Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. Sign in or register to get started.

Options

Now is the time for nuance and subtlety – politicalbetting.com

1356

Comments

  • Options
    Jim_MillerJim_Miller Posts: 2,534
    Again from FPT: In the Penguin Atlas of African History, Colin McEvedy has some brief remarks on slavery and that great traveler, Ibn Battuta: "One sombre note is the way slavery keeps coming up: when he set off home it was as part of a caravan taking 600 female slaves from Takedda to the north. It looks as if slaves were beginning to rival gold as Sudan's most important export. There are hints of the same thing in his accounts of the east coast. (p.62, 1995 edition)

    He returned home in 1349.
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,770
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    I wouldnt import MAGA either its also shit and not applicable to this country. As for cherry picking Ive yet to see any cherries.
  • Options

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    Make America Great Again doesn't quite work in the UK for some reason. Could be MUGA I suppose
    I’ve always expected Farage to go MEGA.

    Make
    England
    Great
    Again
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,028

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    Nice to see young people being politically engaged.
    Keep going, God loves a trier!
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,401

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    Make America Great Again doesn't quite work in the UK for some reason. Could be MUGA I suppose
    MUG(a) would be quite apt for its followers, yes.
  • Options

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 27,056
    edited November 2023
    One of the first people to reference woke ideas was Scritti Politti frontman Green Gartside in his 1980s pop singles.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Gartside
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scritti_Politti
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,163

    viewcode said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    Don’t you need a password to use a device as a hotspot?
    Not always. Some railway stations and Costa stores don't.
    I think you may be misunderstanding free WiFi and hot spotting from an Internet connected device. The owner/user of the device always has to "allow " their device to be a WiFi hot-spot, whether or not via a password. So the device owner will have to give a password to the person streaming via hot spotting, or possibly allow open access (which would be a security risk to the owner). While I can see there might possibly be scenarios where the first option might be permissible on a government issued device (eg to allow a gov t colleague to hot spot, but would probably need to change the password afterwards) I don't think open hot-spot access would ever be permissible for a govt device.
    In the last sentence, I think you need to change the word 'would' to 'should'.
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,401

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    I wouldnt import MAGA either its also shit and not applicable to this country. As for cherry picking Ive yet to see any cherries.
    No cherries is because (I confidently deduce) you get all your info about Woke from the AntiWoke.
  • Options

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    Make America Great Again doesn't quite work in the UK for some reason. Could be MUGA I suppose
    I’ve always expected Farage to go MEGA.

    Make
    England
    Great
    Again
    Oh God preserve us! Farage would be better off having an organisation called Can Uk Not Triumph ?
  • Options
    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,482

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    Make America Great Again doesn't quite work in the UK for some reason. Could be MUGA I suppose
    I’ve always expected Farage to go MEGA.

    Make
    England
    Great
    Again
    You're hoping for a win at the rugby?

    *grabs tinfoil hat and ducks*
  • Options

    Again from FPT: In the Penguin Atlas of African History, Colin McEvedy has some brief remarks on slavery and that great traveler, Ibn Battuta: "One sombre note is the way slavery keeps coming up: when he set off home it was as part of a caravan taking 600 female slaves from Takedda to the north. It looks as if slaves were beginning to rival gold as Sudan's most important export. There are hints of the same thing in his accounts of the east coast. (p.62, 1995 edition)

    He returned home in 1349.

    Had time to build a big shopping mall in Dubai too.
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,163
    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    Google Fi offers unlimited data roaming in Morocco, and you can download an eSim. However, you will (a) need to change your country to the US in Google settings, and (b) remember to cancel your Google Fi "subscription" after your trip.
  • Options
    ydoethur said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    Make America Great Again doesn't quite work in the UK for some reason. Could be MUGA I suppose
    I’ve always expected Farage to go MEGA.

    Make
    England
    Great
    Again
    You're hoping for a win at the rugby?

    *grabs tinfoil hat and ducks*
    Lol. How many RWC finals has Wales been in? POWWAS
  • Options
    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,207
    edited November 2023
    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,770
    edited November 2023
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    I wouldnt import MAGA either its also shit and not applicable to this country. As for cherry picking Ive yet to see any cherries.
    No cherries is because (I confidently deduce) you get all your info about Woke from the AntiWoke.
    No there are a fair degree of people on here who are pro woke and can tell me what the advantages are. Likewise I read leftie sites to see whats new. Lots of posturing but I never see anything convincing.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,028

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
    Lovely. Viva Multiculture
  • Options

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,878
    edited November 2023

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
  • Options
    isam said:

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
    Lovely. Viva Multiculture
    Look, its important to be accurate when making such claims, regardless of whether the kids should be off school or not or the marches or multiculturalism are good things, otherwise there is no point debating.

    The process they suggest is explicitly not getting the support of headteachers as claimed, it is parents informing the school of unauthorised absence.
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,770

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    Time to go to specsavers
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,028

    isam said:

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
    Lovely. Viva Multiculture
    Look, its important to be accurate when making such claims, regardless of whether the kids should be off school or not or the marches or multiculturalism are good things, otherwise there is no point debating.

    The process they suggest is explicitly not getting the support of headteachers as claimed, it is parents informing the school of unauthorised absence.
    Well, the parents are obviously supporting it, I don’t doubt the ‘community leaders’ are backing it, and the schools turn a blind eye because it’s more bother than it’s worth trying to tackle it - they know, and don’t try to stop it.

  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,878

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Par for the course amongst those who are full for their own importance: MPs, senior execs, celebs, hacks, lawyers (oops).
  • Options
    viewcodeviewcode Posts: 19,083
    Andy_JS said:

    One of the first people to reference woke ideas was Scritti Politti frontman Green Gartside in his 1980s pop singles.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Gartside
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scritti_Politti

    That's a bit like saying The Stranglers compared Trotskyist Communism to chivalric romances, or the Wu-Tang Clan discussed Socratic philosophy .

    Although Falco's analysis of the work of Amadeus was a bit of a showstopper, it must be said.

  • Options
    ChrisChris Posts: 11,145
    edited November 2023
    The more I read about the government's response to the Supreme Court ruling, the more difficult I find it to fathom what they are proposing.

    The government is assuring us that they have assurances that people will not be sent back to their countries of origin. That has to apply whether or not the Rwandans approve their application, because part of what is at issue is that people genuinely in danger may have their applications rejected.

    So what will happen to the people whose applications are rejected by Rwanda? Can they send them to a third country, which can then return them to their place of origin? That doesn't sound like much of a safeguard.

    Must the Rwandans keep them, whether or not they approve the application? I don't believe that's going to happen.

    The only alternative I can think of is that they are going to send the rejected applicants back to the UK. Can that really be what's intended? Difficult to believe, but difficult to see how else it's meant to work.
  • Options
    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,761

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Yep, like many trains of thought (and indeed global credit crunches) it started in America.
    Its one of those amazing things that the UK Left want to import all the shit ideas the americans have and apply them badly in the UK.

    Cant you guys just come up with some domestic ideas ?
    It's not all shit by any means. Woke thinking has value if you cherrypick. Contrast with its corresponding movement on the Right (Maga and similar). There's nothing at all of value there. That's something we really shouldn't be importing.
    Make America Great Again doesn't quite work in the UK for some reason. Could be MUGA I suppose
    I’ve always expected Farage to go MEGA.

    Make
    England
    Great
    Again
    Make Great Britain...

    ...oh, hang on.
  • Options
    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
    Lovely. Viva Multiculture
    Look, its important to be accurate when making such claims, regardless of whether the kids should be off school or not or the marches or multiculturalism are good things, otherwise there is no point debating.

    The process they suggest is explicitly not getting the support of headteachers as claimed, it is parents informing the school of unauthorised absence.
    Well, the parents are obviously supporting it, I don’t doubt the ‘community leaders’ are backing it, and the schools turn a blind eye because it’s more bother than it’s worth trying to tackle it - they know, and don’t try to stop it.

    What do you expect the headteacher to do? Go round at 7am to each house and kidnap the kids?

    If parents don't send kids to school its on the parents whether the kids are going on a march, skiing or sitting on the sofa watching homes under the hammer. Only if its persistent the schools can get involved.

    So no - it is also wrong to claim the schools are turning a blind eye, they have no power here.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,878

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    Time to go to specsavers
    Feel free to show me an example.

    (Predictable response: "I can't be arsed trailing through PB to find one". Translates as: I know lefties on here don't really say "all people who vote Tory are evil and selfish" but I so much want it to be so.)
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,964
    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    Roaming tends to be expensive anyway.
    eSIMs exist for Morocco - for example:
    https://esim.holafly.com/fr/esim-maroc/
  • Options
    OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 32,096

    Again from FPT: In the Penguin Atlas of African History, Colin McEvedy has some brief remarks on slavery and that great traveler, Ibn Battuta: "One sombre note is the way slavery keeps coming up: when he set off home it was as part of a caravan taking 600 female slaves from Takedda to the north. It looks as if slaves were beginning to rival gold as Sudan's most important export. There are hints of the same thing in his accounts of the east coast. (p.62, 1995 edition)

    He returned home in 1349.

    Histories of East Africa three or four hundred years later refer to similar trading. The Arabs, particularly the Omanis, were at it for centuries.
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 20,183

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    @Andy_JS presents as a very reasonable, thoughtful man, whose views are various and hard to pin to a mast. Yet when I asked him what his worldview was he said: anti-woke. I thought that a very odd position. I'm not particularly woke, but to define one's entire worldview as 'anti-woke' seems a narrow outlook at best.
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 20,183

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    Agree... but exiled to ConHome. You'll be colouring yourself something next. Or citing 'one of those irregular verbs'.
  • Options
    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,064
    Some interesting polling, no doubt.

    Here's a good piece by Helen Joyce on being 'cancelled.' Oddly amusing.

    https://thecritic.co.uk/issues/november-2023/playing-nice-hasnt-worked/
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,770

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    Time to go to specsavers
    Feel free to show me an example.

    (Predictable response: "I can't be arsed trailing through PB to find one". Translates as: I know lefties on here don't really say "all people who vote Tory are evil and selfish" but I so much want it to be so.)
    well I cant. But off the top of my head Rochdale and Dura have some crackers. And over the course of my 14 odd years on PB its been a constant. Usually people on this blog go to one extreme and try to say thats the norm for all posters, which is of course rubbish but happens as a matter of course.
  • Options

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    @Andy_JS presents as a very reasonable, thoughtful man, whose views are various and hard to pin to a mast. Yet when I asked him what his worldview was he said: anti-woke. I thought that a very odd position. I'm not particularly woke, but to define one's entire worldview as 'anti-woke' seems a narrow outlook at best.
    Anti woke who wants Blair back as PM even more curious.
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 20,183
    edited November 2023

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Seems like a storm in a teacup. His lads used it to watch the football. He didn't think too much about it. He was charged seven large by some chiselling phone network. Move on.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,302
    edited November 2023
    I thought it was Cabbies that were supposed to be the racists?

    UK cab driver kicks out an antisemitic client, after an unhinged rant by the passenger

    https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1725171538171674942?s=20
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 20,183
    rcs1000 said:

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    Google Fi offers unlimited data roaming in Morocco, and you can download an eSim. However, you will (a) need to change your country to the US in Google settings, and (b) remember to cancel your Google Fi "subscription" after your trip.
    What a stupid palaver. One World Network ––– NOW!!
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 20,183
    I once got charged £200 for sending a few texts on a day trip to Bosnia.

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    @Andy_JS presents as a very reasonable, thoughtful man, whose views are various and hard to pin to a mast. Yet when I asked him what his worldview was he said: anti-woke. I thought that a very odd position. I'm not particularly woke, but to define one's entire worldview as 'anti-woke' seems a narrow outlook at best.
    Anti woke who wants Blair back as PM even more curious.
    Indeed, and a Lib-Lab pact next time. He's a bit of a mystery is old Andy.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,028

    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
    Lovely. Viva Multiculture
    Look, its important to be accurate when making such claims, regardless of whether the kids should be off school or not or the marches or multiculturalism are good things, otherwise there is no point debating.

    The process they suggest is explicitly not getting the support of headteachers as claimed, it is parents informing the school of unauthorised absence.
    Well, the parents are obviously supporting it, I don’t doubt the ‘community leaders’ are backing it, and the schools turn a blind eye because it’s more bother than it’s worth trying to tackle it - they know, and don’t try to stop it.

    What do you expect the headteacher to do? Go round at 7am to each house and kidnap the kids?

    If parents don't send kids to school its on the parents whether the kids are going on a march, skiing or sitting on the sofa watching homes under the hammer. Only if its persistent the schools can get involved.

    So no - it is also wrong to claim the schools are turning a blind eye, they have no power here.
    Well I didn’t actually claim it myself. I agree, the teachers at the schools generally aren’t Muslims so don’t share the agenda. But parts of Tower Hamlets are a parallel society.
  • Options
    eristdooferistdoof Posts: 4,914
    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Woke started in the Anglosphere, with distant roots in Marxism and French wankiness (post-structuralism). Its birthplace was mainly American universities but the Brits and Aussies and canucks soon joined in. The Brits took over the whole trans debate and really got that going, the yanks continued with race. Bit like the way we divided the Normandy beaches for invasion

    But it has now spread way beyond anglophone academe into all areas of life - and also far beyond the English speaking world. It’s very discernible in Western Europe and even countries like India. And now it is spreading in the universities of Africa, Latin America and so on

    Asia seems fairly immune so far. We may all end up desperate to live in China or Singapore
    I thought India is in Asia.
  • Options

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Seems like a storm in a teacup. His lads used it to watch the football. He didn't think too much about it. He was charged seven large by some chiselling phone network. Move on.
    he is a government minister. An IPad is a computer. Security risk. He is an idiot.
  • Options
    rcs1000 said:

    viewcode said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    Don’t you need a password to use a device as a hotspot?
    Not always. Some railway stations and Costa stores don't.
    I think you may be misunderstanding free WiFi and hot spotting from an Internet connected device. The owner/user of the device always has to "allow " their device to be a WiFi hot-spot, whether or not via a password. So the device owner will have to give a password to the person streaming via hot spotting, or possibly allow open access (which would be a security risk to the owner). While I can see there might possibly be scenarios where the first option might be permissible on a government issued device (eg to allow a gov t colleague to hot spot, but would probably need to change the password afterwards) I don't think open hot-spot access would ever be permissible for a govt device.
    In the last sentence, I think you need to change the word 'would' to 'should'.
    Fair point :)
  • Options
    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 42,159
    Scott_xP said:

    @holyroodmandy

    Oh, god, Michael Matheson has just shoved his kids under a bus...

    Typical of these losers, blames his children who magically managed to purloin his government laptop and signup to watch the old firm game.
  • Options

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    Global bubble ride followed by spectacular bust. Middle managers always fuck up when they have to stop moaning and actually run something.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,964
    Is there a market on the Dutch general election ?

    For an old UE bureaucrat, Timmermans is quite interesting:
    https://www.politico.eu/article/does-the-architect-of-europes-green-deal-truly-understand-what-hes-unleashed/
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,028
    More trouble for the Met. This case was outrageous; how he got away with the first murder is simply unbelievable

    BREAKING: Five Metropolitan Police officers and three former officers are being investigated for gross misconduct over the investigation into the murders carried out by serial killer Stephen Port

    https://x.com/metrouk/status/1725141518288080930?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q
  • Options
    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 42,159

    Nigelb said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    It raises the question of why we elect politicians dumb enough not to have heard of inexpensive eSIMs for foreign holidays.
    And did he really think he could take kids abroad and not have them want to use the internet ?

    Utter pillock.
    Also illustrates what an utter scam roaming charges are.
    He must think people are stupid if he thinks teenagers would go on holiday without some gadgets that can connect. Just an entitled scam merchant who thought he was untouchable and that the supine staff would just pay up and not question a big shot like him.
  • Options
    viewcodeviewcode Posts: 19,083
    eristdoof said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Woke started in the Anglosphere, with distant roots in Marxism and French wankiness (post-structuralism). Its birthplace was mainly American universities but the Brits and Aussies and canucks soon joined in. The Brits took over the whole trans debate and really got that going, the yanks continued with race. Bit like the way we divided the Normandy beaches for invasion

    But it has now spread way beyond anglophone academe into all areas of life - and also far beyond the English speaking world. It’s very discernible in Western Europe and even countries like India. And now it is spreading in the universities of Africa, Latin America and so on

    Asia seems fairly immune so far. We may all end up desperate to live in China or Singapore
    I thought India is in Asia.
    The UK and US have different conversational definitions of what is in Asia and which bits. Even worse, I think it's not constant over time.
  • Options
    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 42,159

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    Any one with a brain cell would not have tried to claim 11Kand say it was for a few constituency e-mails. He should be sacked for being thick as mince as well as false expense claims.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,443

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Seems like a storm in a teacup. His lads used it to watch the football. He didn't think too much about it. He was charged seven large by some chiselling phone network. Move on.
    he is a government minister. An IPad is a computer. Security risk. He is an idiot.
    And he claimed that the expense had been incurred properly for his constituency work and that the tax payer should reimburse him for it. That is really the fundamental point.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,964
    UAW-General Motors contract has enough votes for ratification
    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/16/uaw-general-motors-contract-ratify-00127593

    Pretty good news for Biden, especially if Ford and Stellantis follow.

    Hyundai has offered a similar deal at its non union plant.
    https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/hyundai-offers-higher-wage-structure-some-us-employees-2023-11-13/
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,656
    edited November 2023
    Humza Yousaf really is useless unlucky.
  • Options
    BurgessianBurgessian Posts: 2,469

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Seems like a storm in a teacup. His lads used it to watch the football. He didn't think too much about it. He was charged seven large by some chiselling phone network. Move on.
    he is a government minister. An IPad is a computer. Security risk. He is an idiot.
    Surely the point at issue is whether he knowingly claimed costs incurred recreationally from the public purse. If so, isnt that fraud?
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,443

    Humza Yousaf really is useless unlucky.

    The more stupid you surround yourself with, the unluckier you get.
  • Options
    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,163

    On a lighter note, this Eric Allie cartoon made me smile:
    https://www.gocomics.com/eric-allie/2023/11/13

    (For the record: I assume Gavin Newsom is running for president, with a dual strategy, first to be ready if Biden for some reason does not run in 2024, and second, preparing for 2028. As part of that strategy he is now trying to clean up some of California's problems, or at least cover them up temporarily, as he just did.)

    I had a call with one of our VCs in San Francisco yesterday, and she told me that the homelessness literally disappeared overnight in the City. She said she has no idea how they did it, but they've clearly all been moved somewhere.
  • Options
    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 42,159
    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    Still hard to believe you can run up over £8K on a football match and another £3K + over the week. To then try to claim it back is criminal activity.
  • Options
    SandpitSandpit Posts: 49,989
    rcs1000 said:

    On a lighter note, this Eric Allie cartoon made me smile:
    https://www.gocomics.com/eric-allie/2023/11/13

    (For the record: I assume Gavin Newsom is running for president, with a dual strategy, first to be ready if Biden for some reason does not run in 2024, and second, preparing for 2028. As part of that strategy he is now trying to clean up some of California's problems, or at least cover them up temporarily, as he just did.)

    I had a call with one of our VCs in San Francisco yesterday, and she told me that the homelessness literally disappeared overnight in the City. She said she has no idea how they did it, but they've clearly all been moved somewhere.
    Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
  • Options
    viewcode said:

    eristdoof said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Woke started in the Anglosphere, with distant roots in Marxism and French wankiness (post-structuralism). Its birthplace was mainly American universities but the Brits and Aussies and canucks soon joined in. The Brits took over the whole trans debate and really got that going, the yanks continued with race. Bit like the way we divided the Normandy beaches for invasion

    But it has now spread way beyond anglophone academe into all areas of life - and also far beyond the English speaking world. It’s very discernible in Western Europe and even countries like India. And now it is spreading in the universities of Africa, Latin America and so on

    Asia seems fairly immune so far. We may all end up desperate to live in China or Singapore
    I thought India is in Asia.
    The UK and US have different conversational definitions of what is in Asia and which bits. Even worse, I think it's not constant over time.
    Definitely depends if Eurovision is on at the time.
  • Options
    DavidL said:

    Humza Yousaf really is useless unlucky.

    The more stupid you surround yourself with, the unluckier you get.
    Michael Matheson seems like one of those people prosecutors love and defence counsels absolutely hate.

    'Yeah I'm not guilty of this charge but I am guilty of this much serious charge'
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,207
    edited November 2023
    148grss said:

    Sticking with anti-Semitism. Fascism doesn’t have to be anti-Semitic but it has to have a group that perform the purpose that Nazis used Jews for - a group of people who are a threat, an out group that they paint as both weak and strong, etc. Spanish and Italian fascism, whilst a still anti-Semitic, were much more concerned about the enemy within (the leftist) and people from the colonies (Ethiopians) then Jewish people. So anti-Semitism itself isn’t inherent to fascism, but an out group that performs that societal function for the fascist cause, is. Hence why you could still argue Japan, ancient Rome, or even ancient Sparta were fascistic, despite different cultural and historical contexts.

    Using the Umberto Eco list, wokeism is a fascist ideology:

    1. The cult of tradition - Wokeness imagines an idealised pre-capitalist, pre-colonialist society
    2. The rejection of modernism - Wokeness sees capitalism as the beginning of modern depravity
    3. The cult of action for action’s sake - It's not enough not to be racist - you must be actively anti-racist
    4. Disagreement is treason - See the way TERFs are treated
    5. Fear of difference - Wokeism is threatened by cultural forces it defines as reactionary
    6. Appeal to social frustration - Inequality is blamed on oppression
    8. The obsession with a plot - Wokeism sees white supremacist power structures at work everywhere
    9. The enemy is both strong and weak - Those with white privilege simultaneously hold all the power and suffer from "fragility"
    10. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy - "Silence is violence"
    11. Contempt for the weak - The traditional working class are demonised
    12. Everybody is educated to become a hero - Revolutionaries are idolised
    13. Machismo and weaponry - Terrorism against those coded as oppressors is glorified or excused
    14. Selective populism - Wokeism uses emotional appeals to the people, but only the right kind of people
    15. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak - Wokeism redefines language to suit its ideology
  • Options
    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,064
    I've criticised the Guardian on the issue of antisemitism but they've found some column space for a Jewish student at Oxford. I'm sure I've read many Graun pieces before about racism at UK universities but the contributor is, one suspects, usually delighted to see their name in print. This individual has decided to remain anonymous. Perhaps an instructive point.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/16/antisemitism-uk-universities-jewish-students
  • Options
    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 42,159

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Seems like a storm in a teacup. His lads used it to watch the football. He didn't think too much about it. He was charged seven large by some chiselling phone network. Move on.
    Feck off you absolute tit, it is my taxes he tried to steal to pay for his £11K illicit claim. Should b esacked for stupidity as well as criminal activity.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,878
    edited November 2023

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    @Andy_JS presents as a very reasonable, thoughtful man, whose views are various and hard to pin to a mast. Yet when I asked him what his worldview was he said: anti-woke. I thought that a very odd position. I'm not particularly woke, but to define one's entire worldview as 'anti-woke' seems a narrow outlook at best.
    Did you ask him to define the 'woke' he was anti?

    My guess is it will consist of a series of the most extreme, and rare, examples of stupidity that are so far round the political horseshoe as to be back on the other side. The sort of nonsense that no sane person supports and certainly not people like myself, yet I am often classed as 'woke' here on PB.

    As I said earlier, I find the whole 'woke' obsession rather curious and slightly disturbing.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,028
    edited November 2023
    Turns out the councillor reprimanded by Owen Jones for being a “white, straight, man” is mixed race…


  • Options
    rcs1000 said:

    On a lighter note, this Eric Allie cartoon made me smile:
    https://www.gocomics.com/eric-allie/2023/11/13

    (For the record: I assume Gavin Newsom is running for president, with a dual strategy, first to be ready if Biden for some reason does not run in 2024, and second, preparing for 2028. As part of that strategy he is now trying to clean up some of California's problems, or at least cover them up temporarily, as he just did.)

    I had a call with one of our VCs in San Francisco yesterday, and she told me that the homelessness literally disappeared overnight in the City. She said she has no idea how they did it, but they've clearly all been moved somewhere.
    We did the same here during covid. Initial cost was an extra £3.2 million grant, but must have been more in housing benefit etc to councils.
  • Options
    malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 42,159

    Humza Yousaf really is useless unlucky.

    Far from it ,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flepyk0UWcM, normal practice for useless
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,878

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    Global bubble ride followed by spectacular bust. Middle managers always fuck up when they have to stop moaning and actually run something.
    And yet even after the bust, Labour still grew the economy by 8% more than the Tories have managed to do over the same number of years.
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,401

    148grss said:

    Sticking with anti-Semitism. Fascism doesn’t have to be anti-Semitic but it has to have a group that perform the purpose that Nazis used Jews for - a group of people who are a threat, an out group that they paint as both weak and strong, etc. Spanish and Italian fascism, whilst a still anti-Semitic, were much more concerned about the enemy within (the leftist) and people from the colonies (Ethiopians) then Jewish people. So anti-Semitism itself isn’t inherent to fascism, but an out group that performs that societal function for the fascist cause, is. Hence why you could still argue Japan, ancient Rome, or even ancient Sparta were fascistic, despite different cultural and historical contexts.

    Using the Umberto Eco list, wokeism is a fascist ideology:

    1. The cult of tradition - Wokeness imagines an idealised pre-capitalist, pre-colonialist society
    2. The rejection of modernism - Wokeness sees capitalism as the beginning of modern depravity
    3. The cult of action for action’s sake - It's not enough not to be racist - you must be actively anti-racist
    4. Disagreement is treason - See the way TERFs are treated
    5. Fear of difference - Wokeism is threatened by cultural forces it defines as reactionary
    6. Appeal to social frustration - Inequality is blamed on oppression
    8. The obsession with a plot - Wokeism sees white supremacist power structures at work everywhere
    9. The enemy is both strong and weak - Those with white privilege simultaneously hold all the power and suffer from "fragility"
    10. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy - "Silence is violence"
    11. Contempt for the weak - The traditional working class are demonised
    12. Everybody is educated to become a hero - Revolutionaries are idolised
    13. Machismo and weaponry - Terrorism against those coded as oppressors is glorified or excused
    14. Selective populism - Wokeism uses emotional appeals to the people, but only the right kind of people
    15. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak - Wokeism redefines language to suit its ideology
    Not bad William. Just flesh it out a bit and an unHerd gig beckons.
  • Options

    148grss said:

    Sticking with anti-Semitism. Fascism doesn’t have to be anti-Semitic but it has to have a group that perform the purpose that Nazis used Jews for - a group of people who are a threat, an out group that they paint as both weak and strong, etc. Spanish and Italian fascism, whilst a still anti-Semitic, were much more concerned about the enemy within (the leftist) and people from the colonies (Ethiopians) then Jewish people. So anti-Semitism itself isn’t inherent to fascism, but an out group that performs that societal function for the fascist cause, is. Hence why you could still argue Japan, ancient Rome, or even ancient Sparta were fascistic, despite different cultural and historical contexts.

    Using the Umberto Eco list, wokeism is a fascist ideology:

    1. The cult of tradition - Wokeness imagines an idealised pre-capitalist, pre-colonialist society
    2. The rejection of modernism - Wokeness sees capitalism as the beginning of modern depravity
    3. The cult of action for action’s sake - It's not enough not to be racist - you must be actively anti-racist
    4. Disagreement is treason - See the way TERFs are treated
    5. Fear of difference - Wokeism is threatened by cultural forces it defines as reactionary
    6. Appeal to social frustration - Inequality is blamed on oppression
    8. The obsession with a plot - Wokeism sees white supremacist power structures at work everywhere
    9. The enemy is both strong and weak - Those with white privilege simultaneously hold all the power and suffer from "fragility"
    10. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy - "Silence is violence"
    11. Contempt for the weak - The traditional working class are demonised
    12. Everybody is educated to become a hero - Revolutionaries are idolised
    13. Machismo and weaponry - Terrorism against those coded as oppressors is glorified or excused
    14. Selective populism - Wokeism uses emotional appeals to the people, but only the right kind of people
    15. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak - Wokeism redefines language to suit its ideology
    Err, I have no idea where to start with this fantasy, so shall leave this nonsense for someone else to rebut!
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,028
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,302
    edited November 2023

    I've criticised the Guardian on the issue of antisemitism but they've found some column space for a Jewish student at Oxford. I'm sure I've read many Graun pieces before about racism at UK universities but the contributor is, one suspects, usually delighted to see their name in print. This individual has decided to remain anonymous. Perhaps an instructive point.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/nov/16/antisemitism-uk-universities-jewish-students

    Not a lot of be kind, tolerant and understanding on display....where as George Floyd killing resulted in a wave of we must understand, we must be more tolerant, etc....or after an Islamist terrorist attack in the UK, must be careful to not tar everybody with the same brush.

    Where as its appears to be Jews = Israeli = fair game....Its all very telling.
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 20,183
    edited November 2023

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Seems like a storm in a teacup. His lads used it to watch the football. He didn't think to much about it. H

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Seems like a storm in a teacup. His lads used it to watch the football. He didn't think too much about it. He was charged seven large by some chiselling phone network. Move on.
    he is a government minister. An IPad is a computer. Security risk. He is an idiot.
    Worse things happen at sea. The many computer nerds on here are obsessed with cybersecurity and VPNs and downloadable e-sims and all manner of techno-sci-fi bollox that the average joe knows little about and cares less. I can see how this happened. I mean I landed a £200 mobile phone bill for a day trip to Macedonia. Duh! I know. But easily done.
  • Options
    AlanbrookeAlanbrooke Posts: 23,770
    Cicero said:

    It has been a little while since I updated how the Russian war in Ukraine changes things in Estonia. Partly, I am more busy than usual. and also, having met with many Ukrainian refugees and hearing their stories, I simply lack the balance to be able to convey anything objectively. The scale of the crimes of the Russian armed forces is simply appalling and I refuse to engage with some of more cynical here. As the level of corruption, bribery, subversion and blackmail waged by Russia against the political systems of the West grows more obvious, I have hit a point that I hold the useful idiots in even more contempt than I do those hit with Kompromat.

    There are growing economic and political problems for Estonia from the war, the latest being the Russian attempt to send hundreds of Somalis over the Finnish and Estonian frontiers. This will now, combined with "planned maintenance" of the road bridge at Narva, lead to the effective shut down of cross-border transit. It comes on top of the "plausibly deniable" attacks on the gas interconnector with Finland and the data links to Finland and Sweden. Daily attacks come via the internet and damaging news stories are leaked so that trust in business or politics here might be damaged. Much is difficult to confirm or deny, so a miasma pervades the local media.

    Despite all of this, and the continuing blood curdling threats from the neo-fascist Russian media, Estonia continues to cope with the difficulties. Although the state of the economy- with highest inflation in the EU and the deepest recession- is still a serious concern, the stolid Estonian character simply remembers that it was worse in 2009 and plans for more difficult days to come.

    More to the point, there is a growing sense, if not of expectation, then at least of hope. The Ukrainian bridgehead across the Dnipro and the fire control over Crimea is creating ever more difficulties for the Russian occupation. The grinding Russian offensive has seen utterly staggering Russian casualties, to the point that when this war is over, the Russians should charge their own generals with war crimes. The waste of human life is simply unbelievable, and if the Russian troops are generally totally out of it on drugs or samogon then perhaps that is a mercy. In 2 years Russia has lost double the casualties of the United States in their 20 year war in Vietnam. In fact the casualties are in the same league as the First World War battles of Verdun or the Somme.

    Yet there is a growing sense´that something big is coming.

    Rumours speak of rebellion in the Republics and breakdown at the front. The regime is failing. The tide is turning. So, despite the continuing depression, there is, astonishingly, a sense of hope.

    Hope oft comes when unlooked for. As the first snows fall, the Estonians are more determined than ever: Ukraine will not fall.

    Really good read, lets hope this war wraps up soon with a russian collapse
  • Options
    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,064
    isam said:

    Turns out the councillor reprimanded by Owen Jones for being a “white, straight, male” is mixed race…


    I think the councillor doesn't quite understand. Owen doesn't say queer people of colour are incapable of bigotry. The insinuation is that someone born with the original sin of straight white maleness ought not to pass judgment on a queer person of a colour. I don't know how him not being white will change things. Depends on Owen's interpretation of intersectional theory I suppose.
  • Options
    eristdoof said:

    Leon said:

    kinabalu said:

    Leon said:

    Leon said:

    DavidL said:

    I think it is something to be proud of that we live in a country where people are judged not by the colour of their skin but the content of their character, as MLK put it. I think Yousef is Yousless for a whole range of reasons but his racial background is quite irrelevant and never seems to get a mention, except when his wife's family were at risk in Gaza when he got pretty universal sympathy. I think its great we live in a country like that and we don't often give ourselves enough credit for it.

    i agree, heartily, but this is where you ignore Wokeness at your peril

    Woke is ALL about judging people by the color of their skin. It is obsessed with race and colour, to a pathological degree. If you are white you are intrinsically evil and sinful and racist and there is nothing you can do about it, you are privileged and must forever apologize (but you can never apologize enough), and if you are black you are ALWAYS oppressed and exploited and the descendant of slaves even if you are a billionaire and don’t even notice race, thus you are infantilised, insultingly

    That is one reason Wokeness is SO insidious and poisonous. it pains me that bright people like you cannot see the danger of this

    That is how I always understood Wokeness. But it seems to have expanded in meaning massively so that now it has become meaningless.

    No, Woke exists and we all know it

    The best comparison is the term “Fascism”. It’s notoriously hard to define fascism in a couple of sentences - even Mussolini struggled! - but we all know what it is. Hitler’s Germany, Franco’s Spain, Benito’s Italy. I’d add iran under the ayatollahs and Gaza under Hamas, and several other Islamic examples. Islamofascism is real. Imperial Japan was fascist, too

    But in the meantime lefties have expanded fascism to mean “everything I don’t like”, perhaps unhelpfully, but that doesn’t mean fascism does not exist. It does, Likewise Wokeness. It is a nebulous but powerful ideology and it is absolutely obsessed with racial and sexual identity, definitely including skin colour
    Woke (your definition) doesn't by itself explain how the world works, it just provides insights into it, some of them quite useful. It's like most socioeconomic type theories in this respect. You shouldn't swallow it whole or get so mad at it that your face explodes.
    Woke is an anglosphere thing. Not a world thing.
    Woke started in the Anglosphere, with distant roots in Marxism and French wankiness (post-structuralism). Its birthplace was mainly American universities but the Brits and Aussies and canucks soon joined in. The Brits took over the whole trans debate and really got that going, the yanks continued with race. Bit like the way we divided the Normandy beaches for invasion

    But it has now spread way beyond anglophone academe into all areas of life - and also far beyond the English speaking world. It’s very discernible in Western Europe and even countries like India. And now it is spreading in the universities of Africa, Latin America and so on

    Asia seems fairly immune so far. We may all end up desperate to live in China or Singapore
    I thought India is in Asia.
    Wokeism started in India. "Untouchables" became known as "Dalits", tribal peoples became "Adivasis".
  • Options
    isam said:

    Turns out the councillor reprimanded by Owen Jones for being a “white, straight, man” is mixed race…


    Obama is also mixed race.
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,302
    edited November 2023
    isam said:

    Turns out the councillor reprimanded by Owen Jones for being a “white, straight, man” is mixed race…


    When Kelvin MacKenzie made this mistake, he was fired....

    I only found out today that Cole Palmer father is from St Kitts, due to social media viral hit of him singing to Caribbean Dance Hall.
  • Options
    noneoftheabovenoneoftheabove Posts: 20,885
    edited November 2023

    On a lighter note, this Eric Allie cartoon made me smile:
    https://www.gocomics.com/eric-allie/2023/11/13

    (For the record: I assume Gavin Newsom is running for president, with a dual strategy, first to be ready if Biden for some reason does not run in 2024, and second, preparing for 2028. As part of that strategy he is now trying to clean up some of California's problems, or at least cover them up temporarily, as he just did.)

    A strategist might suggest that in the event of a sudden Biden withdrawal the choice of VP might be quite rushed and it could be advantageous to already be seen as a very likely contender. The cheapest way to be viewed as such a contender if your not already VP, get a campaign or donor to back you persistently on Betfair.......
  • Options
    kinabalukinabalu Posts: 39,401
    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
    Lovely. Viva Multiculture
    Look, its important to be accurate when making such claims, regardless of whether the kids should be off school or not or the marches or multiculturalism are good things, otherwise there is no point debating.

    The process they suggest is explicitly not getting the support of headteachers as claimed, it is parents informing the school of unauthorised absence.
    Well, the parents are obviously supporting it, I don’t doubt the ‘community leaders’ are backing it, and the schools turn a blind eye because it’s more bother than it’s worth trying to tackle it - they know, and don’t try to stop it.

    What do you expect the headteacher to do? Go round at 7am to each house and kidnap the kids?

    If parents don't send kids to school its on the parents whether the kids are going on a march, skiing or sitting on the sofa watching homes under the hammer. Only if its persistent the schools can get involved.

    So no - it is also wrong to claim the schools are turning a blind eye, they have no power here.
    Well I didn’t actually claim it myself. I agree, the teachers at the schools generally aren’t Muslims so don’t share the agenda. But parts of Tower Hamlets are a parallel society.
    Pro Palestine is an Agenda that Muslims and only Muslims have?
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 20,183

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    @Andy_JS presents as a very reasonable, thoughtful man, whose views are various and hard to pin to a mast. Yet when I asked him what his worldview was he said: anti-woke. I thought that a very odd position. I'm not particularly woke, but to define one's entire worldview as 'anti-woke' seems a narrow outlook at best.
    Did you ask him to define the 'woke' he was anti?

    My guess is it will consist of a series of the most extreme, and rare, examples of stupidity that are so far round the political horseshoe as to be back on the other side. The sort of nonsense that no sane person supports and certainly not people like myself, yet I am often classed as 'woke' here on PB.

    As I said earlier, I find the whole 'woke' obsession rather curious and slightly disturbing.
    Yes, it's bloody odd.
  • Options
    AnabobazinaAnabobazina Posts: 20,183
    malcolmg said:

    carnforth said:

    Chris said:

    Has this been discussed?

    Michael Matheson says sons used iPad data to watch football
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67437534

    “Scottish Labour deputy leader said parents of teenagers would understand the scenario.”

    Ummm… no. If you have a work device you shouldn’t be letting your kids on it. Buy a personal device and let them use that.
    Although if the article I read is right, the kids didn’t use the device but used it as a hotspot to access the internet via their own devices.

    It’s the sort of sneaky thing I can imagine my own kids doing and, if it wasn’t for my device being utterly locked down regardless, I wouldn’t necessarily think to disable that function.

    But the lying when caught…/ nah.
    They wouldn't be able to use the hot-spot without having the password for the iPad to turn on the WiFi hot-spot, or, if it was already turned on, the password to access the hot-spot. On a government device.
    It's wrong on so many levels:

    Not changing the sim when instructed to
    Allowing someone else to access your device, or leaving it unattended where it could be accessed by someone else
    Not impressing on your family, especially your kids, that this is not an OK thing to do and a potentially sackable scenario
    Giving family members the password for the device and/or the password for the hot-spot
    Being oblivious to the unlawful access (is this credible?)
    Being incuurious about how the bill had been run up before putting in the expenses claim (again, is this credible?)
    Lying about it to your fellow party members, and Scottish parliament.

    The more that comes out, the worse it gets.
    It makes it seem like a more straightforward case of fraud by avoiding using data on his own account.

    It's pure stupidity because there's absolutely no need to run up such exhorbitant roaming bills these days with fairly ubiquitous public wifi and plenty of data plans with affordable, capped roaming.
    Morocco is not listed as a roaming destination, even for most "worldwide" roaming plans. And even on demand, where 89 countries are available for £5/day, my network does not list morocco:

    https://www.three.co.uk/support/roaming-and-international/roaming/about-the-data-passport
    It's £6.85 a day on Vodafone.

    https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/global-roaming#destinations
    What I find astonishing is why he thought it was OK to give his family unfettered access to a government owned Ipad.
    Seems like a storm in a teacup. His lads used it to watch the football. He didn't think too much about it. He was charged seven large by some chiselling phone network. Move on.
    Feck off you absolute tit, it is my taxes he tried to steal to pay for his £11K illicit claim. Should b esacked for stupidity as well as criminal activity.
    Have a nice evening yourself, skipper.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,878
    edited November 2023
    Benefit claimants not seeking work to face mandatory work placements

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67439675

    An interesting idea from Hunt. Cunningly, it conveys the impression that most benefit claimants are skiving, whereas of course they are mostly: 1. Retired (12.5m), 2. Disabled or sick (2.2m), 3. Working but in low pay (2.1m)

    Anyhow, Hunt's idea seems to be concentrating on the 300,000 who fail to get a job after 18 months. For many of them HMG finding them a work placement would be potentially helpful.

    I just wonder where they are going to find willing employers to offer these placements; quite a lot of these long-term UC claimants no sensible employer would offer a job too, in my experience.
  • Options
    viewcodeviewcode Posts: 19,083
    edited November 2023

    148grss said:

    Sticking with anti-Semitism. Fascism doesn’t have to be anti-Semitic but it has to have a group that perform the purpose that Nazis used Jews for - a group of people who are a threat, an out group that they paint as both weak and strong, etc. Spanish and Italian fascism, whilst a still anti-Semitic, were much more concerned about the enemy within (the leftist) and people from the colonies (Ethiopians) then Jewish people. So anti-Semitism itself isn’t inherent to fascism, but an out group that performs that societal function for the fascist cause, is. Hence why you could still argue Japan, ancient Rome, or even ancient Sparta were fascistic, despite different cultural and historical contexts.

    Using the Umberto Eco list, wokeism is a fascist ideology:

    1. The cult of tradition - Wokeness imagines an idealised pre-capitalist, pre-colonialist society
    2. The rejection of modernism - Wokeness sees capitalism as the beginning of modern depravity
    3. The cult of action for action’s sake - It's not enough not to be racist - you must be actively anti-racist
    4. Disagreement is treason - See the way TERFs are treated
    5. Fear of difference - Wokeism is threatened by cultural forces it defines as reactionary
    6. Appeal to social frustration - Inequality is blamed on oppression
    8. The obsession with a plot - Wokeism sees white supremacist power structures at work everywhere
    9. The enemy is both strong and weak - Those with white privilege simultaneously hold all the power and suffer from "fragility"
    10. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy - "Silence is violence"
    11. Contempt for the weak - The traditional working class are demonised
    12. Everybody is educated to become a hero - Revolutionaries are idolised
    13. Machismo and weaponry - Terrorism against those coded as oppressors is glorified or excused
    14. Selective populism - Wokeism uses emotional appeals to the people, but only the right kind of people
    15. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak - Wokeism redefines language to suit its ideology
    While PB wanks itself up to its usual ad absurdum froth, I couldn't help but combine my own list, thus:

    Why Prince Charles/King Charles III is obviously a fascist

    1. The cult of tradition - Obvious.
    2. The rejection of modernism - See Poundbury.
    3. The cult of action for action’s sake - You have to call him sir. And approach from the front. And bow/curtsey.
    4. Disagreement is treason - BY DEFINITION.
    5. Fear of difference - Dislikes pens in the wrong place. BASTARD PENS!
    6. Appeal to social frustration - Various charity work for the poor.
    8. The obsession with a plot - Obsessed with modernising the monarchy.
    9. The enemy is both strong and weak - Architects. Their work is rubbish. And everywhere.
    10. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy - He is the head of all the armed forces.
    11. Contempt for the weak - He has lots of medals. You don't. Peasant.
    12. Everybody is educated to become a hero - Prizes history and heroic tales.
    13. Machismo and weaponry - He is the head of all the armed forces.
    14. Selective populism - Has massive appeal to Royalists. There are plates with his head on it. Even Hitler didn't do that.
    15. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak - Speaks in a convoluted syntax not easily explicable to the uninitiated. EG "carbuncle".

    Next week. Why hamsters are fascist. BASTARDS HAMSTERS!
  • Options
    nico679nico679 Posts: 5,076
    The opposition should really be making the point that if the Rwanda plan fails as a deterrent then the backlog could run into hundreds of thousands .

    If you don’t process new claims in the UK and rely on Rwanda then that means the vast majority of asylum seekers will be stuck in the UK . Rwanda can process only a few hundred cases a year .
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 41,028
    edited November 2023
    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
    Lovely. Viva Multiculture
    Look, its important to be accurate when making such claims, regardless of whether the kids should be off school or not or the marches or multiculturalism are good things, otherwise there is no point debating.

    The process they suggest is explicitly not getting the support of headteachers as claimed, it is parents informing the school of unauthorised absence.
    Well, the parents are obviously supporting it, I don’t doubt the ‘community leaders’ are backing it, and the schools turn a blind eye because it’s more bother than it’s worth trying to tackle it - they know, and don’t try to stop it.

    What do you expect the headteacher to do? Go round at 7am to each house and kidnap the kids?

    If parents don't send kids to school its on the parents whether the kids are going on a march, skiing or sitting on the sofa watching homes under the hammer. Only if its persistent the schools can get involved.

    So no - it is also wrong to claim the schools are turning a blind eye, they have no power here.
    Well I didn’t actually claim it myself. I agree, the teachers at the schools generally aren’t Muslims so don’t share the agenda. But parts of Tower Hamlets are a parallel society.
    Pro Palestine is an Agenda that Muslims and only Muslims have?
    It’s an opinion held more commonly by Muslims I’d say. Let’s not shadowbox, you know what I think and I can tell what you’re lining up
  • Options
    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,302
    edited November 2023

    Benefit claimants not seeking work to face mandatory work placements

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67439675

    An interesting idea from Hunt. Cunningly, it conveys the impression that most benefit claimants are skiving, whereas of course they are mostly: 1. Retired (12.5m), 2. Disabled or sick (2.2m), 3. Working but in low pay (2.1m)

    Anyhow, Hunt's idea seems to be concentrating on the 300,000 who fail to get a job after 18 months. For many of them HMG finding them a work placement would be potentially helpful.

    I just wonder where they are going to find willing employers to offer these placements; quite a lot of these long-term UC claimants no sensible employer would offer a job too, in my experience.

    This is also always the problem with the policy Labour that comes around every year or so, where they promise a guaranteed job to all long-term unemployed....

    And when they ban zero-hours, it will make it worse, as employers can't trial people for a few months with no obligation.
  • Options
    kyf_100kyf_100 Posts: 3,971

    Good grief. The obsession of those on the right with 'woke' whatever that is, is truly something to behold.

    It's akin to McCarthy's 'reds under the bed' or the C17th fear of 'popery'.

    Perhaps, but no worse than lefties who claim that all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish" rather than practical people who might notice that Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall..
    1. I don't see many any lefties on here claiming that 'all people who vote Tory are "evil" and "selfish"' but I see a lots of PB righties banging on about 'woke',

    2. 'Labour politicians are largely shite and (even by comparison with the Tories), couldn't run the proverbial whelk stall' Well, it's a view. But I think when the electorate consider the period 1997 to 2010 (29.5% real GDP growth) with 2010 to 2023 (21.6% real GDP growth) they might conclude the whelk stall was rather better run under Labour.
    @Andy_JS presents as a very reasonable, thoughtful man, whose views are various and hard to pin to a mast. Yet when I asked him what his worldview was he said: anti-woke. I thought that a very odd position. I'm not particularly woke, but to define one's entire worldview as 'anti-woke' seems a narrow outlook at best.
    Did you ask him to define the 'woke' he was anti?

    My guess is it will consist of a series of the most extreme, and rare, examples of stupidity that are so far round the political horseshoe as to be back on the other side. The sort of nonsense that no sane person supports and certainly not people like myself, yet I am often classed as 'woke' here on PB.

    As I said earlier, I find the whole 'woke' obsession rather curious and slightly disturbing.
    Since some of you here are fond of the famous Gerald the Gorilla sketch, I thought I'd share this bit of rot I came across while searching for a link to the sketch to send to a friend who'd never seen it. It is, at last count, the third highest search result in Google for the sketch:

    https://www.diverseeducators.co.uk/is-the-sketch-gerald-the-gorilla-on-not-the-nine-oclock-news-racist/

    TL;DR, it features a man dressed as a gorilla, which it argues is a metaphor for black people, and when you show a man in a gorilla suit it is *always* a metaphor for black people, whether intended or not.

    The article references critical race theory numerous times, as well as their 'outrage' at the sketch.

    I would politely suggest that anyone who sees black people whenever they see a gorilla might be a tad racist themselves, and to paraphrase Freud, sometimes a gorilla is just a gorilla.

    Never mind the fact that Not the Nine O'Clock News was also responsible for the Constable Savage sketch, a pretty searing indictment of the institutional racism of the police at the time.

    But that is the woke mind virus. *Everything* must be viewed through the lens of critical race theory, which is really just Habermas's idea of power structures rewritten to be about the colour of your skin. Nothing else matters. Just victim and victimiser. A binary worldview where one is either a victim or not based on an arbitrary definition of "privilege".

    It's worth noting that the link I shared is also hawking diversity and inclusion training courses.

    To your point: Why are people so obsessed with woke? Because it's a parasitical entity spreading throughout schools, offices and governmental institutions of the land. It is a cancer that is spreading and metastasising, the end result of which as we are currently seeing is the rise of antisemitism and the "othering" of Jews, as pointed out by Bari Weiss:

    https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/end-dei-bari-weiss-jews

    "Woke" is a cancer, and it's spreading. Little wonder people are so obsessed with the spread.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,878

    148grss said:

    Sticking with anti-Semitism. Fascism doesn’t have to be anti-Semitic but it has to have a group that perform the purpose that Nazis used Jews for - a group of people who are a threat, an out group that they paint as both weak and strong, etc. Spanish and Italian fascism, whilst a still anti-Semitic, were much more concerned about the enemy within (the leftist) and people from the colonies (Ethiopians) then Jewish people. So anti-Semitism itself isn’t inherent to fascism, but an out group that performs that societal function for the fascist cause, is. Hence why you could still argue Japan, ancient Rome, or even ancient Sparta were fascistic, despite different cultural and historical contexts.

    Using the Umberto Eco list, wokeism is a fascist ideology:

    1. The cult of tradition - Wokeness imagines an idealised pre-capitalist, pre-colonialist society
    2. The rejection of modernism - Wokeness sees capitalism as the beginning of modern depravity
    3. The cult of action for action’s sake - It's not enough not to be racist - you must be actively anti-racist
    4. Disagreement is treason - See the way TERFs are treated
    5. Fear of difference - Wokeism is threatened by cultural forces it defines as reactionary
    6. Appeal to social frustration - Inequality is blamed on oppression
    8. The obsession with a plot - Wokeism sees white supremacist power structures at work everywhere
    9. The enemy is both strong and weak - Those with white privilege simultaneously hold all the power and suffer from "fragility"
    10. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy - "Silence is violence"
    11. Contempt for the weak - The traditional working class are demonised
    12. Everybody is educated to become a hero - Revolutionaries are idolised
    13. Machismo and weaponry - Terrorism against those coded as oppressors is glorified or excused
    14. Selective populism - Wokeism uses emotional appeals to the people, but only the right kind of people
    15. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak - Wokeism redefines language to suit its ideology
    I see you are not one of the obsessed. Oh no, not at all.
  • Options
    I know what botox is but what are OnlyFans and Sephora?

    Can I google it on my work laptop?

    Ethics report: George Santos used campaign funds to pay for OnlyFans, Botox, Sephora

    https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1725179864787956110
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 27,056
    edited November 2023
    Cicero said:

    It has been a little while since I updated how the Russian war in Ukraine changes things in Estonia. Partly, I am more busy than usual. and also, having met with many Ukrainian refugees and hearing their stories, I simply lack the balance to be able to convey anything objectively. The scale of the crimes of the Russian armed forces is simply appalling and I refuse to engage with some of more cynical here. As the level of corruption, bribery, subversion and blackmail waged by Russia against the political systems of the West grows more obvious, I have hit a point that I hold the useful idiots in even more contempt than I do those hit with Kompromat.

    There are growing economic and political problems for Estonia from the war, the latest being the Russian attempt to send hundreds of Somalis over the Finnish and Estonian frontiers. This will now, combined with "planned maintenance" of the road bridge at Narva, lead to the effective shut down of cross-border transit. It comes on top of the "plausibly deniable" attacks on the gas interconnector with Finland and the data links to Finland and Sweden. Daily attacks come via the internet and damaging news stories are leaked so that trust in business or politics here might be damaged. Much is difficult to confirm or deny, so a miasma pervades the local media.

    Despite all of this, and the continuing blood curdling threats from the neo-fascist Russian media, Estonia continues to cope with the difficulties. Although the state of the economy- with highest inflation in the EU and the deepest recession- is still a serious concern, the stolid Estonian character simply remembers that it was worse in 2009 and plans for more difficult days to come.

    More to the point, there is a growing sense, if not of expectation, then at least of hope. The Ukrainian bridgehead across the Dnipro and the fire control over Crimea is creating ever more difficulties for the Russian occupation. The grinding Russian offensive has seen utterly staggering Russian casualties, to the point that when this war is over, the Russians should charge their own generals with war crimes. The waste of human life is simply unbelievable, and if the Russian troops are generally totally out of it on drugs or samogon then perhaps that is a mercy. In 2 years Russia has lost double the casualties of the United States in their 20 year war in Vietnam. In fact the casualties are in the same league as the First World War battles of Verdun or the Somme.

    Yet there is a growing sense´that something big is coming.

    Rumours speak of rebellion in the Republics and breakdown at the front. The regime is failing. The tide is turning. So, despite the continuing depression, there is, astonishingly, a sense of hope.

    Hope oft comes when unlooked for. As the first snows fall, the Estonians are more determined than ever: Ukraine will not fall.

    Thanks for the report. It's good that the Russian attempt to cause an energy crisis in European countries has mostly failed.
  • Options
    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,878

    Benefit claimants not seeking work to face mandatory work placements

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67439675

    An interesting idea from Hunt. Cunningly, it conveys the impression that most benefit claimants are skiving, whereas of course they are mostly: 1. Retired (12.5m), 2. Disabled or sick (2.2m), 3. Working but in low pay (2.1m)

    Anyhow, Hunt's idea seems to be concentrating on the 300,000 who fail to get a job after 18 months. For many of them HMG finding them a work placement would be potentially helpful.

    I just wonder where they are going to find willing employers to offer these placements; quite a lot of these long-term UC claimants no sensible employer would offer a job too, in my experience.

    This is also always the problem with the policy Labour that comes around every year or so, where they promise a guaranteed job to all long-term unemployed....

    And when they ban zero-hours, it will make it worse, as employers can't trial people for a few months with no obligation.
    I agree, it's a tough one. Wish I knew the answer.

    Fewer drugs on the street would help massively imho. So many of these 'unemployable' people seem to have been screwed up by drugs.
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,207
    viewcode said:

    148grss said:

    Sticking with anti-Semitism. Fascism doesn’t have to be anti-Semitic but it has to have a group that perform the purpose that Nazis used Jews for - a group of people who are a threat, an out group that they paint as both weak and strong, etc. Spanish and Italian fascism, whilst a still anti-Semitic, were much more concerned about the enemy within (the leftist) and people from the colonies (Ethiopians) then Jewish people. So anti-Semitism itself isn’t inherent to fascism, but an out group that performs that societal function for the fascist cause, is. Hence why you could still argue Japan, ancient Rome, or even ancient Sparta were fascistic, despite different cultural and historical contexts.

    Using the Umberto Eco list, wokeism is a fascist ideology:

    1. The cult of tradition - Wokeness imagines an idealised pre-capitalist, pre-colonialist society
    2. The rejection of modernism - Wokeness sees capitalism as the beginning of modern depravity
    3. The cult of action for action’s sake - It's not enough not to be racist - you must be actively anti-racist
    4. Disagreement is treason - See the way TERFs are treated
    5. Fear of difference - Wokeism is threatened by cultural forces it defines as reactionary
    6. Appeal to social frustration - Inequality is blamed on oppression
    8. The obsession with a plot - Wokeism sees white supremacist power structures at work everywhere
    9. The enemy is both strong and weak - Those with white privilege simultaneously hold all the power and suffer from "fragility"
    10. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy - "Silence is violence"
    11. Contempt for the weak - The traditional working class are demonised
    12. Everybody is educated to become a hero - Revolutionaries are idolised
    13. Machismo and weaponry - Terrorism against those coded as oppressors is glorified or excused
    14. Selective populism - Wokeism uses emotional appeals to the people, but only the right kind of people
    15. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak - Wokeism redefines language to suit its ideology
    While PB wanks itself up to its usual ad absurdum froth, I couldn't help but combine my own list, thus:

    Why Prince Charles/King Charles III is obviously a fascist

    1. The cult of tradition - Obvious.
    2. The rejection of modernism - See Poundbury.
    3. The cult of action for action’s sake - You have to call him sir. And approach from the front. And bow/curtsey.
    4. Disagreement is treason - BY DEFINITION.
    5. Fear of difference - Dislikes pens in the wrong place. BASTARD PENS!
    6. Appeal to social frustration - Various charity work for the poor.
    8. The obsession with a plot - Obsessed with modernising the monarchy.
    9. The enemy is both strong and weak - Architects. Their work is rubbish. And everywhere.
    10. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy - He is the head of all the armed forces.
    11. Contempt for the weak - He has lots of medals. You don't. Peasant.
    12. Everybody is educated to become a hero - Prizes history and heroic tales.
    13. Machismo and weaponry - He is the head of all the armed forces.
    14. Selective populism - Has massive appeal to Royalists. There are plates with his head on it. Even Hitler didn't do that.
    15. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak - Speaks in a convoluted syntax not easily explicable to the uninitiated. EG "carbuncle".

    Next week. Why hamsters are fascist. BASTARDS HAMSTERS!
    It could be that @148grss's approach of seeing how many items on the list he can make to fit isn't the best way of thinking about the subject...
  • Options
    viewcodeviewcode Posts: 19,083

    Benefit claimants not seeking work to face mandatory work placements

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67439675

    An interesting idea from Hunt. Cunningly, it conveys the impression that most benefit claimants are skiving, whereas of course they are mostly: 1. Retired (12.5m), 2. Disabled or sick (2.2m), 3. Working but in low pay (2.1m)

    Anyhow, Hunt's idea seems to be concentrating on the 300,000 who fail to get a job after 18 months. For many of them HMG finding them a work placement would be potentially helpful.

    I just wonder where they are going to find willing employers to offer these placements; quite a lot of these long-term UC claimants no sensible employer would offer a job too, in my experience.

    Everybody to be assigned a job. Massive government expenditure to keep the economy going. State control of minutiae... oh god, why don't we just go full Soviet and get it over with? At least the USSR built houses and put people in orbit. We can't even get a Reliant Robin into LEO.

    (All together now. The Government literally does not know how to run a country. Not in a partisan or silly way. They just don't know. They are pressing buttons at random at this point.)
  • Options
    isam said:

    kinabalu said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    Stop The War info/template letter for parents to send to their children’s school saying they won’t be in today as they’re marching for Palestine

    “ How to organise a school strike:

    Gather a group of dedicated parents/teenagers in your area and create a WhatsApp group.
    Fill out this Google form and we will try and put you in touch with others in your area.
    Pick a central location in your area to have a rally on Friday morning.
    Create an announcements WhatsApp group with admin-only posting rights. Add other organisers as admins, and use a join link to share widely so others in the area can join it. Set the group description (template below) with the details of your strike, and use this group to let people know about the details of the strike and to share the resources below.
    Fill out this Google form to let us know about your school strike so we can help you with a graphic & poster, advertise it nationally including making a Facebook event for you, put you in touch with local activists and help/advise with anything else.”



    https://docs.google.com/document/d/1B_QAZuqwClKKjAZqYbMdGaWNl47N8S-hGDiZsTTeMBE/mobilebasic

    https://www.stopwar.org.uk/events/school-strike-for-palestine/

    So from your own link, kids taking unauthorised absence. That does not require the support of headteachers and local leaders as claimed at all, simply parents, or perhaps even just kids.

    "We’ve been assured by those working in schools that whilst this would count as an unauthorised absence, a child can have up to four days in a row unauthorised and would need 10 in a short amount of time to be fined. Please do check your own school policy."
    Lovely. Viva Multiculture
    Look, its important to be accurate when making such claims, regardless of whether the kids should be off school or not or the marches or multiculturalism are good things, otherwise there is no point debating.

    The process they suggest is explicitly not getting the support of headteachers as claimed, it is parents informing the school of unauthorised absence.
    Well, the parents are obviously supporting it, I don’t doubt the ‘community leaders’ are backing it, and the schools turn a blind eye because it’s more bother than it’s worth trying to tackle it - they know, and don’t try to stop it.

    What do you expect the headteacher to do? Go round at 7am to each house and kidnap the kids?

    If parents don't send kids to school its on the parents whether the kids are going on a march, skiing or sitting on the sofa watching homes under the hammer. Only if its persistent the schools can get involved.

    So no - it is also wrong to claim the schools are turning a blind eye, they have no power here.
    Well I didn’t actually claim it myself. I agree, the teachers at the schools generally aren’t Muslims so don’t share the agenda. But parts of Tower Hamlets are a parallel society.
    Pro Palestine is an Agenda that Muslims and only Muslims have?
    It’s an opinion held more commonly by Muslims I’d say. Let’s not shadowbox, you know what I think and I can tell what you’re lining up
    Don't look at me, I'm not circumcised :lol:
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,086



    Parliamentarian.

    Father.

    Leader.

    Revolutionary.
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 92,086
    He sounds nice.

    [George] Santos told the following lies about his background during his campaign: He was a successful businessman, grandson of Holocaust survivors, graduated from Baruch College, had an MBA from NYU, worked for Citi Group and Goldman Sachs, owned multiple properties, was the beneficiary of a trust worth millions, and that his mother died as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack.
    https://www.meidastouch.com/news/ethics-committee-findings-spell-doom-for-george-santos

    Honestly, he should be a leading contender for the Presidential nomination based on this report, at least he's not old!
  • Options
    CarnyxCarnyx Posts: 40,039

    I know what botox is but what are OnlyFans and Sephora?

    Can I google it on my work laptop?

    Ethics report: George Santos used campaign funds to pay for OnlyFans, Botox, Sephora

    https://twitter.com/Phil_Lewis_/status/1725179864787956110

    This may or may not be useful with Yule coming up:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephora

    Dunno about OnlyFans though the glimmer I have garnered by coming across odd allusions makes me suspect that one or two of the MaleOnlines on PB know all about it.
This discussion has been closed.