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We could be heading for cross-over in Scotland – politicalbetting.com

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  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,564
    Leon said:

    Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP

    It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum


    If indy is gone for a couple of decades, then perhaps the dial moves towards parties offering devo maximus? As long as the Union is secured, what is there for Rishi to lose by offering the biggest and boldest freedom for Scots? Wrong foot the others.
  • noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 22,822
    Dura_Ace said:

    kle4 said:

    DavidL said:

    Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC

    Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera

    OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me

    The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
    Yes, hard to know what's real talk and what is cover, but it seems plausible ammunition is not being supplied as much as needed despite efforts.

    Then you have conflicting reports about worries the counter offensive won't achieve enough to keep encouraging the USA to maintain their level of support, vs the Russians tricking it as just throwing conscripts at the problem isnt working.

    There's only a few broad areas that could be focused on and the Russians know something is coming but will that matter?

    Russia has the backup of dragging it out as much as they can and cutting a deal I guess. Anything they hold in a ceasefire is never coming back.
    Russia's just trying to drag it out until the US election. If it's still a bloody stalement then Biden is going to get it from both ends. The Couch Cossacks who will say that Ukraine should have had B-2s and the Isolationists who will say what the fuck have we just spend $100bn on?
    So peace in 2025, with vastly different scenarios for Ukraine depending on whether US voters choose Trump or Biden. It's a strange and randomly interconnected world.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,605
    Did the BoE economist who is so hostile to other people having pay rises have anything to say about the benefit rises for non-workers ?
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,258
    pigeon said:

    Ghedebrav said:

    SKSFPE

    Seriously though. The last month of SNP-geddon demonstrates neatly why we should always consider status quo bias when prognosticating and especially when staking money. Being seen to be ‘as bad as the rest of them’ will mortally wound the SNP, for a while at least. A parcel of rogues, indeed.

    OTOH, 'they may be a bunch of shits, but they're our shits' is a powerful motivator for many voters. Explains the DUP and Sinn Fein rather neatly.
    In the case of the DUP and the Shinners, their "corruption" is seen as helping their constituency. It's alright to appropriate Westminster money, as long as the right beaks get wetted.

    The SNP has a vastly different pitch.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    edited April 2023
    algarkirk said:

    Leon said:

    Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP

    It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum


    Agree; except that Westminster has been far from obdurate. There was a referendum not long ago - granted by Westminster. In recent years there has never been the sort of support in Scotland for independence which would morally or politically come close to making the case for another so soon.

    Though a truly obdurate Westminster would grant a ScotRef2 right now.
    The same phenomenon can be seen in Catalonia. Once it is realised that Indy is politically difficult to the point of impossibility, support for it falls. People lose interest

    Sturgeon realised this which is why she was always promising indyref2 ‘is just around the corner’. She had to keep the flame of hope burning

    Slowly people will realise that the corner is actually in the 2030s or 2040s and then, I believe, support for Indy will gradually erode

    But there will always be a hardcore 30-35% who will want it whatever - as there is in Quebec and Catalonia. And they can rebuild one day to force another vote
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990

    It's proof of just how good Salmond and Sturgeon really were.

    Only if you define "good" as "well known"

    They won elections, and achieved fuck all.

    Was Trump good?

    Was BoZo?
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    What title would you give Liz Truss’ semi-autobiographical manifesto?


  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Pulpstar said:

    Nigelb said:

    Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK
    https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-new-party-ron-desantis-white-house-hopeful-land-uk/

    Also meeting Badenoch and Cleverly.

    I expect to hear that both Trump and Desantis campaigns are both simultaneously dead and inevitable for the nomination every day and twice on Sundays between now and the election
    I aim to oblige.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP

    It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum


    If indy is gone for a couple of decades, then perhaps the dial moves towards parties offering devo maximus? As long as the Union is secured, what is there for Rishi to lose by offering the biggest and boldest freedom for Scots? Wrong foot the others.
    Because he doesn’t need to? And nor will Starmer

    Scotland has one of the most powerful devolved governments in any western nation. Westminster should say to Holyrood: try governing yourselves properly first, try making a success of the powers you HAVE

    Once it is accepted Indy is off the menu for the foreseeable future the next Holyrood government will HAVE to focus on actually delivering better governance for scots
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Leon said:

    Once it is accepted Indy is off the menu for the foreseeable future the next Holyrood government will HAVE to focus on actually delivering better governance for scots

    If the next administration in Edinburgh is a majority of secessionists they will not accept that Indy is off the menu and the decline will continue.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    DavidL said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    kle4 said:

    DavidL said:

    Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC

    Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera

    OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me

    The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
    Yes, hard to know what's real talk and what is cover, but it seems plausible ammunition is not being supplied as much as needed despite efforts.

    Then you have conflicting reports about worries the counter offensive won't achieve enough to keep encouraging the USA to maintain their level of support, vs the Russians tricking it as just throwing conscripts at the problem isnt working.

    There's only a few broad areas that could be focused on and the Russians know something is coming but will that matter?

    Russia has the backup of dragging it out as much as they can and cutting a deal I guess. Anything they hold in a ceasefire is never coming back.
    Russia's just trying to drag it out until the US election. If it's still a bloody stalement then Biden is going to get it from both ends. The Couch Cossacks who will say that Ukraine should have had B-2s and the Isolationists who will say what the fuck have we just spend $100bn on?
    The answer to the last one is surely destroying Russia as a military force capable of intervening anywhere at a cost of zero American lives.
    That has surely been achieved already. Russia has burned through its army and ordnance and is begging for North Korean assistance

    I can’t see Putin invading anywhere else soon, especially as every neighboring country is now speedily tooling up and getting ready to fight, if needs be - cf Poland etc
  • twistedfirestopper3twistedfirestopper3 Posts: 2,421
    edited April 2023
    Scott_xP said:

    It's proof of just how good Salmond and Sturgeon really were.

    Only if you define "good" as "well known"

    They won elections, and achieved fuck all.

    Was Trump good?

    Was BoZo?
    Winning elections is the only thing politicians really care about. Running the country only kicks in once a victory is secured, and it's never as good as they promise. Trump and Johnson only one once, so no, they weren't particularly good. Salmond and Sturgeon? Yep, they were good.
    Edit..
    Although Johnson did win London topboy, so maybe he is really good?
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,786
    edited April 2023
    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    The idea that some of it wasn't racist is also ridiculous. You might not be and I believe no Brexiteer on here is, but it certainly existed in some numbers. You only had to canvas to find out, which I did. Some of it was bonkers as well. Two I remember well were ' There are too many Albanians here, you only have to see them on the crime programmes' and 'There are enough blacks here already'. Neither of which were going to be reversed by Brexit anyway and trying to explain was futile.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Scott_xP said:

    Leon said:

    Once it is accepted Indy is off the menu for the foreseeable future the next Holyrood government will HAVE to focus on actually delivering better governance for scots

    If the next administration in Edinburgh is a majority of secessionists they will not accept that Indy is off the menu and the decline will continue.
    Depends. Under new leadership the SNP or its successor party (!) might become actual civic nationalists. Accepting that secession is not going to happen soon, working for more autonomy and trying to govern better. This is what happened in Quebec
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,190
    DavidL said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    kle4 said:

    DavidL said:

    Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC

    Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera

    OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me

    The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
    Yes, hard to know what's real talk and what is cover, but it seems plausible ammunition is not being supplied as much as needed despite efforts.

    Then you have conflicting reports about worries the counter offensive won't achieve enough to keep encouraging the USA to maintain their level of support, vs the Russians tricking it as just throwing conscripts at the problem isnt working.

    There's only a few broad areas that could be focused on and the Russians know something is coming but will that matter?

    Russia has the backup of dragging it out as much as they can and cutting a deal I guess. Anything they hold in a ceasefire is never coming back.
    Russia's just trying to drag it out until the US election. If it's still a bloody stalement then Biden is going to get it from both ends. The Couch Cossacks who will say that Ukraine should have had B-2s and the Isolationists who will say what the fuck have we just spend $100bn on?
    The answer to the last one is surely destroying Russia as a military force capable of intervening anywhere at a cost of zero American lives.
    But why would MAGA types think weakening an ally against the forces of 'woke' a good thing?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,896
    Nigelb said:

    Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK
    https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-new-party-ron-desantis-white-house-hopeful-land-uk/

    Also meeting Badenoch and Cleverly.

    Farage can do what he likes but should government ministers be cozying up to people like DeSantis? Great if he wins but if he loses, do we want Biden or Trump bearing a grudge? John Major did not do the country much good by intervening against Bill Clinton when he went on to win the presidency.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,605
    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Its part of the 'othering' needed by insecure guardianista types that they are somehow superior. Even if they're renting a room in Walthamstow and drowning in debt.
  • GIN1138GIN1138 Posts: 22,284

    Leon said:

    Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP

    It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum


    Indy support will probably drop if Labour get in, or are widely perceived as very likely to get in too. Could be some spiral impact on the SNP vote. Oblivion in Westminster FPTP is plausible.
    That's the good (or bad) thing about FPTP depending on your point of view.

    What FPTP giveth FPTP can taketh...
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,258

    Did the BoE economist who is so hostile to other people having pay rises have anything to say about the benefit rises for non-workers ?

    Do you mean the unemployed? - who are all evil Tory bastards, rolling in their giant piles of money. Since they participate in the Triple Lock.
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,921
    Even if Scottish Labour don't win most MPs in Scotland again it is now quite likely the Unionist parties combined will get more MPs than the SNP in Scotland for the first time since 2010
  • On topic.

    Unionism = Joel Matip

    Scot Nats = Richarlison


  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,921

    Nigelb said:

    Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK
    https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-new-party-ron-desantis-white-house-hopeful-land-uk/

    Also meeting Badenoch and Cleverly.

    Farage can do what he likes but should government ministers be cozying up to people like DeSantis? Great if he wins but if he loses, do we want Biden or Trump bearing a grudge? John Major did not do the country much good by intervening against Bill Clinton when he went on to win the presidency.
    Yes but Farage isn't PM Sunak is with the even more pro Biden Starmer likely to succeed him
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677
    Scott_xP said:

    What title would you give Liz Truss’ semi-autobiographical manifesto?

    The Story of Oh Shit
  • HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 122,921
    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20
  • Dura_AceDura_Ace Posts: 13,677
    DavidL said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    kle4 said:

    DavidL said:

    Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC

    Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera

    OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me

    The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
    Yes, hard to know what's real talk and what is cover, but it seems plausible ammunition is not being supplied as much as needed despite efforts.

    Then you have conflicting reports about worries the counter offensive won't achieve enough to keep encouraging the USA to maintain their level of support, vs the Russians tricking it as just throwing conscripts at the problem isnt working.

    There's only a few broad areas that could be focused on and the Russians know something is coming but will that matter?

    Russia has the backup of dragging it out as much as they can and cutting a deal I guess. Anything they hold in a ceasefire is never coming back.
    Russia's just trying to drag it out until the US election. If it's still a bloody stalement then Biden is going to get it from both ends. The Couch Cossacks who will say that Ukraine should have had B-2s and the Isolationists who will say what the fuck have we just spend $100bn on?
    The answer to the last one is surely destroying Russia as a military force capable of intervening anywhere at a cost of zero American lives.
    Then why are we all being urged to spend more on defence and re-arm?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,896
    Cost of homemade cheese sandwich soars by more than a third
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65324359

    Let them eat cake — Bank of England economists.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Its part of the 'othering' needed by insecure guardianista types that they are somehow superior. Even if they're renting a room in Walthamstow and drowning in debt.
    Tell me about it. I have Remainery friends like this. I have to stifle the urge to smite them with root vegetables
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,258
    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    The idea that some of it wasn't racist is also ridiculous. You might not be and I believe no Brexiteer on here is, but it certainly existed in some numbers. You only had to canvas to find out, which I did. Some of it was bonkers as well. Two I remember well were ' There are too many Albanians here, you only have to see them on the crime programmes' and 'There are enough blacks here already'. Neither of which were going to be reversed by Brexit anyway and trying to explain was futile.
    Just back from France. The friend I was trying with (Macron liberal) is very worried about the next Presidential Election. She reckoned that the AnyoneButTheFascist wall is starting to crumble - more people, privately, after a few drinks saying.....
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585

    Nigelb said:

    Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK
    https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-new-party-ron-desantis-white-house-hopeful-land-uk/

    Also meeting Badenoch and Cleverly.

    Farage can do what he likes but should government ministers be cozying up to people like DeSantis? Great if he wins but if he loses, do we want Biden or Trump bearing a grudge? John Major did not do the country much good by intervening against Bill Clinton when he went on to win the presidency.
    He’s the governor of Florida, here to promote his State.

    Let’s see how many people he meets while he’s in the UK, turn up in Miami for the Grand Prix next weekend!
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,896
    edited April 2023
    Gambling white paper: Gamblers losing £1,000 a day to face checks
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65249542

    Today's real news is the Gambling white paper due to be published today. A lot of big and successful punters can easily lose £1,000 today and win £2,000 tomorrow.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 42,135
    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    Just been reading about the last holdout of Cockneydom. Apparently it's Epping Forest - your manor. You've kept this quiet.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    The idea that some of it wasn't racist is also ridiculous. You might not be and I believe no Brexiteer on here is, but it certainly existed in some numbers. You only had to canvas to find out, which I did. Some of it was bonkers as well. Two I remember well were ' There are too many Albanians here, you only have to see them on the crime programmes' and 'There are enough blacks here already'. Neither of which were going to be reversed by Brexit anyway and trying to explain was futile.
    Just back from France. The friend I was trying with (Macron liberal) is very worried about the next Presidential Election. She reckoned that the AnyoneButTheFascist wall is starting to crumble - more people, privately, after a few drinks saying.....
    It is the turn of France to have a successful populist spasm

    The US, UK and Italy have all been there, already
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,190
    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Glad you aren't saying that 'performative' anti-racism (like answering a survey that you wouldn't mind a foreign neighbour) is what really causes racism, as some do!

    I think you've got to take this kind of survey with a little pinch of salt - definitions of what people think of as an immigrant or foreign worker or 'different race' can change a bit in different places, and over time. And there is definitely an effect that in some places it is a lot more socially unacceptable to admit to being racist than in others. But still probably fair to say that in some ways Britain is one of the least racist countries, I think, though as a white person I don't think I have ever really suffered from racism anywhere so not really for me to say!

    I find Brazil a more interesting result in that survey.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,258
    Dura_Ace said:

    DavidL said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    kle4 said:

    DavidL said:

    Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC

    Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera

    OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me

    The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
    Yes, hard to know what's real talk and what is cover, but it seems plausible ammunition is not being supplied as much as needed despite efforts.

    Then you have conflicting reports about worries the counter offensive won't achieve enough to keep encouraging the USA to maintain their level of support, vs the Russians tricking it as just throwing conscripts at the problem isnt working.

    There's only a few broad areas that could be focused on and the Russians know something is coming but will that matter?

    Russia has the backup of dragging it out as much as they can and cutting a deal I guess. Anything they hold in a ceasefire is never coming back.
    Russia's just trying to drag it out until the US election. If it's still a bloody stalement then Biden is going to get it from both ends. The Couch Cossacks who will say that Ukraine should have had B-2s and the Isolationists who will say what the fuck have we just spend $100bn on?
    The answer to the last one is surely destroying Russia as a military force capable of intervening anywhere at a cost of zero American lives.
    Then why are we all being urged to spend more on defence and re-arm?
    Because however this war ends, Russia will re-arm, eventually.

    Better to have a 10 million 155mm shells in store and not need them, etc.

    We have also rediscovered another argument from having a given military capability - the ability to lend/give that to our friends.
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585

    Gambling white paper: Gamblers losing £1,000 a day to face checks
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65249542

    Today's real news is the Gambling white paper due to be published today. A lot of big and successful punters can easily lose £1,000 today and win £2,000 tomorrow.

    Let’s hope there’s something in there that prevents bookies from using customer data, in order to restrict betting opportunities for ‘revenue protection’ reasons.
  • HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,958
    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,605

    Nigelb said:

    Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK
    https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-new-party-ron-desantis-white-house-hopeful-land-uk/

    Also meeting Badenoch and Cleverly.

    Farage can do what he likes but should government ministers be cozying up to people like DeSantis? Great if he wins but if he loses, do we want Biden or Trump bearing a grudge? John Major did not do the country much good by intervening against Bill Clinton when he went on to win the presidency.
    Pretty standard though:

    Obama's trip, which includes visits to Iraq, Jordan, Israel, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, is intended to bolster his foreign policy credentials before U.S. voters.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/07/18/obama.trip/index.html
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 35,990
    Leon said:

    Depends. Under new leadership the SNP or its successor party (!) might become actual civic nationalists. Accepting that secession is not going to happen soon, working for more autonomy and trying to govern better. This is what happened in Quebec

    There are 2 problems with your thesis

    The current SNP leadership claim they are already actual civic nationalists, so no change there.

    Unlike the Canadian cheese-eating surrender monkeys the SNP zoomers are a bit more Braveheart. Never give up, never surrender !!!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070

    Nigelb said:

    Trump who? Farage’s party cozies up to DeSantis as White House hopeful lands in UK
    https://www.politico.eu/article/nigel-farage-new-party-ron-desantis-white-house-hopeful-land-uk/

    Also meeting Badenoch and Cleverly.

    Farage can do what he likes but should government ministers be cozying up to people like DeSantis? Great if he wins but if he loses, do we want Biden or Trump bearing a grudge? John Major did not do the country much good by intervening against Bill Clinton when he went on to win the presidency.
    He has yet to declare his candidacy.
    They were meeting him in his capacity as governor. Apparently.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 51,821

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    How come Black Rod is never a black guy (or lady)?
  • SandpitSandpit Posts: 54,585

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    Isn’t that half the point of it? We still have the annual State Opening of Parliament, which starts with Black Rod having the door shut in his (or her) face.

    Most of us have never seen a Coronation before, it’s going to be fun to watch precisely for the over-the-top pageantry and tradition, even if much of it appears absurd.

    It’ll also drive a lot of inbound tourism over the summer, although not as much as dropping VAT-free shopping might.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
  • JosiasJessopJosiasJessop Posts: 42,587

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    Quite a long history to it though:
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_Stick_and_Silver_Stick
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Scott_xP said:

    Leon said:

    Depends. Under new leadership the SNP or its successor party (!) might become actual civic nationalists. Accepting that secession is not going to happen soon, working for more autonomy and trying to govern better. This is what happened in Quebec

    There are 2 problems with your thesis

    The current SNP leadership claim they are already actual civic nationalists, so no change there.

    Unlike the Canadian cheese-eating surrender monkeys the SNP zoomers are a bit more Braveheart. Never give up, never surrender !!!
    Scott_xP said:

    Leon said:

    Depends. Under new leadership the SNP or its successor party (!) might become actual civic nationalists. Accepting that secession is not going to happen soon, working for more autonomy and trying to govern better. This is what happened in Quebec

    There are 2 problems with your thesis

    The current SNP leadership claim they are already actual civic nationalists, so no change there.

    Unlike the Canadian cheese-eating surrender monkeys the SNP zoomers are a bit more Braveheart. Never give up, never surrender !!!
    You have clearly never encountered a proper Quebec Nationalist, especially of the 1990s vintage. They make malcolmg look like a Lib Dem from Surbiton

    They are - or were - extremely punchy. Literally
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,958
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,386

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    How come Black Rod is never a black guy (or lady)?
    I think Jill Pay stood in for the Black Rod once. Does that count?

    The current Serjeant at Arms of the Commons is Ugbana Oyet.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Dura_Ace said:

    DavidL said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    kle4 said:

    DavidL said:

    Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC

    Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera

    OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me

    The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
    Yes, hard to know what's real talk and what is cover, but it seems plausible ammunition is not being supplied as much as needed despite efforts.

    Then you have conflicting reports about worries the counter offensive won't achieve enough to keep encouraging the USA to maintain their level of support, vs the Russians tricking it as just throwing conscripts at the problem isnt working.

    There's only a few broad areas that could be focused on and the Russians know something is coming but will that matter?

    Russia has the backup of dragging it out as much as they can and cutting a deal I guess. Anything they hold in a ceasefire is never coming back.
    Russia's just trying to drag it out until the US election. If it's still a bloody stalement then Biden is going to get it from both ends. The Couch Cossacks who will say that Ukraine should have had B-2s and the Isolationists who will say what the fuck have we just spend $100bn on?
    The answer to the last one is surely destroying Russia as a military force capable of intervening anywhere at a cost of zero American lives.
    Then why are we all being urged to spend more on defence and re-arm?
    Because we can't rely on the US bailing us out next time around.
    If Trump had been in the White House, Poland would now have a greatly enlarged border with Russia.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    You’ve become really quite boring. It’s sad. Try and be funny again
  • GhedebravGhedebrav Posts: 3,860
    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Glad you aren't saying that 'performative' anti-racism (like answering a survey that you wouldn't mind a foreign neighbour) is what really causes racism, as some do!

    I think you've got to take this kind of survey with a little pinch of salt - definitions of what people think of as an immigrant or foreign worker or 'different race' can change a bit in different places, and over time. And there is definitely an effect that in some places it is a lot more socially unacceptable to admit to being racist than in others. But still probably fair to say that in some ways Britain is one of the least racist countries, I think, though as a white person I don't think I have ever really suffered from racism anywhere so not really for me to say!

    I find Brazil a more interesting result in that survey.
    Yes, absolutely - and demonstrates why that poll is not the full picture (it's actually pretty narrow). Racism can be extremely subtle.

    I don't disagree that Britain is, by and large, a tolerant place. That doesn't mean that racism is not a problem here.
  • HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    It's just Harry Potter roleplay.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,386
    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    Farage gets fucked through his mouth?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070
    Dura_Ace said:

    Scott_xP said:

    What title would you give Liz Truss’ semi-autobiographical manifesto?

    The Story of Oh Shit
    Good point.
    The clue was there from the start in the necklace.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,958
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    You’ve become really quite boring. It’s sad. Try and be funny again
    You start.
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,386
    Nigelb said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Scott_xP said:

    What title would you give Liz Truss’ semi-autobiographical manifesto?

    The Story of Oh Shit
    Good point.
    The clue was there from the start in the necklace.
    Perhaps her memoirs will let her thrash out her anger at being sacked.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,190

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    You’ve become really quite boring. It’s sad. Try and be funny again
    You start.
    You've got to admit he's trying.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    I want to know how Gold Stick ranks compared to Black Rod
  • another_richardanother_richard Posts: 26,605

    Cost of homemade cheese sandwich soars by more than a third
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65324359

    Let them eat cake — Bank of England economists.

    To 40p.

    I'm surprised how cheap those sandwiches are - 40p cheese, 40p tuna mayo, 47p egg & cress.

    ASDA do a 3for2 deal on sandwiches which means you can get a pack of two for less than a pound.

    Sandwiches don't seem to have increased in cost much over the decades whereas fish & chips certainly has.
  • Sandpit said:

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    Isn’t that half the point of it? We still have the annual State Opening of Parliament, which starts with Black Rod having the door shut in his (or her) face.

    Most of us have never seen a Coronation before, it’s going to be fun to watch precisely for the over-the-top pageantry and tradition, even if much of it appears absurd.

    It’ll also drive a lot of inbound tourism over the summer, although not as much as dropping VAT-free shopping might.
    The Queen's coronation was of course in a very different age with many not even owning televisions and it was a huge event and whilst being agnostic towards the monarchy it does live long in my memory.

    I just do not see today's generation being as impressed as those witnessing it in 1953 nor the outdated and subservient nature of it

    However, there are those who very much support the monarchy and it is their day and I hope they enjoy it
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,190
    Selebian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    I want to know how Gold Stick ranks compared to Black Rod
    I read that as 'Gold Stink' at first. Which would be a much better title.
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,486
    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727
    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Using them for diving seems more apt
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Glad you aren't saying that 'performative' anti-racism (like answering a survey that you wouldn't mind a foreign neighbour) is what really causes racism, as some do!

    I think you've got to take this kind of survey with a little pinch of salt - definitions of what people think of as an immigrant or foreign worker or 'different race' can change a bit in different places, and over time. And there is definitely an effect that in some places it is a lot more socially unacceptable to admit to being racist than in others. But still probably fair to say that in some ways Britain is one of the least racist countries, I think, though as a white person I don't think I have ever really suffered from racism anywhere so not really for me to say!

    I find Brazil a more interesting result in that survey.
    Another way of looking at the question is asking people whether they think their country has a problem with racism - generally those least accepting a neighbour of a different race don’t, (eg Russia) while those most accepting do (eg U.K.).
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    You’ve become really quite boring. It’s sad. Try and be funny again
    Funny nationalist is an oxymoron. Sad, cynical, miserable, negative, moaning are more appropriate adjectives. I think if @Theuniondivvie has ever been funny it has been by accident rather than design.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,958
    edited April 2023
    It's still going to be all Remainers' fault isn't it?
    Fair dos to Al for going with the visual embodiment of a mind virus pic though.




  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,564
    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    kle4 said:

    DavidL said:

    Ukraine running out of weapons and fears losing more territory - BBC

    Ukraine getting upper hand on front line - Al Jazeera

    OK think ones about Bakhmut and others about Kherson but looks like a long long War to me

    The ammunition situation for Ukraine is getting critical and probably delaying their Spring offensive. The alarm bells were ringing a while ago and there has been some response, especially from the US, but the burn rate in modern warfare is beyond the west’s current capacity.
    Yes, hard to know what's real talk and what is cover, but it seems plausible ammunition is not being supplied as much as needed despite efforts.

    Then you have conflicting reports about worries the counter offensive won't achieve enough to keep encouraging the USA to maintain their level of support, vs the Russians tricking it as just throwing conscripts at the problem isnt working.

    There's only a few broad areas that could be focused on and the Russians know something is coming but will that matter?

    Russia has the backup of dragging it out as much as they can and cutting a deal I guess. Anything they hold in a ceasefire is never coming back.
    Russia's just trying to drag it out until the US election. If it's still a bloody stalement then Biden is going to get it from both ends. The Couch Cossacks who will say that Ukraine should have had B-2s and the Isolationists who will say what the fuck have we just spend $100bn on?
    The answer to the last one is surely destroying Russia as a military force capable of intervening anywhere at a cost of zero American lives.
    That has surely been achieved already. Russia has burned through its army and ordnance and is begging for North Korean assistance

    I can’t see Putin invading anywhere else soon, especially as every neighboring country is now speedily tooling up and getting ready to fight, if needs be - cf Poland etc
    Plus, Putin has really only faced NATO's second reserves. The intel that Ukraine receives may be top-drawer, but the ability to act on that has been severely impacted - by slow delivery of kit that was often going to be scrapped in a few years anyway.
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Could be useful if you need to dive in the sea though.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
    I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda

    Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 41,958
    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    You’ve become really quite boring. It’s sad. Try and be funny again
    You start.
    You've got to admit he's trying.
    Very.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,190

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    You’ve become really quite boring. It’s sad. Try and be funny again
    You start.
    You've got to admit he's trying.
    Very.
    Boom! Boom!
  • Nigel_ForemainNigel_Foremain Posts: 14,310
    Selebian said:

    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Using them for diving seems more apt
    I just realised you beat me to it.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 71,070

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    You’ve become really quite boring. It’s sad. Try and be funny again
    Funny nationalist is an oxymoron. Sad, cynical, miserable, negative, moaning are more appropriate adjectives. I think if @Theuniondivvie has ever been funny it has been by accident rather than design.
    Whereas you're a regular barrel of laughs.
  • MarqueeMarkMarqueeMark Posts: 52,564

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    How come Black Rod is never a black guy (or lady)?
    There aren't many black guys named "Rod"?
  • boulayboulay Posts: 5,486
    Leon said:

    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
    I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda

    Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
    I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
  • kjhkjh Posts: 11,786
    Leon said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    The idea that some of it wasn't racist is also ridiculous. You might not be and I believe no Brexiteer on here is, but it certainly existed in some numbers. You only had to canvas to find out, which I did. Some of it was bonkers as well. Two I remember well were ' There are too many Albanians here, you only have to see them on the crime programmes' and 'There are enough blacks here already'. Neither of which were going to be reversed by Brexit anyway and trying to explain was futile.
    Of course there are racists. On all sides. See the entire career of Diane Abbott

    My point is that the characterization of our entire nation as racist - on the basis that we voted Brexit and this annoyed a lot of people - was a repugnant lie. And still people trot it out

    Brits aren’t racist. And have not been for a long time

    I remember seeing a poll in the 1990s - long before Brexit - that showed exactly this. We are a tolerant people. We have to be because we are a crowded busy island and the only way to get by is to be acceptant, even indifferent

    What Brits don’t like is the sense that we are not in control of our borders. That powered the Brexit vote and that powers the anger at the boats. But that is not racism
    I don't think anyone claims or characterises the 'entire nation is racist'. Far from it. I don't understand where you get that from. It clearly isn't rational as you are complaining specifically about the 'whining remainery guardianists left'. Unless they are also hypocritically racist then by definition it can't be an 'entire nation' can it? And seeing as remain got 48% and seeing as clearly lots of Brexiteers also aren't racist it sounds like you are just exaggerating like mad. What is true is there was a subset of voters who voted leave because they were racist and for that specific reason. You may also find racist remainers, but they didn't vote remain because they were racist did they because that would be bonkers?

    So, we can conclude:

    a) The entire nation is not racist, far from it
    b) Leavers are not all racists, far from it
    c) Some people did vote leave because they are racists

    Let's keep it rational
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    You’ve become really quite boring. It’s sad. Try and be funny again
    Funny nationalist is an oxymoron. Sad, cynical, miserable, negative, moaning are more appropriate adjectives. I think if @Theuniondivvie has ever been funny it has been by accident rather than design.
    Actually, I demur

    I can recall when @Theuniondivvie laced his nationalism with grace notes of dry wit. Often waspish, and often genuinely funny

    Now he just exudes a constant, miserable bitterness, which is both sad and boring
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 27,896

    Sandpit said:

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    Isn’t that half the point of it? We still have the annual State Opening of Parliament, which starts with Black Rod having the door shut in his (or her) face.

    Most of us have never seen a Coronation before, it’s going to be fun to watch precisely for the over-the-top pageantry and tradition, even if much of it appears absurd.

    It’ll also drive a lot of inbound tourism over the summer, although not as much as dropping VAT-free shopping might.
    The Queen's coronation was of course in a very different age with many not even owning televisions and it was a huge event and whilst being agnostic towards the monarchy it does live long in my memory.

    I just do not see today's generation being as impressed as those witnessing it in 1953 nor the outdated and subservient nature of it

    However, there are those who very much support the monarchy and it is their day and I hope they enjoy it
    Is King Charles making it worse though? First, the point of the coronation needs to be explained. Second, the King intervening, for instance to get rid of the dukes in robes and replace them with old white guys in suits, takes away the spectacle, the shock and awe, and risks turning it into the self-indulgent junket he is trying to avoid.
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,216
    City of the Enlightenment

    Edinburgh University - where the first cohort of female students matriculated - is now a place where masked men and ‘boy pussy’ are allowed to intimidate women, with academic staff cheerleading the bullies.

    https://twitter.com/DalgetySusan/status/1651499028985593857?s=20
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 50,258

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Glad you aren't saying that 'performative' anti-racism (like answering a survey that you wouldn't mind a foreign neighbour) is what really causes racism, as some do!

    I think you've got to take this kind of survey with a little pinch of salt - definitions of what people think of as an immigrant or foreign worker or 'different race' can change a bit in different places, and over time. And there is definitely an effect that in some places it is a lot more socially unacceptable to admit to being racist than in others. But still probably fair to say that in some ways Britain is one of the least racist countries, I think, though as a white person I don't think I have ever really suffered from racism anywhere so not really for me to say!

    I find Brazil a more interesting result in that survey.
    Another way of looking at the question is asking people whether they think their country has a problem with racism - generally those least accepting a neighbour of a different race don’t, (eg Russia) while those most accepting do (eg U.K.).
    I think someone posted some stats the other day, that the rate of intermarriage between ethnic groups in the UK is higher than a number of other countries.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    kjh said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    The idea that some of it wasn't racist is also ridiculous. You might not be and I believe no Brexiteer on here is, but it certainly existed in some numbers. You only had to canvas to find out, which I did. Some of it was bonkers as well. Two I remember well were ' There are too many Albanians here, you only have to see them on the crime programmes' and 'There are enough blacks here already'. Neither of which were going to be reversed by Brexit anyway and trying to explain was futile.
    Of course there are racists. On all sides. See the entire career of Diane Abbott

    My point is that the characterization of our entire nation as racist - on the basis that we voted Brexit and this annoyed a lot of people - was a repugnant lie. And still people trot it out

    Brits aren’t racist. And have not been for a long time

    I remember seeing a poll in the 1990s - long before Brexit - that showed exactly this. We are a tolerant people. We have to be because we are a crowded busy island and the only way to get by is to be acceptant, even indifferent

    What Brits don’t like is the sense that we are not in control of our borders. That powered the Brexit vote and that powers the anger at the boats. But that is not racism
    I don't think anyone claims or characterises the 'entire nation is racist'. Far from it. I don't understand where you get that from. It clearly isn't rational as you are complaining specifically about the 'whining remainery guardianists left'. Unless they are also hypocritically racist then by definition it can't be an 'entire nation' can it? And seeing as remain got 48% and seeing as clearly lots of Brexiteers also aren't racist it sounds like you are just exaggerating like mad. What is true is there was a subset of voters who voted leave because they were racist and for that specific reason. You may also find racist remainers, but they didn't vote remain because they were racist did they because that would be bonkers?

    So, we can conclude:

    a) The entire nation is not racist, far from it
    b) Leavers are not all racists, far from it
    c) Some people did vote leave because they are racists

    Let's keep it rational
    You must be willfully blind or deaf if you don’t see lefty opinion that slights Britain as a racist hellhole

    Eg from that very same Unherd article linked above


    “The King’s study comes months after a UN working group claimed that ethnic minorities in Britain are “living in fear” as a result of systemic racism, and just two weeks after a separate report detailed that the UK is “not close to being a racially just society”. This new report provides a dramatic counterpoint, suggesting that Britain is, overall, a more welcoming place than its critics might suggest.“
  • TheValiantTheValiant Posts: 1,874
    Leon said:

    algarkirk said:

    Leon said:

    Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP

    It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum


    Agree; except that Westminster has been far from obdurate. There was a referendum not long ago - granted by Westminster. In recent years there has never been the sort of support in Scotland for independence which would morally or politically come close to making the case for another so soon.

    Though a truly obdurate Westminster would grant a ScotRef2 right now.
    The same phenomenon can be seen in Catalonia. Once it is realised that Indy is politically difficult to the point of impossibility, support for it falls. People lose interest

    Sturgeon realised this which is why she was always promising indyref2 ‘is just around the corner’. She had to keep the flame of hope burning

    Slowly people will realise that the corner is actually in the 2030s or 2040s and then, I believe, support for Indy will gradually erode

    But there will always be a hardcore 30-35% who will want it whatever - as there is in Quebec and Catalonia. And they can rebuild one day to force another vote
    In all honesty, the reason for lack of independence is it's just too difficult in the modern world... for any country.

    The following generic questions have almost no good answers:

    1) What currency should we use after we are independent?
    2) What liabilities should we inherit from the remaining country?
    3) What is our relationship with the remaining country going to be like post independence?

    It's only three, but they're almost impossible to answer in a good way.

    I can't think of any country in the last forty years that achieved independence that was in a better position either immediately or in a very short space of time. All of the Soviet states spent the 1990s as basket cases, South Sudan decided immediate civil war was the way forward (and the less said about Sudan the better). Czech Republic and Slovakia? Maybe....?

    Put simply, in today's global world, independence.... true independence... is a pipe dream. Trying it just wrecks your country.... often both countries. Look at Brexit, and that was supposedly an 'independent' state leaving a trading organisation.

    Like it or not, we are inching towards superstates (and by inching, I do mean inching - we ain't achieving this in this century), and Brexit slowed that process only slightly.
  • LostPasswordLostPassword Posts: 18,361
    edited April 2023

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    'I'm a real racist and I know Brits aren't real racists' is an interesting take.
    I thought Leon's view was that racism was an inevitability, driven by biological imperatives?
  • LeonLeon Posts: 55,277
    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    boulay said:

    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Better off with a pair of Doc Martins.
    I am mildly obsessed with the history and culture of St Kilda

    Apparently they were sex mad polyamorous hunter gathering heathens until the dour Presbyterian preachers showed up. That doomed them
    I thought they were doomed by the lack of trees dooming them as they couldn’t get wood anymore but I suppose Presbyterian preachers would also cause you to lose your ardour.
    Unless that is a pun on ‘getting wood’ I don’t think lack of trees was ever a problem for the Kildans. They had lots of other problems tho. Tiny gene pool. Brutal seas. A need to climb impossibly dangerous cliffs to access pufflings. Etc

    Apparently they never learned to fish, or never really bothered. And they generally couldn’t swim. They were intoxicatingly weird
  • algarkirkalgarkirk Posts: 12,497
    Scott_xP said:

    What title would you give Liz Truss’ semi-autobiographical manifesto?


    Every time you hear about a book you are not going to read under any circumstances whatsoever and even if paid handsomely for doing so you save about 3 evenings of your life. These add up. Not reading anything by Russell Brand has added a fortnight to my life so far.
  • kamskikamski Posts: 5,190
    Erdogan seems to fill a gap left open by the German state. "For the past 60 years, German politicians have had a hard time acknowledging Turkish people and saying to them 'You belong to this country, regardless of whether you founded BioNTech or are a youth who took part in riots on New Year's Eve. Even when you make a mistake, you are still one of us.' Erdogan communicates just that. He tells them 'regardless of where you are, or what citizenship you have, you belong to us.'"

    https://www.dw.com/en/why-many-turks-in-germany-still-for-vote-for-erdogan/a-65442948
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727

    City of the Enlightenment

    Edinburgh University - where the first cohort of female students matriculated - is now a place where masked men and ‘boy pussy’ are allowed to intimidate women, with academic staff cheerleading the bullies.

    https://twitter.com/DalgetySusan/status/1651499028985593857?s=20

    Without additional context, I'm struggling to see what is problematic in those images. The masks picture is undated, but I'm assuming Covid-related? If not, the person in the red jacket is doing a piss-poor job at hiding identity or being intimidating with that mask!
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727

    kamski said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Glad you aren't saying that 'performative' anti-racism (like answering a survey that you wouldn't mind a foreign neighbour) is what really causes racism, as some do!

    I think you've got to take this kind of survey with a little pinch of salt - definitions of what people think of as an immigrant or foreign worker or 'different race' can change a bit in different places, and over time. And there is definitely an effect that in some places it is a lot more socially unacceptable to admit to being racist than in others. But still probably fair to say that in some ways Britain is one of the least racist countries, I think, though as a white person I don't think I have ever really suffered from racism anywhere so not really for me to say!

    I find Brazil a more interesting result in that survey.
    Another way of looking at the question is asking people whether they think their country has a problem with racism - generally those least accepting a neighbour of a different race don’t, (eg Russia) while those most accepting do (eg U.K.).
    I think someone posted some stats the other day, that the rate of intermarriage between ethnic groups in the UK is higher than a number of other countries.
    That would need to be normed to prevalence of different ethnic groups (it may have been) otherwise, in equally (non-)racist societies, you'd tend to get higher rates in societies with higher population of minority ethnic groups.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727

    Selebian said:

    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Using them for diving seems more apt
    I just realised you beat me to it.
    Swift as a gannet diving for a fish :wink:
  • FossFoss Posts: 1,019

    Leon said:

    algarkirk said:

    Leon said:

    Support for Indy might - and probably will - ebb away, once it becomes clear there is no obvious political route to Indy. And that is now becoming clear, with an obdurate Westminster and a collapsing SNP

    It used to be thought support for Quebecois independence was solid and growing and bound to win in the end. Look at what actually happened after they lost their referendum


    Agree; except that Westminster has been far from obdurate. There was a referendum not long ago - granted by Westminster. In recent years there has never been the sort of support in Scotland for independence which would morally or politically come close to making the case for another so soon.

    Though a truly obdurate Westminster would grant a ScotRef2 right now.
    The same phenomenon can be seen in Catalonia. Once it is realised that Indy is politically difficult to the point of impossibility, support for it falls. People lose interest

    Sturgeon realised this which is why she was always promising indyref2 ‘is just around the corner’. She had to keep the flame of hope burning

    Slowly people will realise that the corner is actually in the 2030s or 2040s and then, I believe, support for Indy will gradually erode

    But there will always be a hardcore 30-35% who will want it whatever - as there is in Quebec and Catalonia. And they can rebuild one day to force another vote
    In all honesty, the reason for lack of independence is it's just too difficult in the modern world... for any country.

    The following generic questions have almost no good answers:

    1) What currency should we use after we are independent?
    2) What liabilities should we inherit from the remaining country?
    3) What is our relationship with the remaining country going to be like post independence?

    It's only three, but they're almost impossible to answer in a good way.

    I can't think of any country in the last forty years that achieved independence that was in a better position either immediately or in a very short space of time. All of the Soviet states spent the 1990s as basket cases, South Sudan decided immediate civil war was the way forward (and the less said about Sudan the better). Czech Republic and Slovakia? Maybe....?

    Put simply, in today's global world, independence.... true independence... is a pipe dream. Trying it just wrecks your country.... often both countries. Look at Brexit, and that was supposedly an 'independent' state leaving a trading organisation.

    Like it or not, we are inching towards superstates (and by inching, I do mean inching - we ain't achieving this in this century), and Brexit slowed that process only slightly.
    In the long term I expect we'll end up with something more like The Diamond Age's Phyles than a US style Superstate.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727
    kamski said:

    Selebian said:

    HYUFD said:

    Princess Anne to be 'gold stick in waiting' at the coronation

    https://twitter.com/Royal_Circular/status/1651314987753783296?s=20

    What a ridiculous title
    I want to know how Gold Stick ranks compared to Black Rod
    I read that as 'Gold Stink' at first. Which would be a much better title.
    And would certainly (be) rank :wink:
  • ydoethurydoethur Posts: 71,386
    Selebian said:

    Selebian said:

    Leon said:

    Dura_Ace said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    The UK is one of the least racist countries in the world, according to a massive new global study, with just 2% of Britons feeling uncomfortable about the idea of living next door to somebody of a different race. Asking whether someone would be happy living next to someone of a different race is one of the traditional ways that researchers measure racism. The data also shows that the British are amongst the most accepting countries in the world. In addition, the nation is among the highest-ranking for tolerance of gay people and immigrants



    https://unherd.com/thepost/survey-uk-is-one-of-the-least-racist-countries-in-the-world/

    Polls have shown this for many years. Brits are just about the least racist, most tolerant people on earth. Live and let live. It’s what we do. And it’s one reason foreign people will cross sunny Europe to get to our rainy little island

    That’s what makes the stance of the whining remainery guardianista left - ‘racist Brexity Britain’ - so utterly infuriating. It is an outright lie and provably wrong
    Always reassuring when someone who thinks Tommy Robinson is a patriot and has advocated all Muslims being interned tells us that Brits aren't racist.
    I never claimed that I wasn’t racist. I’d expel the ungrateful ginger Scots tomorrow, and drive them back to their smelly, midgy, peaty little hovels, isolating them all on St Kilda, where they can have anal sex with fulmars, as is their time-honored tradition. I’m just pointing out that the polls contradict Guardianista opinion of Bigoted Brexit Britain
    Fulmars have a cloaca not an anus. A single aperture through which they piss, shit and get fucked. Like leavers.
    That is droll

    The St Kildans did some really weird shit with seabirds. eg they used to use dead seabirds as shoes

    You’ve got to be quite desperate for decent footwear if you opt to wear a pair of gannets to go hiking
    Using them for diving seems more apt
    I just realised you beat me to it.
    Swift as a gannet diving for a fish :wink:
    Much swifter than the police getting a Salmond or a Sturgeon.
  • SelebianSelebian Posts: 8,727
    algarkirk said:

    Scott_xP said:

    What title would you give Liz Truss’ semi-autobiographical manifesto?


    Every time you hear about a book you are not going to read under any circumstances whatsoever and even if paid handsomely for doing so you save about 3 evenings of your life. These add up. Not reading anything by Russell Brand has added a fortnight to my life so far.
    You need to do a full benefit analysis, where the avoided damage to brain cells, mental health and also stress/anger triggers of cardiovascular problems is also considered. We could be talking years here!
This discussion has been closed.