"Stopping overnight in one of these small dead towns, we discovered to our displeasure that the only inn was owned and run by English people, and that the garden outside was full of English attracted to live in the area by the cheapness of the property. The only Frenchman among them was a severe alcoholic with an earring, the outward sign of his nonconformity, his desire to drink in public outweighing the disadvantage of having to do it among the English.
What an unattractive people the English have become, how utterly charmless! They are not necessarily bad people in themselves as individuals, but their contemporary culture has turned them into the least appealing people in the world, at least of those known to me."
Are we genuinely wondering if a Spectator article writer is a Leaver? I thought it was compulsory.
There are a variety of views on Europe at the Spectator.
Some people believe in severing all ties with the EU. Others take a different view, believing only a proper cleansing war can finally rid the world of the European Union.
"I'm not known for being tough on immigration - but we must give the Rwanda plan a chance Despite protestations, no one has put forward an alternative to the PM’s scheme. We can no longer simply do nothing Ken Clarke"
Are there no organisations prepared to stand up to Stonewall and Mermaids, or at least try and explain to them that their actions are inimical to Trans people?
Surely that's for trans people to decide?
Yes but mermaids and stonewalls agenda does not just affect trans people it also affects biological women.
That wasn't my point. The poster asserted that those organisations are inimical to trans rights. Only trans people can judge whether they are or are not.
That is a ridiculous comment. You do not have to be a member of a group to be able to observe and understand organisations that might be detrimental to their cause. Indeed it is often the case that those most closely/directly involved are the very people who are unable to judge what might be doing them good or harm within wider society.
An obvious example. Trump and his message are very bad for the lower middle classes of the USA - the very people he claims to be representing. And yet, whilst most external observers can see he is just using them and is very bad for their cause, that section of US society is the one most likely to support him because they believe he is acting in their best interests.
Yes but. An outsider telling them that has limited utility.
The alternative being to let them continue to be used and misled by organsations that are actively damaging their cause?
Of course I am not the one who should be doing the telling. But the question posed by Fairliered was whether or not there are organisations that can do this and would be taken seriously?
But you and Fairliered are the ones asserting it is damaging their cause. And "used and misled" is quite emotive language, implying it is deliberate on some level. Misguided may be better. I say it is for trans people to decide that.
And as in the example I have given you would be completely wrong. Indeed it is often the people who are being most used and hurt who are unable (or unwilling) to see it.
This is not, as you seek to claim, to say that we are saying that they are stupid or thick. This is a normal human condition and we see it all over the world and all the way down through history from otherwise highly intelligent people. None of us are immune from it. But it doesn't make it any less real.
Which may be true. We can all be wrong. Are you 100% convinced you are right? Or is it multi millions of funding from the Evangelical Right in the USA that has made a relatively innocuous niche issue so very controversial?
Um. No. Massive straw man from you there. It is controversial because it has real world effects on other people. The whole debate is about whether it is right to sacrifice one set of rights (those of straight and gay women) for the sake of another set of rights (those of Transgender women).
There must be a compromise available but organisations like Stonewall and Mermaids are unwilling to even discuss it and simply insist that their view and their way is the only one. They are as much fundamentalists in their own way as the idiots who simply oppose anything to do with transgender rights.
Organisations like BLM, Stonewall and Mermaids need to be put out to grass.
"I'm not known for being tough on immigration - but we must give the Rwanda plan a chance Despite protestations, no one has put forward an alternative to the PM’s scheme. We can no longer simply do nothing Ken Clarke"
Perhaps surprisingly I have some sympathy with the principle, if not the execution. If we do not wish to quarter unofficial migrants in the UK, then we must place them elsewhere. Rwanda is not my first choice, but noodling about the choice of elsewhere does not alter the principle. People keep insisting that policy decisions be done instantly, perfectly, and for free. It's not like that.
Just worked it out I think. Serious serious skadoodles for the BBC, dam on the story breaks tomorrow I reckon.
Someone pointed out that a line from The Thick Of It refers in passing to a 'rumour' about possibly the same person.
Given that the Thick of It had to restructure itself rapidly after Chris Langham got caught (a decision that fronted Peter Capaldi, improved the show immeasurably, and eventually gave us the Twelfth Doctor, so there's that), there's a degree of irony here.
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
[Naked Attraction. People have too many tattoos these days]
[Although I did see A Spy Among Friends earlier. It was good by modern standards, although apparently they did not have sunlight in the 50s. Guy Pearce did his Prometheus voice, Damien Lewis was good]
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
[Naked Attraction. People have too many tattoos these days]
[Although I did see A Spy Among Friends earlier. It was good by modern standards, although apparently they did not have sunlight in the 50s. Guy Pearce did his Prometheus voice, Damien Lewis was good]
[Am torn. Shall I watch "A Most Violent Year" on the Great Movies Channel or "First Dates" on E4?]
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
[Naked Attraction. People have too many tattoos these days]
What is the correct number of tattoos that a person should have?
Glib answer. Zero.
Unglib answer: some tattoos are very good - I saw one guy with a whole Buddhist scene on his back and buttocks, done in a black and white style with fine line-crossing, and those Maori tattoos that were fashionable in the Noughties were quite good, and the Rose tattoos on Cheryl's buttocks seemed good, and the delicate filligree under women's breasts seems to work - but as a rule of thumb people do them piecemeal, they don't fit together nor the person's contours, the colours fade rapidly and they come across as random incoherent squiggles containing meaningless or offensive imagery.
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
[Naked Attraction. People have too many tattoos these days]
[Although I did see A Spy Among Friends earlier. It was good by modern standards, although apparently they did not have sunlight in the 50s. Guy Pearce did his Prometheus voice, Damien Lewis was good]
[Am torn. Shall I watch "A Most Violent Year" on the Great Movies Channel or "First Dates" on E4?]
[I went for "First Dates". There's a young Essexsh couple. They're talking animatedly. About tattoos. Oh godsdamnit]
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
Other political figures who have had accounts or closed include Jeremy Hunt and Ken Clarke, who have not campaigned for Scottish independence. As your linked article finally gets round to admitting, it is most likely the enhanced anti-money laundering procedures for PEPs (politically exposed persons) that are to blame, as indeed even Nigel Farage has said. Either banks are too trigger happy or PEP customers are unwilling to jump through intrusive and bureaucratic hoops demanded by the banks.
Of course, as punters many of us face the same problems with having betting accounts closed for similar reasons.
Comments
"I'm not known for being tough on immigration - but we must give the Rwanda plan a chance
Despite protestations, no one has put forward an alternative to the PM’s scheme. We can no longer simply do nothing
Ken Clarke"
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/07/09/mps-must-give-the-rwanda-plan-a-chance/
"Stuart Campbell – the man behind pro-independence blog Wings Over Scotland – claimed last month that First Direct, his bank for over 25 years, cancelled his personal account out of the blue, without even informing him. He only found out when his card was declined at the supermarket.
First Direct offered no explanation as to why it did this to Campbell. But it’s possible to make an educated guess. As well as campaigning for Scottish independence, Campbell has not held back when attacking the excesses of woke ideology. Recently, he has been especially critical of the SNP’s trans policies."
https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/07/07/the-terrifying-rise-of-debanking/
Unglib answer: some tattoos are very good - I saw one guy with a whole Buddhist scene on his back and buttocks, done in a black and white style with fine line-crossing, and those Maori tattoos that were fashionable in the Noughties were quite good, and the Rose tattoos on Cheryl's buttocks seemed good, and the delicate filligree under women's breasts seems to work - but as a rule of thumb people do them piecemeal, they don't fit together nor the person's contours, the colours fade rapidly and they come across as random incoherent squiggles containing meaningless or offensive imagery.
That's probably more info than you wanted...😀
Of course, as punters many of us face the same problems with having betting accounts closed for similar reasons.
Jeremy Hunt denied bank account by Monzo
Chancellor is among multiple politicians to have accounts denied and cards cancelled because of 'disproportionate' money laundering rules
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/07/08/jeremy-hunt-denied-bank-account-american-express-monzo/ (£££)