitter that >1 million Chinese people will shortly die of Covid
If true that will be the story of the winter. Huge ramifications - economics, geopolitics, etc
It will be a big story while it happens, but have there really been huge ramifications from the similar number who died in the US?
It will happen. It will be dreadful while it happens. And then it will be over.
We are only just beginning to comprehend the long term damage from Covid in the west: buggered economies, vast debt, Long Covid, excess deaths, cities in crisis, and much more yet to play out, worldwide. Yes it’s huge
Adding in 1m suddenly dead in China will only make it vaster. China’s health system could fail. The CCP might lose control. Global supply chains will seize up - again
The 2020s are not getting any easier. Unfortunately
I need to call this - he didn't predict >1M dead in China, he used the number in a thread about threats of new variants. There is no working attached to the number.
I imagine he’s extrapolating from what happened in Hong Kong (if not, he should be). HK faced exactly this crisis: Omicron breached the Zero Covid wall and ripped into a relatively unjabbed population lacking natural immunity
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
Really, Bart? I am happy to be questioned to any extent about the origins of my family. You probably think yebbut he is white, because you think black and white people need treating in fundamentally different ways. You are part of the problem, if not all of it.
The difficulty in this case appears to me to be that the individual had pretty clearly indicated she was personally uncomfortable with the line of questioning, but Lady Hussey persisted.
Personally, I think that may be less due to racism, and more due to older people being less sensitive to body language and other signs that someone is uncomfortable, and less nimble in changing approach when they do. But either way it was right for her to resign as it wasn't at all appropriate and there was a fairly high risk of repeat incidents.
You say that you'd have been happy to discuss family origins - fine. I'm sure many black people would too and, if Ms Fulani had said "Well, I'm from Britain but my grandparents are from [wherever] which is a wonderful place, have you been m'lady?" there wouldn't have been an issue.
The point, though, is she didn't say that and made clear she was uncomfortable with the questioning. That's her right, and you can see the issue for some people who have been made to feel not British or less British because of the colour of their skin. Basically, Lady Hussey should've moved the conversation on, and didn't.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
Was it rude? Yes. Was it racist? Yes. Was it abuse? No. Did Hussey mean ill? No.
Is Fulani making too much of it? Probably. For political reasons? Quite possibly.
Does Fulani have any credibility whatsoever when she says she didn't want Hussey to lose her job? Definitely not.
Then again, all of this is just based on a single account of the conversation from one of the participants.
I would take her at her word about not wanting Hussey to lose her job. This isn't about taking out "bad apples" or a witch hunt against any individual. In fact too often the response of institutions facing these kind of problems is to focus on a scapegoat rather than thinking about the wider systemic factors that gave rise to it.
No, I don't. I think grilling anyone, white or otherwise, about their background after they've answered the question and refusing to accept the answer they've given you is rude and offensive.
That you're happy to accept people being rude, is probably because you haven't had to experience it much. Doesn't justify it or make it OK, so no you read me completely wrong I think everyone should be treated with respect.
That's a subtle, important point. All of us occasionally meet rude people, and shrug and move on. But if there's a particular pattern of rudeness that you encounter frequently and you get it again in an official function, that's different.
Some people feel that ethnic minorities are too touchy, and compare it to some random joke about themselves that they don't mind. But that reflects a life where they don't persistently get the same joke, with offensive undertones, all their lives.
In the same way, my black British-born lawyer acquaintance who is stopped every few weeks by the police to check that he really owns his (expensive) car really wouldn't mind if it was a one-off, but as it keeps happening he does think it's racist. He doesn't obsess about it and just keeps his ownership papers ready for the next time, but it's a different experience of life from most of us and of course it affects how he sees life in Britain, his home country.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
I think that's right, probably, in intention. I don't think it shows she's intentionally a massive racist, albeit with some underlying racist attitudes (I don't think she would have questioned a white woman with the surname Schmidt in the same way).
But the greater point is that these people, at functions like this, are supposed to make small talk, be good listeners, put people at ease and, essentially, make them feel good about themselves. Being clumsy and rude, if that's the fair assessment, means she had to go. Philip of course was similarly clumsy and rude, but he was unsackable.
https://www.sistahspace.org/ is a laugh in itself, an attempt to frame black on black domestic violence as a manifestation of racism. Lovely big Donate button at the top for Bart to click on, though.
Francois Balloux, the UCL bug boffin, is speculating on Twitter that >1 million Chinese people will shortly die of Covid
If true that will be the story of the winter. Huge ramifications - economics, geopolitics, etc
It will be a big story while it happens, but have there really been huge ramifications from the similar number who died in the US?
It will happen. It will be dreadful while it happens. And then it will be over.
We are only just beginning to comprehend the long term damage from Covid in the west: buggered economies, vast debt, Long Covid, excess deaths, cities in crisis, and much more yet to play out, worldwide. Yes it’s huge
Adding in 1m suddenly dead in China will only make it vaster. China’s health system could fail. The CCP might lose control. Global supply chains will seize up - again
The 2020s are not getting any easier. Unfortunately
I need to call this - he didn't predict >1M dead in China, he used the number in a thread about threats of new variants. There is no working attached to the number.
I imagine he’s extrapolating from what happened in Hong Kong (if not, he should be). HK faced exactly this crisis: Omicron breached the Zero Covid wall and ripped into a relatively unjabbed population lacking natural immunity
Deaths soared and hospitals collapsed
And the Chinese are trying to prevent this 2020 style with lockdowns. So its unlikely that >1m will actually die.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
Was it rude? Yes. Was it racist? Yes. Was it abuse? No. Did Hussey mean ill? No.
Is Fulani making too much of it? Probably. For political reasons? Quite possibly.
Does Fulani have any credibility whatsoever when she says she didn't want Hussey to lose her job? Definitely not.
Then again, all of this is just based on a single account of the conversation from one of the participants.
It's not based on a single account of the conversation, as there were witnesses who bear out Ms Fulani's account. That's not to say the furore might not be a little OTT in my view. But I don't think there is serious doubt that the account is broadly correct.
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us. 6/“
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us. 6/“
I don't really see a problem here. Covid A. kills fatties and oldies which is very very tragic, but China doesn't give a toss about any of its citizens, let alone the economically unproductive, so why would anyone else, and B. causes huge lockdown based economic and social disruption, but China cannot get any more lockdownier than it already is and has been for over 2 years. So what difference does this make?
China is actually easing lockdown in response to the protests - see Reuters etc
They are on a terrifying tightrope. Lockdown cannot continue at this level of severity. People are rioting. Yet Omicron is lurking and will do what it does. It’s too infectious to stop
10,000 died in Hong Kong in the end. Read across to China that implies 2m deaths
They need to get MRNA jabs in elderly Chinese arms immediately
No, I don't. I think grilling anyone, white or otherwise, about their background after they've answered the question and refusing to accept the answer they've given you is rude and offensive.
That you're happy to accept people being rude, is probably because you haven't had to experience it much. Doesn't justify it or make it OK, so no you read me completely wrong I think everyone should be treated with respect.
That's a subtle, important point. All of us occasionally meet rude people, and shrug and move on. But if there's a particular pattern of rudeness that you encounter frequently and you get it again in an official function, that's different.
Some people feel that ethnic minorities are too touchy, and compare it to some random joke about themselves that they don't mind. But that reflects a life where they don't persistently get the same joke, with offensive undertones, all their lives.
In the same way, my black British-born lawyer acquaintance who is stopped every few weeks by the police to check that he really owns his (expensive) car really wouldn't mind if it was a one-off, but as it keeps happening he does think it's racist. He doesn't obsess about it and just keeps his ownership papers ready for the next time, but it's a different experience of life from most of us and of course it affects how he sees life in Britain, his home country.
A lecturer at university asked a close friend of mine essentially the same questions. My friend, who saw himself as British (as did I) was offended to be pressed on where he came from, having answered it perfectly adequately. If I (white) had been asked, then supplying my home town would, I'm sure, have been satisfactory. My friend didn't take it any further, but he was hurt and frustrated by it.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
A stupidity problem as well given that conversation.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
Did you hear Fulani on r4 this morning? She is so thick she makes Richard Burgon look like Immanuel Kant. Asking where you are from is actually not questioning your British citizenship. Not even close.
Of course it is, don't be ridiculous.
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
I think she was rather rude, but it is a complex issue. Take cricket (at risk of falling foul of the Tebbit test). Often 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants support the nation that their parent or grandparents came from. (Although commonly its England against anyone else). People who have heritages from other parts of the world often retain a sense of that, and why not, its part of them.
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
You're right it shouldn't be a witch hunt, and if it was just a random old person saying something odd that would be the end of the matter.
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
I am totally and utterly agnostic on the whole farago of the Duchess of Sussex. I have no doubt that some in the royal household, perhaps royal, perhaps staff, may have made comments perceived to be racist. I also suspect that she has a very thin skin and an entitled attitude. Reputedly she was shocked to discover that Catherine ranks higher than her as she is married to the future king, not to the spare.
And frankly I don't give a fig about any of them.
Through previous charity work I have attended a few royal occasions like the notorious event in question and I can say without hesitation that they are a complete waste of time. People stand around making stilted small talk, uncomfortably clad in unaccustomed clothing, trying hard not to look at their watches.
Tony Benn's most relevant criticism of royalty is that they stand at the apex of the habit of deference that stretches all the way down to the gutter and this is bad for society and worse for democracy.
The royals themselves are born into slavery: a golden cage, admittedly, but a prison none-the-less, and the Sussexes demonstrate with every attention-grabbing media appearance how hard it is to escape. None of the parties in the current brouhaha come out well: neither the silly young woman with her "sistahs" nor the silly old woman with her "mastahs".
Reform absolutely destroying the Tories now. Turning a bad defeat into an apocalyptic rout
Amongst Leavers it is now Tories 37%, Labour 27%, RefUK 21% though I expect some of that Ref vote will go back to the Tories before the next election.
I don't expect the Chester by election tonight to be too disastrous for the Tories though, the Tory voteshare fell there even in 2019 and there was a Brexit Party candidate then and it is demographically more likely to like Sunak than Boris, being closer to bluewall than redwall.
Comments
No break till the 23rd for us though.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/01/amazon-osha-injury-rate/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/09/29/amazon-settlement-fired-workers/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/13/amazon-workers-fired/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/06/12/chris-smallss-amazon-uprising-fight-second-warehouse/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/06/13/amazon-union-retaliation-allegations/
etc?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/live/cricket/62865874
BREAKING:
Giorgia Meloni has presented a new law proposal to have the Holodomor recognized as a genocide.
More than 5 million Ukrainians were starved to death by Stalin’s grain confiscation policies in 1932-1933.
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1598238772377710592
Not at all what the Guardian was expecting…
On-top of that though - a lot of people I talk to are just feeling worn out. Not sure if it's this year in particular or just the post-COVID-panic-adreneline comedown. But in general people seem to feel 'scunnered'.
I'm shocked, shocked, to see that there's a racism problem in the Royal Family.
Who could have possibly guessed that their and their most ardent supporters patented blend of condescension, harassment and victim-blaming of the King's own daughter-in-law would have been insufficient to make the racism problem just go away?
Who governs the country? Not the Conservatives, who increasingly appear to have given up completely
Allister Heath" (£)
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/11/30/britain-fast-descending-chaos-tories-powerless-stop/
Arguably too soon - he was only recently turned 20, IIRC. Looks like he's properly seasoned now (at least on the strength of one innings, which is usually enough for me to get far too enthused about a new opening batsman)
At least more profitable for the well connected people able to have the buying made via themselves.
They've treated players better since, with some success, so he was perhaps a bit unfortunate in the timing of his debut.
Or perhaps she's going senile.
A risk you take when you employ too many very oldies.
I love the suggestion that what the NHS needs is to be treated like Elon Musk is treating Twitter!
As our means to match our desires the reality is going to be painful.
Actual austerity not the pretend austerity the country thinks its been suffering under.
The way out is a wealth transfer from property ownership to workers pay.
With investment in wealth creation funded by taxation on wealth consumption.
It was a charity event not a police interview.
It appears the Gov funded sector in Scotland have sent a patronising & rather disingenuous letter to @UNSRVAW in order to prop up SG's increasingly troubled pet project.
Unsurprisingly, we hear that @rapecrisisscot & @scotwomensaid presented it to centres as fait accompli.
🧵
https://twitter.com/forwomenscot/status/1598032267674550272
The problem in your eyes is that people are paying attention to it.
If an 83 year old is too senile, demented or frail to be treating people with respect without racially abusing them then they ought to be retired and not representing the state.
Somehow I doubt you'd be so quick to forgive Joe Biden if he ended up in a similar controversy.
Are you 100% sure it’s not just asking about where your heritage is traced back to, that would be a perfectly fair question wouldn’t it? just clumsily communicated so just a great big misunderstanding?
For example, I am 110% British and 220% Yorkshire born and bred, but if/when anyone at a Buckingham Palace garden party looks at me not looking entirely white and fairly asks “what his your heritage” I happily tell them it goes long time back in Kowloon and not so long ago in Germany too on my other side.
Fair questions fair answers not racism question at all is it?
Edit. Actually not to mislead, I was actually born in Cardiff, but that was just a big mistake and doesn’t count.
Given that Bingham spoke out against vaccinating everyone because she thought side effects would make it too dangerous, and Harries warned against early measures to reduce the spread of the virus because it would prevent herd immunity being reached by Autumn 2020 (!), one wonders why anyone in their right mind would take a blind bit of notice of either of them.
If true that will be the story of the winter. Huge ramifications - economics, geopolitics, etc
When I have a conversation with a call centre I always ask someone's name and then reply saying hi and their first name and introduce myself by my first name to get on friendly terms. If I can I make them laugh. If their name is unusual then at the end of the conversation I usually ask the origins of it. It is usually from overseas or from a song their parents liked or place their parents visited. If they have an accent I ask about that and then have a short chat about the place or name. I have never yet had anyone take offence (knowingly, although they might go away thinking I was a boring old fart, but I hope I actually made their day in the middle of all the irate calls they get).
Repeatedly, even after getting an answer, challenging someone to demand where they are from, is to suggest that black people can't really be from Britain and they're really from somewhere else instead, even if they're born here.
That you can't see the problem, is because you're part of the problem.
Con: 22% (-3 from 22-23 Nov)
Lab: 47% (-1)
Lib Dem: 9% (=)
Reform UK: 9% (+4)
Green: 5% (=)
SNP: 4% (=)
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/12/01/voting-intention-con-22-lab-47-29-30-nov-2022
https://twitter.com/YouGov/status/1598252934185488384
Uh-oh.
It will happen. It will be dreadful while it happens. And then it will be over.
This is 92-97 redux.
Apple would not have done this, anyway, since there are repeated, ongoing investigations of how Apple uses the App Store monopoly on the iOS platform. By quite a few Democrats, incidently.
The actual meat of the EU story is that there is going to be a stress test by the EU regulator which Twitter will have to pass.
So lots of click bait here
But, "Where are you really from ?"
Lab: 486
Con: 66
LDs: 20
SNP: 50
I actually think Labour would do better than that, coz they’d take more Scottish seats
I don't want to shrug off a million deaths, but in a country of 1 billion, this itself is manageable. The ramifications of it will come if news of this gets out (not in itself a given, either to China or to the Rest of the World), and the CCP is seen as having put the Chinese through three years of lockdowns only to see a result which matches everyone else's. Or, alternatively, if the CCP is spooked into locking down harder and longer. Or both.
Oh. I see your point 🤦♀️
Boris crippled the "we're all in this together" image with parties, Patterson and PPE contracts.
Adding in 1m suddenly dead in China will only make it vaster. China’s health system could fail. The CCP might lose control. Global supply chains will seize up - again
The 2020s are not getting any easier. Unfortunately
Is that offensive?
It leads to some interesting points about context, history, protected groups being protected for a reason etc…
In this case you have an 83 year old making a mistake. At 83 she has seen the UK transition from having a few thousand non-white people (despite the desparate revisionism of some historians, the non-white population of the UK in 1939 was tiny) to the current country we live in. For the most part Britain is a successful example of integration of different populations.
I am sure she meant not offence, but it was clumsy and comes across as rude. It should not be a witch hunt.
(Just to be clear, England have no chance at all of reaching it, whatever it is.)
A problem with this sort of analysis is controlling for other factors. In general, for example, you'd expect the better teams to get into positions where VAR comes into play (e.g. more penalty shouts simply as they are in attacking positions more).
Overall, you'd expect VAR to reduce rather than increase bias effects just as a statistical point. That is because the studies do tend to show that VAR increases accuracy (it's bloody irritating when VAR gets it wrong as they've puzzled over it for ages and STILL done an injustice... but the evidence is fairly clear that it is more accurate overall than not having it). When accuracy is higher, incidents where there is bias tend to reduce simply because there are fewer errors being made that might disproportionately favour one side or the other.
The Armenian genocide is often used for bashing Turkey, by people who don’t actually give a shit about Armenians.
That you're happy to accept people being rude, is probably because you haven't had to experience it much. Doesn't justify it or make it OK, so no you read me completely wrong I think everyone should be treated with respect.
“I also find it distasteful that in the face of a humanitarian catastrophe that could kill ≥1M people, the main concern seems to be a hypothetical collateral problem to us.
6/“
https://twitter.com/ballouxfrancois/status/1597512480711880704?s=46&t=T05TZVbmhDC-LBpgXplE4g
But what has been a witch-hunt is the years of abuse directed at eg the Duchess of Sussex or anyone else who raises concerns about racism. Perhaps if she and others had been treated with respect and their concerns listened to, then this unfortunate incident could have been avoided?
When you have people representing the state, which is what the Royal Family does, then it must be held to the highest standards, not the lowest standards. If they don't want to be held to the highest standards, they shouldn't be representing the state. Plenty of old people in the privacy of their living room may say something odd or off that is a product of their time and age and not knowing better, that's not a problem. Representatives of the state doing so in an official capacity? That's a different matter.
Is Fulani making too much of it? Probably. For political reasons? Quite possibly.
Does Fulani have any credibility whatsoever when she says she didn't want Hussey to lose her job? Definitely not.
Then again, all of this is just based on a single account of the conversation from one of the participants.
https://twitter.com/melanchomical/status/1598232509690843136
Just shut it down....
People are pretending that this justifies Markle's shit-stirring. It really doesn't (again, at least based on what we actually know so far.)
This just further confirms what we already knew, which is that there is a problem that ought to be addressed, but with Markle people wanted to abuse the victim instead of face the problem.
And frankly I don't give a fig about any of them.
Deaths soared and hospitals collapsed
Personally, I think that may be less due to racism, and more due to older people being less sensitive to body language and other signs that someone is uncomfortable, and less nimble in changing approach when they do. But either way it was right for her to resign as it wasn't at all appropriate and there was a fairly high risk of repeat incidents.
You say that you'd have been happy to discuss family origins - fine. I'm sure many black people would too and, if Ms Fulani had said "Well, I'm from Britain but my grandparents are from [wherever] which is a wonderful place, have you been m'lady?" there wouldn't have been an issue.
The point, though, is she didn't say that and made clear she was uncomfortable with the questioning. That's her right, and you can see the issue for some people who have been made to feel not British or less British because of the colour of their skin. Basically, Lady Hussey should've moved the conversation on, and didn't.
Some people feel that ethnic minorities are too touchy, and compare it to some random joke about themselves that they don't mind. But that reflects a life where they don't persistently get the same joke, with offensive undertones, all their lives.
In the same way, my black British-born lawyer acquaintance who is stopped every few weeks by the police to check that he really owns his (expensive) car really wouldn't mind if it was a one-off, but as it keeps happening he does think it's racist. He doesn't obsess about it and just keeps his ownership papers ready for the next time, but it's a different experience of life from most of us and of course it affects how he sees life in Britain, his home country.
But the greater point is that these people, at functions like this, are supposed to make small talk, be good listeners, put people at ease and, essentially, make them feel good about themselves. Being clumsy and rude, if that's the fair assessment, means she had to go. Philip of course was similarly clumsy and rude, but he was unsackable.
If he hadn’t painted himself into this corner (low vaxed elderly vs omicron) he wouldn’t be choosing to use his power in this way.
They are on a terrifying tightrope. Lockdown cannot continue at this level of severity. People are rioting. Yet Omicron is lurking and will do what it does. It’s too infectious to stop
10,000 died in Hong Kong in the end. Read across to China that implies 2m deaths
They need to get MRNA jabs in elderly Chinese arms immediately
Tony Benn's most relevant criticism of royalty is that they stand at the apex of the habit of deference that stretches all the way down to the gutter and this is bad for society and worse for democracy.
The royals themselves are born into slavery: a golden cage, admittedly, but a prison none-the-less, and the Sussexes demonstrate with every attention-grabbing media appearance how hard it is to escape. None of the parties in the current brouhaha come out well: neither the silly young woman with her "sistahs" nor the silly old woman with her "mastahs".
I don't expect the Chester by election tonight to be too disastrous for the Tories though, the Tory voteshare fell there even in 2019 and there was a Brexit Party candidate then and it is demographically more likely to like Sunak than Boris, being closer to bluewall than redwall.
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/12/01/voting-intention-con-22-lab-47-29-30-nov-2022