Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
The Cummings story ended in London yesterday
Really, arguably it made the events in London possible.
Now that is utter nonsense
If Cummings had not happened, yesteday would still have happened with the outrage over the murder by US police of yet another black man
Black lives matter
The govt lost its authority to enforce its own rules.
And what has that to do with yesterdays protest
The govt would have responded differently if Cummings had not happened.
Rubbish and you know it.
Government and police aren't breaking it up because they fear another 2011 riots situation nationwide.
Cummings isn't helpful so far as lockdown compliance goes but the people at the protest won't have noticed or cared about him.
I doubt we would have seen the scale of the protests during the first four weeks of the lockdown. Part of the change is lockdown fatigue, but the fact that the rules are demonstrably less important to the government than they were is also part of it.
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I agree.
And, yet, you have articles published in the Guardian saying that Britain invented racism, we are responsible for its incubation in America and are just as bad in every way.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisors in HR departments around the country are echoing this absolutely with everyone nodding along like donkeys.
We all secretly know it's been hugely overblown: we're just nervous of commenting as such in a highly-emotionally charged situation.
I think unconscious bias is a well-proven phenomenom which we pretty much all exhibit. The shocking conclusion of that is that, yes, we are all at least a little bit racist even though we don't intend to be.
Acknowledging that is an important step to resolving it imo.
I have a very conscious set of biases. Oxford and Imperial academic work should be presumed to be shit.
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
You miss my point
The way HMG deals with the job loses and economic armageddon will define it, not Cummings, Duffield, Kinnock and now Gardiner's breaches of covid regs
Cummings actual breach was relatively trivial and would have been old news with an apology within a week. It was the attempted coverup and then the brazening it out that stuck in voters’ craw. “Barnard Castle” will be a hackneyed punch line akin to “tired and emotional” in years to come.
I disagree, in 4 years time nobody will remember Cummings
Nah, we all remember Alastair Campbell.
He has a daily breakdown on tv these days
Very upset that you should use mental health problems to make a cheap joke.
Not sure our plod will be doing this to anybody if they decide to go on the Tube without one. Piers Corbyn is definitely going to be one of the first on the Tube in a couple of weeks without a mask isn't he.
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
You miss my point
The way HMG deals with the job loses and economic armageddon will define it, not Cummings, Duffield, Kinnock and now Gardiner's breaches of covid regs
Opposition MPs are irrelevant because they don't make the rules. The economic trouble will define it, but the Cummings will remain important it defines what the govt were up to at the critical moment.
Nah, as people are given their cards they're not going to be thinking about a bloke who drove to Durham, as much as you'd like to think so.
As somebody pointed out earlier, we've already moved on from black lives to Madeleine McCann, Cummings is fish and chip paper
Yesterdays poll showed just 7% (yes 7%) said Cummings had affected their behaviour
Is that out of a hundred people flouting the lockdown laws seven were there because of Cummings, or is that out of a hundred people seven were out flouting the lockdown laws and ninety three were obediently inside?
Like 58 were inside, 37 outside anyway, and 7 outside because of Cummings. something like that
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
You miss my point
The way HMG deals with the job loses and economic armageddon will define it, not Cummings, Duffield, Kinnock and now Gardiner's breaches of covid regs
Cummings actual breach was relatively trivial and would have been old news with an apology within a week. It was the attempted coverup and then the brazening it out that stuck in voters’ craw. “Barnard Castle” will be a hackneyed punch line akin to “tired and emotional” in years to come.
I disagree, in 4 years time nobody will remember Cummings
Nah, we all remember Alastair Campbell.
He has a daily breakdown on tv these days
Very upset that you should use mental health problems to make a cheap joke.
He released a video of himself last week dressed up as a veteran, at best it was cringeworthy. Not sure if that's down to mental health problems or being a complete dick, I'm sure he suffers from both
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
The Cummings story ended in London yesterday
Really, arguably it made the events in London possible.
Now that is utter nonsense
If Cummings had not happened, yesteday would still have happened with the outrage over the murder by US police of yet another black man
Black lives matter
The govt lost its authority to enforce its own rules.
And what has that to do with yesterdays protest
The govt would have responded differently if Cummings had not happened.
Yes, I think so too. Choosing to keep Cummings has led to a disintegration of their public health policy. Lots of relaxations to chuck as dead cats on the table, while simultaneously clamping down on international travel and making mask wearing compulsory. Its a Coronashambles.
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
You miss my point
The way HMG deals with the job loses and economic armageddon will define it, not Cummings, Duffield, Kinnock and now Gardiner's breaches of covid regs
Cummings actual breach was relatively trivial and would have been old news with an apology within a week. It was the attempted coverup and then the brazening it out that stuck in voters’ craw. “Barnard Castle” will be a hackneyed punch line akin to “tired and emotional” in years to come.
I disagree, in 4 years time nobody will remember Cummings
Nah, we all remember Alastair Campbell.
He has a daily breakdown on tv these days
Very upset that you should use mental health problems to make a cheap joke.
That is not a joke
He is ranting almost daily on tv and losing it most everytime
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
You miss my point
The way HMG deals with the job loses and economic armageddon will define it, not Cummings, Duffield, Kinnock and now Gardiner's breaches of covid regs
Opposition MPs are irrelevant because they don't make the rules. The economic trouble will define it, but the Cummings will remain important it defines what the govt were up to at the critical moment.
Nah, as people are given their cards they're not going to be thinking about a bloke who drove to Durham, as much as you'd like to think so.
As somebody pointed out earlier, we've already moved on from black lives to Madeleine McCann, Cummings is fish and chip paper
Yesterdays poll showed just 7% (yes 7%) said Cummings had affected their behaviour
Is that out of a hundred people flouting the lockdown laws seven were there because of Cummings, or is that out of a hundred people seven were out flouting the lockdown laws and ninety three were obediently inside?
Like 58 were inside, 37 outside anyway, and 7 outside because of Cummings. something like that
Thanks. So 16% of people outdoors due to Cummings.
Almost £7bn has been raised to immunise 300 million children at a virtual global vaccine summit hosted by the UK. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said up to eight million lives would be saved as a result of the funds pledged at the Gavi vaccine summit on Thursday.
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Too late for that, most people are oblivious to what we face. They've had 2 months paid leave, happy as Larry.
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Too late for that, most people are oblivious to what we face. They've had 2 months paid leave, happy as Larry.
I expect big loses at Airbus in the next few weeks
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
By using the phrases “despots” and “potentates” you make a point yourself. Read William Dalrymple’s latest on how the later Mughal emperors we’re significantly preferable to the privations inflicted by the East India Company. Are you seriously suggesting that, for example, the Australian Aboriginal population benefitted from being conquered by us?
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
You miss my point
The way HMG deals with the job loses and economic armageddon will define it, not Cummings, Duffield, Kinnock and now Gardiner's breaches of covid regs
Cummings actual breach was relatively trivial and would have been old news with an apology within a week. It was the attempted coverup and then the brazening it out that stuck in voters’ craw. “Barnard Castle” will be a hackneyed punch line akin to “tired and emotional” in years to come.
I disagree, in 4 years time nobody will remember Cummings
Nah, we all remember Alastair Campbell.
He has a daily breakdown on tv these days
Very upset that you should use mental health problems to make a cheap joke.
That is not a joke
He is ranting almost daily on tv and losing it most everytime
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I agree.
And, yet, you have articles published in the Guardian saying that Britain invented racism, we are responsible for its incubation in America and are just as bad in every way.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisors in HR departments around the country are echoing this absolutely with everyone nodding along like donkeys.
We all secretly know it's been hugely overblown: we're just nervous of commenting as such in a highly-emotionally charged situation.
I think unconscious bias is a well-proven phenomenom which we pretty much all exhibit. The shocking conclusion of that is that, yes, we are all at least a little bit racist even though we don't intend to be.
Acknowledging that is an important step to resolving it imo.
Hmm. The Implicit Association Test that is at the heart of unconscious bias (as in the theory that was published in 1998, happy to supply more details if needed) does not stack up - the results are inconsistent and unreliable.
That an entire industry has sprouted from this says more about the industry and less about the validity of the underpinning science.
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Is Crewe Red Wall? I thought that was places which had been Labour since WW2? Wakefield, Leigh, Blyth, Bishop Auckland and similar. I seem to remember Crewe changing hands a few times. Indeed it was a shock Labour gain in 2017. Although the rest of your point is very germain. More than any other group it was the C2s who went Tory. Aston Martin laid off loads yesterday too. Can't see their high skills being content in care homes or call centres.
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Even under the tariff plan chicken and beef imported from the USA will still be cheaper than that produced in the UK.
Amazing how quickly the UK folded . Time to order the gimp suit !
So we're going to get cheaper food is what you're saying?
Good. That's what the Kiwis did - abolish tariffs, abolish subsidies, told their farmers to make do without any of that. And they're still exporters.
The food will be cheaper because it will not meet current animal care standards. UK farmers will clearly have to have the standards they work to lowered as well if they are to compete. My guess is that this will not be popular even if it does lower prices a little. We shall see. Luckily - like the people inflicting this on us - I will still be able to buy the good stuff for my family.
Or UK farmers will maintain current standards and consumers can make the choice to buy Red Tractor approved products. Just like we already can do.
I buy Free Range eggs and Red Tractor food even though cheaper caged eggs and cheaper lower standard food is available. People can make a free choice in a free society.
You won’t be able to make that choice because the US will insist that food cannot be labelled so as to allow consumers to know where their meat, for instance, comes from.
I am finding this argument very amusing because clearly no one has actually gone and looked at US law.
Under the "Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002" almost all fresh produce - including chicken - must carry a Mandatory Country of Origin label. This has been reaffirmed by several amendments to the acts - the most recent in 2016.
The really funny bit is that it was Canada who took the US to the WTO to claim that the mCOOL laws were counter to free trade and should be outlawed. The Canadians won as far as Beef and Pork are concerned but the list of foodstuffs that have to carry the mCOOL under US Federal law currently includes fresh fruits, raw vegetables, fish, shellfish, muscle cuts and ground lamb, chicken, goat, peanuts, pecans, ginseng, and macadamia nuts.
So no, the US will not be insisting that there cannot be Country of Origin labels. In fact their own laws make it mandatory.
FPT: In the UNITED STATES. Not overseas.
There is a principle of reciprocation in FTAs. If the US have COOL laws then any country with an FTA with them can have the same.
I'm not sure that's true. In the United States, auto vehicles have to have "percentage made in the US" on the sticker in the car showroom. Yet, when the US was negotiating with Australia, they fought to get a similar provision removed.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Would it be possible to have an empire that wasn't racist or bigoted?
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
So you're saying British rule was just as bad as African and Mughal despostism?
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Is Crewe Red Wall? I thought that was places which had been Labour since WW2? Wakefield, Leigh, Blyth, Bishop Auckland and similar. I seem to remember Crewe changing hands a few times. Indeed it was a shock Labour gain in 2017. Although the rest of your point is very germain. More than any other group it was the C2s who went Tory. Aston Martin laid off loads yesterday too. Can't see their high skills being content in care homes or call centres.
Well two things. Yes the Tories won Crewe and Nantwich in 2008, but that was mainly due to Timpson, and a terrible Labour campaign, which involved insulting / mocking Bentley. The Timpson family are extremely well known and liked in the area. They are basically seen as good'uns, very much a personal vote at the time.
Before that it had been Labour since 1945, as a standalone Crewe seat and then as C&N.
Nantwich is a very different place to Crewe. Crewe is definitely Red Wall, working class Brexity. Nantwich is much more middle class.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Not sure the 500 Nations really gave a damn about such moral equivalences. They were more concerned about being wiped out and having their lands stolen. The story of European colonialism the world over.
There’s traditionally a principle of reciprocity in extradition treaties too but the UK–US extradition treaty of 2003, implemented by the UK by the Extradition Act 2003, is anything but even handed. It allows the extradition of UK nationals who have committed a breach of US law in the UK - but there is no reciprocal right. I am not convinced that the inequality of bargaining power that led to that outcome in an extradition treaty will not be repeated in any FTA leading to similar asymmetries.
Nonetheless the Guardian-reading classes keep repeating, as though it were 100% guaranteed truth, that the USA wants to ban us having labels showing country of origin, as part of any trade deal.
Well, maybe they do. Let's see the evidence. Citation needed, as the saying goes.
(And please let's not repost the completely bonkers Jon Stone tweet from earlier today, in which he demolished his own argument by referencing a US text which showed nothing of the sort).
I don't think they do.
The US has been very keen to prevent labelling being used as a non-tariff barrier. However, to date this has mostly in regard to preventing the labelling of GM products. (There have also been some cases about high fructose corn syrup labelling IIRC.)
incidentally, in my Trust 10% of tested staff are coming back antibody positive. I don't think all 5000 have yet been processed, but that fits with the 7% rate in the national sample. We are maybe 1/6th of the way to herd immunity.
incidentally, in my Trust 10% of tested staff are coming back antibody positive. I don't think all 5000 have yet been processed, but that fits with the 7% rate in the national sample. We are maybe 1/6th of the way to herd immunity.
Another colleague of mine down badly with it today. I shared a room with her last week.
Does 10% of and NHS Trust's staff being antibody positive really equate to 7% overall? I'd have thought NHS Trust staff were much more at risk of exposure than the general population.
I have lost tack of the situation with antibody tests - are these now widely available?
@Foxy is not in a "hotspot" like London, so 10% in Leicester medics may be about right.
Just noticed Sky News has blanked out the photo of the suspect in the McCann on each and every front page which shows it
The papers are seeking information so why have Sky acted as a censor
BBC guy who tweets the front pages says he won't show them, because of German laws on identifying the suspect. Sky News is available online and often shown across Europe, so I presume a similar reason.
Just noticed Sky News has blanked out the photo of the suspect in the McCann on each and every front page which shows it
The papers are seeking information so why have Sky acted as a censor
According to Germany privacy laws his identity can't be revealed, although I don't think that applies in the UK, which is why other papers have published his full name and photo.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
So you're saying British rule was just as bad as African and Mughal despostism?
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Would it be possible to have an empire that wasn't racist or bigoted?
I think not. Racial (and class) superiority is intrinsic to Imperial conquest.
These things are complex at the granular level. Some of my own ancestors were rendered landless by the Highland clearances, but settled in the South Seas on lands cleared for them.
"Little fleas have smaller fleas, on their backs to bite 'em, and they in turn have smaller fleas, and so on, ad finitum."
There’s traditionally a principle of reciprocity in extradition treaties too but the UK–US extradition treaty of 2003, implemented by the UK by the Extradition Act 2003, is anything but even handed. It allows the extradition of UK nationals who have committed a breach of US law in the UK - but there is no reciprocal right. I am not convinced that the inequality of bargaining power that led to that outcome in an extradition treaty will not be repeated in any FTA leading to similar asymmetries.
Nonetheless the Guardian-reading classes keep repeating, as though it were 100% guaranteed truth, that the USA wants to ban us having labels showing country of origin, as part of any trade deal.
Well, maybe they do. Let's see the evidence. Citation needed, as the saying goes.
(And please let's not repost the completely bonkers Jon Stone tweet from earlier today, in which he demolished his own argument by referencing a US text which showed nothing of the sort).
I don't think they do.
The US has been very keen to prevent labelling being used as a non-tariff barrier. However, to date this has mostly in regard to preventing the labelling of GM products. (There have also been some cases about high fructose corn syrup labelling IIRC.)
That in itself is interesting as Connecticut now has specific GM labelling on all its food products. Again it would be interesting to see how that spreads.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
So you're saying British rule was just as bad as African and Mughal despostism?
He didn't say they were 'just as bad' though even if our rule was a bit better or a bit worse, as far as empires go, it doesn't make treating ours as though it is a unique event or history, as often seems to happen, less silly. It's a weird kind of reverse british exceptionalism. It doesn't make negative imperialist legacies irrelevant or excuse them, but context makes a difference when people try to use it for petty or self pitying point scoring.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
I don't see that's the point. The descendants of the exploited natives of the countries involved, must compare white peoples standard of living with their own and feel that they helped pay for it
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Would it be possible to have an empire that wasn't racist or bigoted?
The British Empire could have been a fully democratic federation with an, er, Imperial Senate, like in Star Wars!
Just noticed Sky News has blanked out the photo of the suspect in the McCann on each and every front page which shows it
The papers are seeking information so why have Sky acted as a censor
According to Germany privacy laws his identity can't be revealed, although I don't think that applies in the UK, which is why other papers have published his full name and photo.
First comment on my FB page (yes I'm that old) from a friend who has just been made redundant after 16 years having been furloughed.
Entertainment, marquees.
If he's been made redundant before the furlough ends that is indeed worrying. There'll be so many in the next few months, dreadful situation
Many millions across the UK, EU and worldwide
How governments deal with it will decide their destiny
And not Cummings nonsense
The Cummings nonsense is important in two ways. The government chucked away much of its authority and when we look back at these times we will remember a govt that did one thing whilst preaching another. It was looking after its own more then looking after you.
You miss my point
The way HMG deals with the job loses and economic armageddon will define it, not Cummings, Duffield, Kinnock and now Gardiner's breaches of covid regs
Cummings actual breach was relatively trivial and would have been old news with an apology within a week. It was the attempted coverup and then the brazening it out that stuck in voters’ craw. “Barnard Castle” will be a hackneyed punch line akin to “tired and emotional” in years to come.
I disagree, in 4 years time nobody will remember Cummings
Nah, we all remember Alastair Campbell.
He has a daily breakdown on tv these days
Very upset that you should use mental health problems to make a cheap joke.
That is not a joke
He is ranting almost daily on tv and losing it most everytime
It's beneath you to make light of mental illness. Very disappointed.
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I thought it was very telling that when raising significant racist police incident in the UK, the example brought out yesterday was Stephen Lawrence, which was 27 years ago. The US don't seem to be able to go 27 days without something.
Orders of magnitude difference in issues between the two countries.
Interesting how the 2011 riots after the shooting of Mark Duggan by the police have not been brought up, the widespread damage meant sympathy for the protests evaporated very quickly and draconian sentences for rioters meant there was no repeat contrary to much opinion on PB at the time.
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Is Crewe Red Wall? I thought that was places which had been Labour since WW2? Wakefield, Leigh, Blyth, Bishop Auckland and similar. I seem to remember Crewe changing hands a few times. Indeed it was a shock Labour gain in 2017. Although the rest of your point is very germain. More than any other group it was the C2s who went Tory. Aston Martin laid off loads yesterday too. Can't see their high skills being content in care homes or call centres.
Well two things. Yes the Tories won Crewe and Nantwich in 2008, but that was mainly due to Timpson, and a terrible Labour campaign, which involved insulting / mocking Bentley. The Timpson family are extremely well known and liked in the area. They are basically seen as good'uns.
Before that it had been Labour since 1945, as a standalone Crewe seat and then as C&N.
Nantwich is a very different place to Crewe. Crewe is definitely Red Wall, working class Brexity. Nantwich is much more middle class.
Ah. OK. So you are saying Crewe the town? I bow to your superior knowledge. A particular bugbear of mine is people describing any old constituency North of Birmingham as "working class". Such as Bolton West. Much of which resembles Surrey.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Would it be possible to have an empire that wasn't racist or bigoted?
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I agree.
And, yet, you have articles published in the Guardian saying that Britain invented racism, we are responsible for its incubation in America and are just as bad in every way.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisors in HR departments around the country are echoing this absolutely with everyone nodding along like donkeys.
We all secretly know it's been hugely overblown: we're just nervous of commenting as such in a highly-emotionally charged situation.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
I think it is pretty balanced and recognises we led the way on abolishing slavery too
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Too late for that, most people are oblivious to what we face. They've had 2 months paid leave, happy as Larry.
I expect big loses at Airbus in the next few weeks
Just noticed Sky News has blanked out the photo of the suspect in the McCann on each and every front page which shows it
The papers are seeking information so why have Sky acted as a censor
According to Germany privacy laws his identity can't be revealed, although I don't think that applies in the UK, which is why other papers have published his full name and photo.
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Is Crewe Red Wall? I thought that was places which had been Labour since WW2? Wakefield, Leigh, Blyth, Bishop Auckland and similar. I seem to remember Crewe changing hands a few times. Indeed it was a shock Labour gain in 2017. Although the rest of your point is very germain. More than any other group it was the C2s who went Tory. Aston Martin laid off loads yesterday too. Can't see their high skills being content in care homes or call centres.
Well two things. Yes the Tories won Crewe and Nantwich in 2008, but that was mainly due to Timpson, and a terrible Labour campaign, which involved insulting / mocking Bentley. The Timpson family are extremely well known and liked in the area. They are basically seen as good'uns, very much a personal vote at the time.
Before that it had been Labour since 1945, as a standalone Crewe seat and then as C&N.
Nantwich is a very different place to Crewe. Crewe is definitely Red Wall, working class Brexity. Nantwich is much more middle class.
Was Gwyneth Dunwoody’s old seat.
I had cause to acquaint with Dunwoody for my job at the time.
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I thought it was very telling that when raising significant racist police incident in the UK, the example brought out yesterday was Stephen Lawrence, which was 27 years ago. The US don't seem to be able to go 27 days without something.
Orders of magnitude difference in issues between the two countries.
Interesting how the 2011 riots after the death of Mark Duggan have not been brought up, the widespread damage meant sympathy for the protests evaporated very quickly and draconian sentences for rioters meant there was no repeat contrary to much opinion on PB at the time.
And given they shot a career criminal with a gun....
Although some parts of the media did repeat the fake news of the transport worker spitting story. Very dangerous in these heightened times. Accurate reporting is essential.
I did notice bloody CNN again comparing Michael Brown with George Floyd yesterday....they just won't accept the official investigation even after all these years, that a criminal was shot after assaulting a police officer and trying to take his gun, despite there being a large number of African American witnesses who confirmed this story.
Now if guns being widespread in the US is a good idea, now that is a different matter.
But really, this modern self-hate over the British Empire is ludicrous beyond belief. Everything has a context, no nation on earth is free of shameful episodes in its history, and the net benefit to the world of European scientific, cultural and moral heritage is immense. These things can't be rationally separated out into 'British empire bad', especially since by the standards of any other empire in history it was remarkably benign, let alone by the standards of other regimes of the time.
incidentally, in my Trust 10% of tested staff are coming back antibody positive. I don't think all 5000 have yet been processed, but that fits with the 7% rate in the national sample. We are maybe 1/6th of the way to herd immunity.
Another colleague of mine down badly with it today. I shared a room with her last week.
Hope the wife doesn't read this
Don't worry, Foxy always wears a mask.
Nope, in my Trust we are not allowed PPE in non-patient areas. Social distancing is difficult in shared office spaces too.
I have come to accept the virus as an occupational risk that is intrinsic to the job. I understand why patients are not so keen though, nor am I eager for non occupational risk.
The FFP3 masks I was using this week for AGP were originally expiry dated 2016, overstamped 2019. This is the new normal, but at least we have them.
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I thought it was very telling that when raising significant racist police incident in the UK, the example brought out yesterday was Stephen Lawrence, which was 27 years ago. The US don't seem to be able to go 27 days without something.
Orders of magnitude difference in issues between the two countries.
Interesting how the 2011 riots after the shooting of Mark Duggan by the police have not been brought up, the widespread damage meant sympathy for the protests evaporated very quickly and draconian sentences for rioters meant there was no repeat contrary to much opinion on PB at the time.
The fact that Mark Duggan had purchased and was in possession of a illegal firearm at the time of his death had much to do with the lack of sympathy.
"Armed police gun down man with gun, in a confused situation"
vs
"Armed police sit & kneel on unarmed, handcuffed man until he dies over a period of time and despite protests from said man"
Just noticed Sky News has blanked out the photo of the suspect in the McCann on each and every front page which shows it
The papers are seeking information so why have Sky acted as a censor
According to Germany privacy laws his identity can't be revealed, although I don't think that applies in the UK, which is why other papers have published his full name and photo.
I think most of them have
Given the number of "suspects" and "wrong 'guns" that have been identified in this case and subsequently found not to have anything to do with it.... Perhaps a little patience might help the case?
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
Is Crewe Red Wall? I thought that was places which had been Labour since WW2? Wakefield, Leigh, Blyth, Bishop Auckland and similar. I seem to remember Crewe changing hands a few times. Indeed it was a shock Labour gain in 2017. Although the rest of your point is very germain. More than any other group it was the C2s who went Tory. Aston Martin laid off loads yesterday too. Can't see their high skills being content in care homes or call centres.
Well two things. Yes the Tories won Crewe and Nantwich in 2008, but that was mainly due to Timpson, and a terrible Labour campaign, which involved insulting / mocking Bentley. The Timpson family are extremely well known and liked in the area. They are basically seen as good'uns, very much a personal vote at the time.
Before that it had been Labour since 1945, as a standalone Crewe seat and then as C&N.
Nantwich is a very different place to Crewe. Crewe is definitely Red Wall, working class Brexity. Nantwich is much more middle class.
Was Gwyneth Dunwoody’s old seat.
I had cause to acquaint with Dunwoody for my job at the time.
She was quite a formidable character.
Yes I met her when she was campaigning for her daughter Tamsin down my way. Both of them pretty ballsy people.
But really, this modern self-hate over the British Empire is ludicrous beyond belief. Everything has a context, no nation on earth is free of shameful episodes in its history, and the net benefit to the world of European scientific, cultural and moral heritage is immense. These things can't be rationally separated out into 'British empire bad', especially since by the standards of any other empire in history it was remarkably benign, let alone by the standards of other regimes of the time.
But you surely must understand why black people feel like they were exploited then and still getting a raw deal now, while the descendants of colonists are still the bosses on the back of it?
Even now we import foreigners to do the hard labour at below the market rate to line the pockets of the richest 1%, I don't see much has changed.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Was that racism? Or just the way colonial powers treated their colonies.
We didn't treat Ireland much better and they are the same race.
There’s traditionally a principle of reciprocity in extradition treaties too but the UK–US extradition treaty of 2003, implemented by the UK by the Extradition Act 2003, is anything but even handed. It allows the extradition of UK nationals who have committed a breach of US law in the UK - but there is no reciprocal right. I am not convinced that the inequality of bargaining power that led to that outcome in an extradition treaty will not be repeated in any FTA leading to similar asymmetries.
Nonetheless the Guardian-reading classes keep repeating, as though it were 100% guaranteed truth, that the USA wants to ban us having labels showing country of origin, as part of any trade deal.
Well, maybe they do. Let's see the evidence. Citation needed, as the saying goes.
(And please let's not repost the completely bonkers Jon Stone tweet from earlier today, in which he demolished his own argument by referencing a US text which showed nothing of the sort).
I don't think they do.
The US has been very keen to prevent labelling being used as a non-tariff barrier. However, to date this has mostly in regard to preventing the labelling of GM products. (There have also been some cases about high fructose corn syrup labelling IIRC.)
That in itself is interesting as Connecticut now has specific GM labelling on all its food products. Again it would be interesting to see how that spreads.
US companies have taken the Canadian government to the NAFTA/USMCA ISDS tribunals over bans on some petrol additives. The tribunal found against the Canadian government despite the fact that some US states also banned it. (I think the additive is MTBE, but I could be wrong.)
He has a nasty history of using racial strife for his own advancement - often at the expense of those he is allegedly helping. He was, after all, the prototype for the characters Rev Reginald Bacon in the Bonfire of the Vanities.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Was that racism? Or just the way colonial powers treated their colonies.
We didn't treat Ireland much better and they are the same race.
But really, this modern self-hate over the British Empire is ludicrous beyond belief. Everything has a context, no nation on earth is free of shameful episodes in its history, and the net benefit to the world of European scientific, cultural and moral heritage is immense. These things can't be rationally separated out into 'British empire bad', especially since by the standards of any other empire in history it was remarkably benign, let alone by the standards of other regimes of the time.
We didn't go from being a small, wet island on the north coast of Europe to become the greatest superpower on earth from the mid 18th century until the mid 20th century by being nice.
Morally there was lots wrong with the empire but that was not its intention, its intention was to boost Britain as an economic and military power
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I agree.
And, yet, you have articles published in the Guardian saying that Britain invented racism, we are responsible for its incubation in America and are just as bad in every way.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisors in HR departments around the country are echoing this absolutely with everyone nodding along like donkeys.
We all secretly know it's been hugely overblown: we're just nervous of commenting as such in a highly-emotionally charged situation.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
I think it is pretty balanced and recognises we led the way on abolishing slavery too
Yes, we ended slavery (though brought in indentured coolie labour to Trinidad, Fiji and Mauritius to replace it), paid slaveowners compensation, but not slaves etc. We also did it after sugar became much less profitable and slavery much less viable after the Haitian republic.
We ended slavery in the sense that Hitler ended WW2 by shooting himself in the face.
He has a nasty history of using racial strife for his own advancement - often at the expense of those he is allegedly helping. He was, after all, the prototype for the characters Rev Reginald Bacon in the Bonfire of the Vanities.
Al isn't a fan of the Jews e.g. At the funeral of Gavin Cato, as tensions rose in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, back in 1991, Sharpton called Jews “diamond merchants” and tried to tie them to apartheid in South Africa. In the subsequent Crown Heights riots, a young Jewish man was killed by a crowd of African Americans and there were other acts of violence.
But really, this modern self-hate over the British Empire is ludicrous beyond belief. Everything has a context, no nation on earth is free of shameful episodes in its history, and the net benefit to the world of European scientific, cultural and moral heritage is immense. These things can't be rationally separated out into 'British empire bad', especially since by the standards of any other empire in history it was remarkably benign, let alone by the standards of other regimes of the time.
Tell that to the people of Amritsar or the native Tasmanians.
Oh, you're telling me there aren't any native Tasmanians left? I guess they must have definitely benefitted from the British Empire.
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I agree.
And, yet, you have articles published in the Guardian saying that Britain invented racism, we are responsible for its incubation in America and are just as bad in every way.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisors in HR departments around the country are echoing this absolutely with everyone nodding along like donkeys.
We all secretly know it's been hugely overblown: we're just nervous of commenting as such in a highly-emotionally charged situation.
I think unconscious bias is a well-proven phenomenom which we pretty much all exhibit. The shocking conclusion of that is that, yes, we are all at least a little bit racist even though we don't intend to be.
Acknowledging that is an important step to resolving it imo.
Hmm. The Implicit Association Test that is at the heart of unconscious bias (as in the theory that was published in 1998, happy to supply more details if needed) does not stack up - the results are inconsistent and unreliable.
That an entire industry has sprouted from this says more about the industry and less about the validity of the underpinning science.
It says a lot about the Social Science industry - which has a lot of problems with the science bit.
Will things really change in the USA as a result of all this? Perhaps I'm cynical but why is it different to any other time it has happened? Trump, to be sure, is an unpredictable factor to throw into the mix, but even so.
The effect of all these unarmed black deaths is cumulative, and the pace of publicized incidents will probably increase with the ubiquity of cell phone video. Black people's behaviour is changing, so that they routinely record all encounters with the police.
To me it really does feel like an 'enough is enough' time. That does not mean that everything will be resolved perfectly in a few weeks or months, but I do think that the pressure for systemic change to how policing is done will be relentless until things improve markedly.
Of course, I could be wrong.
I think the policing unions are a problem - far too much abuse and incompetence is covered up.
But, these things go round in circles. Theresa May dialled back on stop & search for similar reasons - until it led to a big spike in knife crime, which affects inner cities communities the most.
The policing problems we have in this country, which are real, are peanuts compared to the cancerous effects of the militarisation of American policing.
I thought it was very telling that when raising significant racist police incident in the UK, the example brought out yesterday was Stephen Lawrence, which was 27 years ago. The US don't seem to be able to go 27 days without something.
Orders of magnitude difference in issues between the two countries.
Interesting how the 2011 riots after the shooting of Mark Duggan by the police have not been brought up, the widespread damage meant sympathy for the protests evaporated very quickly and draconian sentences for rioters meant there was no repeat contrary to much opinion on PB at the time.
The fact that Mark Duggan had purchased and was in possession of a illegal firearm at the time of his death had much to do with the lack of sympathy.
"Armed police gun down man with gun, in a confused situation"
vs
"Armed police sit & kneel on unarmed, handcuffed man until he dies over a period of time and despite protests from said man"
How about Jean Charles de Menezes? He was completely unarmed IIRC.
But really, this modern self-hate over the British Empire is ludicrous beyond belief. Everything has a context, no nation on earth is free of shameful episodes in its history, and the net benefit to the world of European scientific, cultural and moral heritage is immense. These things can't be rationally separated out into 'British empire bad', especially since by the standards of any other empire in history it was remarkably benign, let alone by the standards of other regimes of the time.
We didn't go from being a small, wet island on the north coast of Europe to become the greatest superpower on earth from the mid 18th century until the mid 20th century by being nice.
Morally there was lots wrong with the empire but that was not its intention, its intention was to boost Britain as an economic and military power
Point of order: we were still a small, wet island on the north coast of Europe during the period in question.
Second point of order: I think you need to end the "greatest superpower on earth" before the middle of the 20th Century.
But really, this modern self-hate over the British Empire is ludicrous beyond belief. Everything has a context, no nation on earth is free of shameful episodes in its history, and the net benefit to the world of European scientific, cultural and moral heritage is immense. These things can't be rationally separated out into 'British empire bad', especially since by the standards of any other empire in history it was remarkably benign, let alone by the standards of other regimes of the time.
We didn't go from being a small, wet island on the north coast of Europe to become the greatest superpower on earth from the mid 18th century until the mid 20th century by being nice.
Morally there was lots wrong with the empire but that was not its intention, its intention was to boost Britain as an economic and military power
For many, the colonial period is not some colourful historical pageant, it is their of their parents lived experience. Yes, it was to boost Britain's economic and military power, but don't expect those who were on the receiving end to be grateful.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Was that racism? Or just the way colonial powers treated their colonies.
We didn't treat Ireland much better and they are the same race.
Nor indeed the miners, mill and factory workers in this country. There was always a racial element at play, but Britain is fundamentally class based at heart. Witness the maharajah's offspring welcomed into public schools in the 19th C whilst the populace of industrial areas lived short lives of disease, poverty and squalor.
Big Dom level of excuse. What his son does is his business, but Piers Moron is displaying the sort of double standards defending him, that he is normally so outraged about.
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Was that racism? Or just the way colonial powers treated their colonies.
We didn't treat Ireland much better and they are the same race.
Nor indeed the miners, mill and factory workers in this country. There was always a racial element at play, but Britain is fundamentally class based at heart. Witness the maharajah's offspring welcomed into public schools in the 19th C whilst the populace of industrial areas lived short lives of disease, poverty and squalor.
Absolutely, an awful lot of Britons were on the receiving end too. Race and class intertwine, for example @isam observing that black people being imported to do the jobs that white people didn't want, or at least on that payrate.
Akalas book "Natives" is flawed in some ways, but good at dissecting the race/class interface.
Big Dom level of excuse. What his son does is his business, but Piers Moron is displaying the sort of double standards defending him, that he is normally so outraged about.
The Tuesday social media blackout was a really effective way of conveying the message I thought. I can't help feeling that too many of the protestors were using the BLM message as cover to go out after 10 weeks cooped up indoors
Michael Portillo currently has a show on ch5 about the Empire that is pretty damning about our colonial behaviour including, but not only, the racism. There can't be much doubt that our position in the world was built on shaky moral foundations. Behind every great fortune is a crime forgotten as they say
Yeah those Mughal despots and African potentates we displaced were models of enlightened liberal values.
Certainly they were not.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Was that racism? Or just the way colonial powers treated their colonies.
We didn't treat Ireland much better and they are the same race.
Same Pimlico street. A good case for why Mps living amongst the communities they represent and debating and voting remotely raising issues which actually matter to them might shake the tired consensus of this dormant political class. No wonder JRM was so determined this state of affairs could not continue.
But really, this modern self-hate over the British Empire is ludicrous beyond belief. Everything has a context, no nation on earth is free of shameful episodes in its history, and the net benefit to the world of European scientific, cultural and moral heritage is immense. These things can't be rationally separated out into 'British empire bad', especially since by the standards of any other empire in history it was remarkably benign, let alone by the standards of other regimes of the time.
We didn't go from being a small, wet island on the north coast of Europe to become the greatest superpower on earth from the mid 18th century until the mid 20th century by being nice.
Morally there was lots wrong with the empire but that was not its intention, its intention was to boost Britain as an economic and military power
Point of order: we were still a small, wet island on the north coast of Europe during the period in question.
Second point of order: I think you need to end the "greatest superpower on earth" before the middle of the 20th Century.
We weren't just that, we were also the centre of the world's largest Empire at the time with London the greatest global city.
India was still British as was most of Africa until the mid 20th century
Comments
But social distancing seemed to be ignored
https://twitter.com/JCAlvarado1/status/1268662957371805699?s=20
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52927482
Crewe is Tory Red Wall type place. Bentley is a massive part of the town, as a source of very good jobs / quality career.
This is where Team Boris better start engaging some brain cells to think about how they are going to react to what will be increasingly daily news across the country.
He is ranting almost daily on tv and losing it most everytime
Heavy rain here for the first time in ages. A bit of good news.
Doubt Trump is listening as his complete mental breakdown continues.
Among the findings, it concluded that:
Ajan personally collected all the doping violation fines
There is an estimated 10.5 million dollars from IWF accounts that are unaccounted for.
40 positive tests, including two athletes who won world championship gold and silver medals, were covered up.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/weightlifting/52922604
Quite a lot.
https://www.bbc.com/news/health-52930319
https://www.vgtv.no/video/197861/raset-i-alta-her-forsvinner-husene-i-havet
That an entire industry has sprouted from this says more about the industry and less about the validity of the underpinning science.
Wakefield, Leigh, Blyth, Bishop Auckland and similar.
I seem to remember Crewe changing hands a few times. Indeed it was a shock Labour gain in 2017.
Although the rest of your point is very germain. More than any other group it was the C2s who went Tory.
Aston Martin laid off loads yesterday too.
Can't see their high skills being content in care homes or call centres.
The Empire was intrinsically and undeniably racist, whether conquering and replacing the natives, as in Australia or the North American Colonies, or ruling them from above as in Africa or India. Not just ruling them, but also constructing an economic system that exploited them, whether industrialised slavery, hut taxes to force wage labour or deconstructing the Indian economy so we could export.
Of course many other countries have behaved very badly, and often worse. It is perhaps inevitable that power is abused, and the powerless exploited, but we certainly were world beaters when it came to Imperialism.
Before that it had been Labour since 1945, as a standalone Crewe seat and then as C&N.
Nantwich is a very different place to Crewe. Crewe is definitely Red Wall, working class Brexity. Nantwich is much more middle class.
The US has been very keen to prevent labelling being used as a non-tariff barrier. However, to date this has mostly in regard to preventing the labelling of GM products. (There have also been some cases about high fructose corn syrup labelling IIRC.)
The papers are seeking information so why have Sky acted as a censor
These things are complex at the granular level. Some of my own ancestors were rendered landless by the Highland clearances, but settled in the South Seas on lands cleared for them.
"Little fleas have smaller fleas, on their backs to bite 'em, and they in turn have smaller fleas, and so on, ad finitum."
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-52929780
https://twitter.com/DrLeeJones/status/1268663373568323584?s=20
A particular bugbear of mine is people describing any old constituency North of Birmingham as "working class".
Such as Bolton West. Much of which resembles Surrey.
https://twitter.com/COVID19Tracking/status/1268664231475347457?s=20
https://twitter.com/PeterJ_Walker/status/1268665178612068352?s=20
I had cause to acquaint with Dunwoody for my job at the time.
She was quite a formidable character.
Although some parts of the media did repeat the fake news of the transport worker spitting story. Very dangerous in these heightened times. Accurate reporting is essential.
I did notice bloody CNN again comparing Michael Brown with George Floyd yesterday....they just won't accept the official investigation even after all these years, that a criminal was shot after assaulting a police officer and trying to take his gun, despite there being a large number of African American witnesses who confirmed this story.
Now if guns being widespread in the US is a good idea, now that is a different matter.
But really, this modern self-hate over the British Empire is ludicrous beyond belief. Everything has a context, no nation on earth is free of shameful episodes in its history, and the net benefit to the world of European scientific, cultural and moral heritage is immense. These things can't be rationally separated out into 'British empire bad', especially since by the standards of any other empire in history it was remarkably benign, let alone by the standards of other regimes of the time.
I have come to accept the virus as an occupational risk that is intrinsic to the job. I understand why patients are not so keen though, nor am I eager for non occupational risk.
The FFP3 masks I was using this week for AGP were originally expiry dated 2016, overstamped 2019. This is the new normal, but at least we have them.
"Armed police gun down man with gun, in a confused situation"
vs
"Armed police sit & kneel on unarmed, handcuffed man until he dies over a period of time and despite protests from said man"
Even now we import foreigners to do the hard labour at below the market rate to line the pockets of the richest 1%, I don't see much has changed.
The driver had several similar multiple personalities and an Albanian taxi driver in the back of his vehicle.
We didn't treat Ireland much better and they are the same race.
He has a nasty history of using racial strife for his own advancement - often at the expense of those he is allegedly helping. He was, after all, the prototype for the characters Rev Reginald Bacon in the Bonfire of the Vanities.
Morally there was lots wrong with the empire but that was not its intention, its intention was to boost Britain as an economic and military power
We ended slavery in the sense that Hitler ended WW2 by shooting himself in the face.
Oh, you're telling me there aren't any native Tasmanians left? I guess they must have definitely benefitted from the British Empire.
Second point of order: I think you need to end the "greatest superpower on earth" before the middle of the 20th Century.
Witness the maharajah's offspring welcomed into public schools in the 19th C whilst the populace of industrial areas lived short lives of disease, poverty and squalor.
Akalas book "Natives" is flawed in some ways, but good at dissecting the race/class interface.
https://twitter.com/IndyScotParty/status/1268583725589245954?s=20
No wonder JRM was so determined this state of affairs could not continue.
India was still British as was most of Africa until the mid 20th century