According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Suggestions he will replace their candidate in Clacton who is in trouble for letting the mask slip and posting things that were anti-Semitic. Of course Nige isn’t immune to the odd tiny bit of racism adjacent rabble rousing.
Clacton is undoubtedly their best seat so it's strange Tice isn't standing there. Maybe because there was always an idea that Farage might slip in there.
Yes, and he will do the media rounds pretending that he’s answering an overwhelming number of calls to stand and playing the patriotic duty card. The MSM will swallow the bullshit wholesale and the GB News anchors will line up to metaphorically fellate him. Depressing and nauseating in equal measure.
Oh stop whining: Farage is playing politics. Its what politicians do. He’s just better at it than most
LOL Is that why he failed SEVEN times to get elected to Westminster?
We Brexited because of Farage. He’s probably the most consequential British politician since thatcher. You may despise him and abhor his views - fair enough - but these claims he is some kind of failure are absurd. Its like the twattish claim upthread that Trump is a bad businessman and bad politician
That’s Trump, the billionaire businessman who became the most powerful politician in the world
We Brexited because of 17.4 million voters.
Farage played a bit of a role in that. A minor, supporting role alongside many other politicians that backed Brexit.
It is a total rewriting of history to suggest it is all Farage. Farage is so toxic he was quite rightly excluded from Vote Leave, had it been a Farage-led campaign to back Brexit then Remain would have won handsomely.
David Cameron pledged his in/out referendum not after the rise of UKIP, but after a mass rebellion on his own benches from politicians on his own benches that demanded it. He needed to placate his own MPs. Actual elected-to-Parliament Members of Parliament unlike the seven time failure Nigel Farage who was never an MP.
Similarly Trump is a bad politician. You can both be an elected politician and a bad one. Trump is so bad he barely scraped election against the awful politician Hillary Clinton - and then so failed in office that he failed to get re-elected against Biden who had himself been deemed too old and to weak to run for office four years earlier.
Trump joins Carter, widely regarded as a bad politician in office, in being one of only two Presidents since the start of the 20th century who failed to win re-election, when they had the first term* back in office for their party.
* George HW Bush for instance failed to get re-elected but he followed two Reagan terms, so was seeking a fourth term in a row for the Republicans not a second term.
Delusional. No Farage no Brexit. But I know it helps you sleep at night to think that he was incidental to the whole thing. Why for example do you think there was a mass rebellion on the Cons benches. Because of pressure from UKIP/Farage.
What Farage is very good at is creating enough fuss and noise that others feel that they have to dance to his tune, even without him being elected himself.
Power without responsibility. Stanley Baldwin had something to say about that.
And if you don't think that's Farage's superpower, look at us. The whole "will he, won't he" thing is exactly what an attention-hogging grifter would do.
It's time we moved on from these summary notions of good or bad. What that means is acknowledging talent in people you despise, but also in realising that when someone says something like "Trump is a bad politician" they actually have a really fucking good point. He was a terrible president. Not just for the "values" he pushed, but because it was administrative chaos. He was far, far too concerned with his own image, whining on about how big his crowds were, and far less concerned with the competent running of the state. "But he won!" is only a partial rejoinder. He's not the first person in the world to have talked himself into a job he couldn't do.
So when people say Musk is an idiot, Trump is a bad politician, Farage is a serial loser, they aren't wholly wrong. And pointing out the opposite also isn't wholly wrong. You can't sum anyone up in such simple terms. Except for Leon. Leon's a prat.
I wonder whether the change of heart is due to the lack of Con improvement in the polls or whether it is due to the way that CCO are parachuting in centrists (same as Lab are) that will make it much harder for a right winger to win the next Conservative leadership election.
On the latter point, the Wokingham Cons have selected someone who seems to be confused as to whether she is fighting Woking or Wokingham. She previously also stood for Henley so I'm guessing as no local connections at all.
Generally seems a bad move as she is fighting a LD local champion (unless the Cons are writing it off and giving her experience)
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none at all that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part.
It's interesting how Boris and Cummings have been airbrushed out of history. There was a time when you couldn't move on here for comments about Dom and his 12D chess - the man was universally agreed to be omnipotent. What prompted this revisionism?
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I've encountered the same bundle of loud preferences in a totally different activity group. I think it's simply that people with that bundle of interests have a much weaker filter than the politically normal (Labour / Conservative), moderates, or evangelical Christians, whether due to narcissism or less fear of being socially policed by the scuffed-left bundle.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Thatcher made a start with Consett steelworks, just outside the constituency boundary.
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part after the referendum was called.
Not convinced; I reckon Cummings and Farage needed each other. The existence of the Farage campaign allowed the Johnson/Gove/Cummings campaign a bit of plausible deniablilty- they could make a more civilised case of leaving without dirtying their hands with the more outrageous stuff. After all, all the votes ended up in the same pile.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
Must be sole destroying for him.
(I apologise in advance for possibly treading the pathway for a stampede of shoe-related puns. By all means tell me to 'shoo')
Why would we be snobbish about people posting cobblers?
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
One thing about this election is that the CVs of the leaders and chancellors are much more impressive than previously.
When Dave & George faced off against Ed and Ed 2 years ago... they basically had very little to no work experience outside politics between them...
Whatever you think of their politics - Starmer, Sunak, Reeves and Hunt have had previous careers outside politics.
Starmer? Yes. Sunak? Hmmm. Pretty narrow fund management stuff. Hunt? Yes. Reeves? Five minutes in the BoE and then some retail banking. So, sort of, but nothing massively impressive.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part after the referendum was called.
This would actually be a valid intervention if you weren’t notoriously the dumbest commenter on politicalbetting in the entire history of its existence
So while I have some sympathy with the view Farage was less important once the vote was called, as it’s you saying it I am reduced to helpless laughter, with an edge of cruel mockery. Which is a shame
According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Funny old world.
Ha ha, you voted Green in the last election you bampot
Go and have a lie down and think of a chip n pin machine.
Probably too late, but wasn't Stalin a fan of Moldavan wine? Im guessing there is a personal connection here - first harvest presentation?
Ooh. Well done for having a guess! And not bad!
It is indeed associated with a significant political figure. Remember it was found on a train….
Wait a minute - that area was over-run by the Wermacht in WWII - is it war booty? Not Hitler obviously as he didn't drink. In Band of Brothers ISTR they found Goering's cellar, is that the connection?
Yes. Well done. I actually give the full explanation above
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none at all that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part.
It's interesting how Boris and Cummings have been airbrushed out of history. There was a time when you couldn't move on here for comments about Dom and his 12D chess - the man was universally agreed to be omnipotent. What prompted this revisionism?
He was exposed as a narcissistic egomaniacal prat.
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none at all that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part.
It's interesting how Boris and Cummings have been airbrushed out of history. There was a time when you couldn't move on here for comments about Dom and his 12D chess - the man was universally agreed to be omnipotent. What prompted this revisionism?
Fwiw I place more credit/blame for Leave winning on Cummings than any other individual.
Note that that’s not the same thing as Remain losing.
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none at all that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part.
It's interesting how Boris and Cummings have been airbrushed out of history. There was a time when you couldn't move on here for comments about Dom and his 12D chess - the man was universally agreed to be omnipotent. What prompted this revisionism?
He was exposed as a narcissistic egomaniacal prat.
Exposed? That implies it was, at some point, hidden.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
I wonder if he will turn up with a fishing rod, some Stella and a KFC if Luke gets barricaded into this campaign HQ by the loons ?
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none at all that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part.
It's interesting how Boris and Cummings have been airbrushed out of history. There was a time when you couldn't move on here for comments about Dom and his 12D chess - the man was universally agreed to be omnipotent. What prompted this revisionism?
He was exposed as a narcissistic egomaniacal prat.
Exposed? That implies it was, at some point, hidden.
One thing about this election is that the CVs of the leaders and chancellors are much more impressive than previously.
When Dave & George faced off against Ed and Ed 2 years ago... they basically had very little to no work experience outside politics between them...
Whatever you think of their politics - Starmer, Sunak, Reeves and Hunt have had previous careers outside politics.
Starmer? Yes. Sunak? Hmmm. Pretty narrow fund management stuff. Hunt? Yes. Reeves? Five minutes in the BoE and then some retail banking. So, sort of, but nothing massively impressive.
Reeves worked for 6 years at BoE.
Osborne, Cameron & Miliband didn't have 6 years of outside politics work experience between them when they started as MPs.
One thing about this election is that the CVs of the leaders and chancellors are much more impressive than previously.
When Dave & George faced off against Ed and Ed 2 years ago... they basically had very little to no work experience outside politics between them...
Whatever you think of their politics - Starmer, Sunak, Reeves and Hunt have had previous careers outside politics.
Starmer? Yes. Sunak? Hmmm. Pretty narrow fund management stuff. Hunt? Yes. Reeves? Five minutes in the BoE and then some retail banking. So, sort of, but nothing massively impressive.
Reeves worked for 6 years at BoE.
Osborne, Cameron & Miliband didn't have 6 years of outside politics work experience between them when they started as MPs.
Six years means you have finished the grad scheme and done one junior role. But I agree with your last para.
Todays betting tip. I think the 7/2 on Cons in Colchester is good value, their vote is sticky there imo
Maybe. I'd assumed LDs were still main challengers, having held it from 1997-2015, but Lab are clear second since 2017. Be an interesting one to study the MRPs on - not so much the prediction but how it relates to national picture. Real mixed area.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
I felt quite sorry for Akehurst having seen pictures of him being harangued by Gaza loons with flags. The lot that are usually on the bridge in Durham.
The one thing I was hoping was we would not be flooded with these crackpots.
I follow him now on social media and any post he makes about his campaign is immediately followed with a deluge of stuff calling him all sorts. All to do with Israel and Gaza.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
The Kinder trespasses - the events that in large measure led to the access rights we enjoy today - were very left wing at the top.
According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Funny old world.
Ha ha, you voted Green in the last election you bampot
Fake news. Get your facts right before posting untruths on here.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Funny old world.
Ha ha, you voted Green in the last election you bampot
Fake news. Get your facts right before posting untruths on here.
I am happy to debate the trans issue but surely politically the Tories going on about this, this week, shows they’ve completely given up. Aren’t there bigger issues?
Are there any bigger issues where the Tory party are on the right side of the debate and will get them a few more votes?
The issue is that most bigger issues are things the Tory party have been in control of for the past 14 years so the default response to say we will build 100 new GP surgeries is what stopped you doing so 2 weeks ago?
You highlight the reason why the conservatives are going to lose big time, and it will be the same when they publish their manifesto
However, as far as I am concerned I have dismissed the notion that the conservatives will be relevant for quite sometime, so now Labour have to be pit under the microscope, and despite their insistence everything is costed of course its not and by many many billions
There is a suggestion that Reeves will attack private pensions as this is one area she has not raised as exempt and of course IHT is the other
No matter, tax rises and spending cuts are as certain as PM Starmer by the 5th July
Lots of tax rises will be coming in the Special Budget in September
Yes Rachel may restrict tax relief on pension contributions to 20% which will save Treasury lots of bns. Also maybe restrict annual pensions contribution allowance to £30,000 and bring back the lifetime limit
Lets hope so. I completely agree with the state subsidising peoples retirement but only up to a comfortable level around normal retirement age. Why on earth are we subsidising the supposedly most productive, often trained at our expense like doctors, to retire at 50 still on top 20% of the population level earnings post retirement.
The problem with the highest paid medics is that whatever we do provides perverse incentives. Tax them at the current tax rates without pension relief, and they may well look at the current marginal tax rates, realise they could get paid 3/4 of their current take home pay to only work 3 days a week and spend the rest of the week improving their golf swing.
Given them pension relief, and they get to about 50, pay the mortgage off, and either go part-time or retire.
Fundementally, if you can arrange to earn enough by the time you're 50 to pay for a comfortable lifestyle for the rest of your life, for a lot of people, why would you keep on working? But the logical conclusion to that is that the only fix to make them work longer is to pay doctors less - which just means they trot off to Australia in even greater numbers.
I think what all this illustrates most plainly is the folly of progressively increasing tax rates; if income tax was a flat 20% rather than progressive bands, then incentives to drop to 3 days a week become much weaker, as do the incentives to load up the pension and retire earlier.
The other side of the coin is that the cost of doctors is a function of supply and demand; there is no shortage of applicants for medical school, but because we restrict training (because training doctors is expensive) supply of doctors is very limited. What we could do with is training more doctors (increasing supply, so they will cost less to hire), but then somehow saddle them with the cost of their training in such a way that if they go abroad or decide to retire at 50 they have to pay it back in full. As for how we might actually do that, answers on a postcard...
One of the great curiosities of this election year is the PB 'Lifelong Labour Voters' who... do not vote Labour.
The highlight was them defensively assuring us that they were going to vote for Kim McGuinness as Greater Newcastle mayor. Then finding, last-minute, yet another reason not to!
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
It goes back earlier still - the Clarion Cycling Clubs which you still occasionally see around have their origin in 1890s socialist campaigns, and there were rambling and choir parts of the same movement. There was a big hoohah a couple of years ago when the remnants of the club finally took out mention of socialism from their constitution.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Funny old world.
Ha ha, you voted Green in the last election you bampot
Fake news. Get your facts right before posting untruths on here.
Ha ha, you go first
You are the one that claims to be a "Lifelong Labour Voter", not me. Your then spreading lies about me doesn't help your cause.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
Out of curiosity, do you think the same applies to Liverpool and Birkenhead?
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
Back in the 80s the world was full of social climbers. Now it's socialist climbers instead
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none at all that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part.
It's interesting how Boris and Cummings have been airbrushed out of history. There was a time when you couldn't move on here for comments about Dom and his 12D chess - the man was universally agreed to be omnipotent. What prompted this revisionism?
He was exposed as a narcissistic egomaniacal prat.
Neatly, that works for both of them.
Gove is the more interesting one. Some of his political obituarists have rightly pointed out that he would argue for the slaughter of the firstborn if he thought it would own the libs, but in general, he's still seen as intelligent, polite and hardworking. But a large chunk of his career has been a failure.
Meanwhile, Farage keeps Faraging on. It's easier if you shout from the sidelines, rather than actually trying to build stuff.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
Oh give over. There's a big bloody tidal river between them.
Probably too late, but wasn't Stalin a fan of Moldavan wine? Im guessing there is a personal connection here - first harvest presentation?
Ooh. Well done for having a guess! And not bad!
It is indeed associated with a significant political figure. Remember it was found on a train….
Wait a minute - that area was over-run by the Wermacht in WWII - is it war booty? Not Hitler obviously as he didn't drink. In Band of Brothers ISTR they found Goering's cellar, is that the connection?
Yes. Well done. I actually give the full explanation above
When I was training to be a teacher, top of the list of useless seminars was one from some energetic bloke whose whole pitch was helping kids remember stuff. His party piece was capital cities:
'They think it's Moldova. Chisinau!'
To be fair, 11 years later a small parcel of my brain is still taken up by that useless fact, so the energetic chap had a point.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Funny old world.
Ha ha, you voted Green in the last election you bampot
Fake news. Get your facts right before posting untruths on here.
Ha ha, you go first
You are the one that claims to be a "Lifelong Labour Voter", not me. Your then spreading lies about me doesn't help your cause.
Why not just come clean?
You did not vote labour in 2019. How is that a lie ?
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
It goes back earlier still - the Clarion Cycling Clubs which you still occasionally see around have their origin in 1890s socialist campaigns, and there were rambling and choir parts of the same movement. There was a big hoohah a couple of years ago when the remnants of the club finally took out mention of socialism from their constitution.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
Oh give over. There's a big bloody tidal river between them.
Still off-topic my photo of the day is 30 years of discrimination in plain sight. This is slightly nerd.
I did a gentle audit on the Stockley Trail near the M1 J29 on Sunday; it is a 2 mile stretch of the former Midland Railway with goodies such as a couple of nature reserves and mountain bike tracks, rail gradient pathways and so on.
It has been advertised as a "multiuser path for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users" for about 3 decades. The piccie below is the car park, showing disabled spaces, and barriers preventing access to the trail by mobility aid. These are also vintage mid-1990s. The only alternative for mobility aid users is to wheel yourself through a bush, a hole in the fence, and over rough, unfinished tarmac.
At the other end of the trail the lane has 6 full width road humps - uncomfortable or unusable in a mobility aid without a motor vehicle. The implicit model is "bring your wheelchair using relative, or your dog, or your children, in the car, and take them for a walk".
The really ironic thing is that all the rest is good - farmgates and 1.5m gaps wide side by side all the way - if you can get into the end of it. I never understand why these aren't thought through, and never joined up in the head of the designers, or on the ground. Plus there's miles more of ex-railway joined to the end of this. We have a network of ex-railways covering most of the country that could be superb.
Fortunately, unusually here the whole thing is dedicated as a Bridleway (Glapwell BW1, Ault Hucknall BW23, Scarsdale BW38) - which hardly ever happens for these trails.
I need to see how Derbyshire County Council react to being told that their road humps (and the barriers in the photo) are an unlawful obstruction on a public highway under S137 of the Highways Act 1980, and must have a 1.5m flat route created through them. Easy to say, difficult to make happen if they drag their feet.
"The PM is in Henley campaigning and chatting to rowers ahead of the Regatta. Right behind him…a boat full of Lib Dem’s appeared"
If the Tories are campaigning with their big guns in Henley then they really are in deep shit.
Only if they fall in the River Thames.
(It's actually pretty optimistic for them. Henley is only 125 on their defence list, it falls on an 11% swing. If you offered that to CCHQ- holding more than 250 seats- they would be adivsed take it before the fates changed their mind.)
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
The Kinder trespasses - the events that in large measure led to the access rights we enjoy today - were very left wing at the top.
Yes, true. And left-wing in an old-fashioned sort of way. Issues of land ownership, etc. (On which subject - it still rankles with me somewhat that there are places in the West Riding where one must pay to Go For A Walk - Bolton Abbey and Ingleton, for example. These seem like a bit of a throwback to a pre-1932 age.)
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
Out of curiosity, do you think the same applies to Liverpool and Birkenhead?
Not so much, although it probably would be better to have them aligned as one. The Mersey is wider than the Tyne with many fewer crossings. Gateshead quayside is a two-minute walk ago Newcastle quayside. They operate entirely as a single place.
I am happy to debate the trans issue but surely politically the Tories going on about this, this week, shows they’ve completely given up. Aren’t there bigger issues?
Are there any bigger issues where the Tory party are on the right side of the debate and will get them a few more votes?
The issue is that most bigger issues are things the Tory party have been in control of for the past 14 years so the default response to say we will build 100 new GP surgeries is what stopped you doing so 2 weeks ago?
You highlight the reason why the conservatives are going to lose big time, and it will be the same when they publish their manifesto
However, as far as I am concerned I have dismissed the notion that the conservatives will be relevant for quite sometime, so now Labour have to be pit under the microscope, and despite their insistence everything is costed of course its not and by many many billions
There is a suggestion that Reeves will attack private pensions as this is one area she has not raised as exempt and of course IHT is the other
No matter, tax rises and spending cuts are as certain as PM Starmer by the 5th July
Lots of tax rises will be coming in the Special Budget in September
Yes Rachel may restrict tax relief on pension contributions to 20% which will save Treasury lots of bns. Also maybe restrict annual pensions contribution allowance to £30,000 and bring back the lifetime limit
Lets hope so. I completely agree with the state subsidising peoples retirement but only up to a comfortable level around normal retirement age. Why on earth are we subsidising the supposedly most productive, often trained at our expense like doctors, to retire at 50 still on top 20% of the population level earnings post retirement.
The problem with the highest paid medics is that whatever we do provides perverse incentives. Tax them at the current tax rates without pension relief, and they may well look at the current marginal tax rates, realise they could get paid 3/4 of their current take home pay to only work 3 days a week and spend the rest of the week improving their golf swing.
Given them pension relief, and they get to about 50, pay the mortgage off, and either go part-time or retire.
Fundementally, if you can arrange to earn enough by the time you're 50 to pay for a comfortable lifestyle for the rest of your life, for a lot of people, why would you keep on working? But the logical conclusion to that is that the only fix to make them work longer is to pay doctors less - which just means they trot off to Australia in even greater numbers.
I think what all this illustrates most plainly is the folly of progressively increasing tax rates; if income tax was a flat 20% rather than progressive bands, then incentives to drop to 3 days a week become much weaker, as do the incentives to load up the pension and retire earlier.
The other side of the coin is that the cost of doctors is a function of supply and demand; there is no shortage of applicants for medical school, but because we restrict training (because training doctors is expensive) supply of doctors is very limited. What we could do with is training more doctors (increasing supply, so they will cost less to hire), but then somehow saddle them with the cost of their training in such a way that if they go abroad or decide to retire at 50 they have to pay it back in full. As for how we might actually do that, answers on a postcard...
With doctors I don't think it is particularly complicated.
We should train a lot more (close to double), pay them a bit more earlier on, a bit less as they get older, a lot less and use them less when contracting rather than salaried, and give them less pension relief.
According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Funny old world.
Ha ha, you voted Green in the last election you bampot
Fake news. Get your facts right before posting untruths on here.
Ha ha, you go first
You are the one that claims to be a "Lifelong Labour Voter", not me. Your then spreading lies about me doesn't help your cause.
Why not just come clean?
You did not vote labour in 2019. How is that a lie ?
Suggestions he will replace their candidate in Clacton who is in trouble for letting the mask slip and posting things that were anti-Semitic. Of course Nige isn’t immune to the odd tiny bit of racism adjacent rabble rousing.
Clacton is undoubtedly their best seat so it's strange Tice isn't standing there. Maybe because there was always an idea that Farage might slip in there.
Yes, and he will do the media rounds pretending that he’s answering an overwhelming number of calls to stand and playing the patriotic duty card. The MSM will swallow the bullshit wholesale and the GB News anchors will line up to metaphorically fellate him. Depressing and nauseating in equal measure.
Oh stop whining: Farage is playing politics. Its what politicians do. He’s just better at it than most
LOL Is that why he failed SEVEN times to get elected to Westminster?
We Brexited because of Farage. He’s probably the most consequential British politician since thatcher. You may despise him and abhor his views - fair enough - but these claims he is some kind of failure are absurd. Its like the twattish claim upthread that Trump is a bad businessman and bad politician
That’s Trump, the billionaire businessman who became the most powerful politician in the world
We Brexited because of 17.4 million voters.
Farage played a bit of a role in that. A minor, supporting role alongside many other politicians that backed Brexit.
It is a total rewriting of history to suggest it is all Farage. Farage is so toxic he was quite rightly excluded from Vote Leave, had it been a Farage-led campaign to back Brexit then Remain would have won handsomely.
David Cameron pledged his in/out referendum not after the rise of UKIP, but after a mass rebellion on his own benches from politicians on his own benches that demanded it. He needed to placate his own MPs. Actual elected-to-Parliament Members of Parliament unlike the seven time failure Nigel Farage who was never an MP.
Similarly Trump is a bad politician. You can both be an elected politician and a bad one. Trump is so bad he barely scraped election against the awful politician Hillary Clinton - and then so failed in office that he failed to get re-elected against Biden who had himself been deemed too old and to weak to run for office four years earlier.
Trump joins Carter, widely regarded as a bad politician in office, in being one of only two Presidents since the start of the 20th century who failed to win re-election, when they had the first term* back in office for their party.
* George HW Bush for instance failed to get re-elected but he followed two Reagan terms, so was seeking a fourth term in a row for the Republicans not a second term.
Delusional. No Farage no Brexit. But I know it helps you sleep at night to think that he was incidental to the whole thing. Why for example do you think there was a mass rebellion on the Cons benches. Because of pressure from UKIP/Farage.
There was a mass rebellion on the Cons benches for the same reason there were rebellions and/or a major strength of feeling on the Cons benches in Europe in both the 90s and 00s, predating any of us even hearing of Nigel Farage.
Farage successfully tapped into that feeling at EU elections but he didn't create it, it already existed.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
Oh give over. There's a big bloody tidal river between them.
I lived there for six years. They operate entirely as a single entity, with numerous river crossings. There is a tidal river in London too – doesn't make it two cities.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
If the answer to the question Cui Bono has to be Nigel Farage then I would imagine nothing short of a senior position in the Cons party with a safe (!) seat to boot would be acceptable.
Nige must look back on the last two decades of his unprecedented electoral success and wonder what he could do to top it. Standing for election in Fuckborough can surely not come close to defining the political destiny of a country to the extent that he was able to in 2016.
I see that Leon and I are of rare accord on this one. Anyone who thinks Farage is not one of the most successful or effective politicians of our age has no right to be commenting on PB.
There is no evidence that Farage helped the Vote Leave campaign. It depends how far back you want to go. It could certainly be argued that he and his party's success put pressure on Cameron to hold the referendum but none that he personally affected the result. The Referendum was won by Cummings and Johnson and the insipidity of Corbyn and Cameron. Farage played no useful part after the referendum was called.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
It goes back earlier still - the Clarion Cycling Clubs which you still occasionally see around have their origin in 1890s socialist campaigns, and there were rambling and choir parts of the same movement. There was a big hoohah a couple of years ago when the remnants of the club finally took out mention of socialism from their constitution.
Ditto on the right. Scouting and nationalism/imperialism. The Nazis loved a bit of camping. Kibbo kift were quite odd
Blimey. The Woodcraft Folk were odd enough, and they were Kibbo Kift with the strange bits removed. (I was one, despite coming from a respectable Conservative household. The waiting list to join was shorter than for the Scouts.)
But- different times. Imagine youth groups split by political worldview today.
"The PM is in Henley campaigning and chatting to rowers ahead of the Regatta. Right behind him…a boat full of Lib Dem’s appeared"
If the Tories are campaigning with their big guns in Henley then they really are in deep shit.
Only if they fall in the River Thames.
(It's actually pretty optimistic for them. Henley is only 125 on their defence list, it falls on an 11% swing. If you offered that to CCHQ- holding more than 250 seats- they would be adivsed take it before the fates changed their mind.)
I didn't realise that. I had assumed it was rock solid safe.
Still off-topic my photo of the day is 30 years of discrimination in plain sight. This is slightly nerd.
I did a gentle audit on the Stockley Trail near the M1 J29 on Sunday; it is a 2 mile stretch of the former Midland Railway with goodies such as a couple of nature reserves and mountain bike tracks, rail gradient pathways and so on.
It has been advertised as a "multiuser path for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users" for about 3 decades. The piccie below is the car park, showing disabled spaces, and barriers preventing access to the trail by mobility aid. These are also vintage mid-1990s. The only alternative for mobility aid users is to wheel yourself through a bush, a hole in the fence, and over rough, unfinished tarmac.
At the other end of the trail the lane has 6 full width road humps - uncomfortable or unusable in a mobility aid without a motor vehicle. The implicit model is "bring your wheelchair using relative, or your dog, or your children, in the car, and take them for a walk".
The really ironic thing is that all the rest is good - farmgates and 1.5m gaps wide side by side all the way - if you can get into the end of it. I never understand why these aren't thought through, and never joined up in the head of the designers, or on the ground. Plus there's miles more of ex-railway joined to the end of this. We have a network of ex-railways covering most of the country that could be superb.
Fortunately, unusually here the whole thing is dedicated as a Bridleway (Glapwell BW1, Ault Hucknall BW23, Scarsdale BW38) - which hardly ever happens for these trails.
I need to see how Derbyshire County Council react to being told that their road humps (and the barriers in the photo) are an unlawful obstruction on a public highway under S137 of the Highways Act 1980, and must have a 1.5m flat route created through them. Easy to say, difficult to make happen if they drag their feet.
Do we know exactly what polls etc. are expected today? So far, I've got it as:
YouGov/Sky News MRP: 5pm More in Common MRP Redfield & Wilton 10,000 Mega Poll: 3pm
According to Sam Freedman there are two other polls being released today.
Just want to plan my day accordingly...
Deltapoll and JL Partners I'd imagine
Maybe that explains why there has been a sharp movement in Betfair's market on the number of Tory seats. The band 50-99 is now clear favorite at 2.76 [last pricematched].
According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Funny old world.
Ha ha, you voted Green in the last election you bampot
Fake news. Get your facts right before posting untruths on here.
Ha ha, you go first
You are the one that claims to be a "Lifelong Labour Voter", not me. Your then spreading lies about me doesn't help your cause.
Why not just come clean?
You did not vote labour in 2019. How is that a lie ?
Nor did I vote Green. Which was a lie, by you.
Hardly a lie. It was an error, but (unlike me at every General Election I have participated in) you did not vote labour in 2019.
Suggestions he will replace their candidate in Clacton who is in trouble for letting the mask slip and posting things that were anti-Semitic. Of course Nige isn’t immune to the odd tiny bit of racism adjacent rabble rousing.
Clacton is undoubtedly their best seat so it's strange Tice isn't standing there. Maybe because there was always an idea that Farage might slip in there.
Yes, and he will do the media rounds pretending that he’s answering an overwhelming number of calls to stand and playing the patriotic duty card. The MSM will swallow the bullshit wholesale and the GB News anchors will line up to metaphorically fellate him. Depressing and nauseating in equal measure.
Oh stop whining: Farage is playing politics. Its what politicians do. He’s just better at it than most
LOL Is that why he failed SEVEN times to get elected to Westminster?
We Brexited because of Farage. He’s probably the most consequential British politician since thatcher. You may despise him and abhor his views - fair enough - but these claims he is some kind of failure are absurd. Its like the twattish claim upthread that Trump is a bad businessman and bad politician
That’s Trump, the billionaire businessman who became the most powerful politician in the world
We Brexited because of 17.4 million voters.
Farage played a bit of a role in that. A minor, supporting role alongside many other politicians that backed Brexit.
It is a total rewriting of history to suggest it is all Farage. Farage is so toxic he was quite rightly excluded from Vote Leave, had it been a Farage-led campaign to back Brexit then Remain would have won handsomely.
David Cameron pledged his in/out referendum not after the rise of UKIP, but after a mass rebellion on his own benches from politicians on his own benches that demanded it. He needed to placate his own MPs. Actual elected-to-Parliament Members of Parliament unlike the seven time failure Nigel Farage who was never an MP.
Similarly Trump is a bad politician. You can both be an elected politician and a bad one. Trump is so bad he barely scraped election against the awful politician Hillary Clinton - and then so failed in office that he failed to get re-elected against Biden who had himself been deemed too old and to weak to run for office four years earlier.
Trump joins Carter, widely regarded as a bad politician in office, in being one of only two Presidents since the start of the 20th century who failed to win re-election, when they had the first term* back in office for their party.
* George HW Bush for instance failed to get re-elected but he followed two Reagan terms, so was seeking a fourth term in a row for the Republicans not a second term.
Delusional. No Farage no Brexit. But I know it helps you sleep at night to think that he was incidental to the whole thing. Why for example do you think there was a mass rebellion on the Cons benches. Because of pressure from UKIP/Farage.
There was a mass rebellion on the Cons benches for the same reason there were rebellions and/or a major strength of feeling on the Cons benches in Europe in both the 90s and 00s, predating any of us even hearing of Nigel Farage.
Farage successfully tapped into that feeling at EU elections but he didn't create it, it already existed.
The fact that it already existed before Farage is a point in favour of Farage being a decisive factor, not against it.
Suggestions he will replace their candidate in Clacton who is in trouble for letting the mask slip and posting things that were anti-Semitic. Of course Nige isn’t immune to the odd tiny bit of racism adjacent rabble rousing.
Clacton is undoubtedly their best seat so it's strange Tice isn't standing there. Maybe because there was always an idea that Farage might slip in there.
Yes, and he will do the media rounds pretending that he’s answering an overwhelming number of calls to stand and playing the patriotic duty card. The MSM will swallow the bullshit wholesale and the GB News anchors will line up to metaphorically fellate him. Depressing and nauseating in equal measure.
Oh stop whining: Farage is playing politics. Its what politicians do. He’s just better at it than most
LOL Is that why he failed SEVEN times to get elected to Westminster?
We Brexited because of Farage. He’s probably the most consequential British politician since thatcher. You may despise him and abhor his views - fair enough - but these claims he is some kind of failure are absurd. Its like the twattish claim upthread that Trump is a bad businessman and bad politician
That’s Trump, the billionaire businessman who became the most powerful politician in the world
We Brexited because of 17.4 million voters.
Farage played a bit of a role in that. A minor, supporting role alongside many other politicians that backed Brexit.
It is a total rewriting of history to suggest it is all Farage. Farage is so toxic he was quite rightly excluded from Vote Leave, had it been a Farage-led campaign to back Brexit then Remain would have won handsomely.
David Cameron pledged his in/out referendum not after the rise of UKIP, but after a mass rebellion on his own benches from politicians on his own benches that demanded it. He needed to placate his own MPs. Actual elected-to-Parliament Members of Parliament unlike the seven time failure Nigel Farage who was never an MP.
Similarly Trump is a bad politician. You can both be an elected politician and a bad one. Trump is so bad he barely scraped election against the awful politician Hillary Clinton - and then so failed in office that he failed to get re-elected against Biden who had himself been deemed too old and to weak to run for office four years earlier.
Trump joins Carter, widely regarded as a bad politician in office, in being one of only two Presidents since the start of the 20th century who failed to win re-election, when they had the first term* back in office for their party.
* George HW Bush for instance failed to get re-elected but he followed two Reagan terms, so was seeking a fourth term in a row for the Republicans not a second term.
Delusional. No Farage no Brexit. But I know it helps you sleep at night to think that he was incidental to the whole thing. Why for example do you think there was a mass rebellion on the Cons benches. Because of pressure from UKIP/Farage.
There was a mass rebellion on the Cons benches for the same reason there were rebellions and/or a major strength of feeling on the Cons benches in Europe in both the 90s and 00s, predating any of us even hearing of Nigel Farage.
Farage successfully tapped into that feeling at EU elections but he didn't create it, it already existed.
The fact that it already existed before Farage is a point in favour of Farage being a decisive factor, not against it.
No, its a big point against it.
Farage jumped on a bandwagon.
That's what populists tend to do. Find a cause and try to claim it for your own.
Euroscepticism runs much deeper, much wider and much healthier than Nigel effing Farage.
According to Politico this morning, Kemi Badenoch "will play a more active role in the Conservative campaign" from now on.
But a senior Tory source tells HuffPost UK: "She needs to be locked in a fridge away from normal people."
The appeal of Bad Enoch is lost on me and, it seems, most of the public. She is a wooden, uninspiring performer and was entirely mute as Biz Sec for months/years. Can someone explain what she has that some see in her?
"Bad Enoch" most witty. There really is no beginning to your talents, is there.
Another example of the ‘Lifelong Labour Voter’ being easily triggered by a tease of his purported opponents.
Funny old world.
Ha ha, you voted Green in the last election you bampot
Fake news. Get your facts right before posting untruths on here.
Ha ha, you go first
You are the one that claims to be a "Lifelong Labour Voter", not me. Your then spreading lies about me doesn't help your cause.
Why not just come clean?
You did not vote labour in 2019. How is that a lie ?
Nor did I vote Green. Which was a lie, by you.
Hardly a lie. It was an error, but (unlike me at every General Election I have participated in) you did not vote labour in 2019.
I have never claimed to be a lifelong Labour voter – that is my point!
But, I'm happy to accept you made a simple error. Okay – it's forgotten.
@christopherhope NEW A Farage sized stone has just dropped into the becalmed election pond on Monday morning. Very senior figures in Reform UK have been blindsided by Nigel Farage's statement at 4pm. One friend of Farage tells me it will either be an electoral pact with the Tories (unlikely) or an about-turn on standing at the electionn (more likely). The deadline for nominations is imminent. Farage himself is not answering his phone. Watch the drama play out at 4pm on @GBNEWS .
If it's the latter, I almost feel sorry for Sunak.
Only a few days ago:
Isabel Oakeshott @IsabelOakeshott · May 29 Richard Tice is Leader of @reformparty_uk and there won’t be any deals with the Tory party. End of.
Perhaps he's going to stand in Sunak's constituency!
Farage standing in Sunak's constituency was my guess too, but only after Rishi stands down, so if the Tories call an emergency press conference for half past three...
I think Farage was instrumental in the Brexit vote. It was, lest we forget, a close result - and at the time he displayed a knack for reaching voters other politicians, particularly Tories, couldn’t (Boris’ appeal at that stage with those voters being somewhat nascent and nothing near what he was able to do by 2019).
But the other thing about Farage is he now has more baggage than Heathrow Airport and I remain unconvinced he is the populist right’s great hope. He already has vast swathes of the population turned against him. I have been very clear on here that I do expect the populist right to emerge as a significant force in British politics in the coming years - but if they’re looking for a figure to take them to new highs, Farage ain’t it.
Agree. Newcastle and the surrounding area have all the ingredients of a really successful city region. Already got the metro and some cycle infrastructure that could be expanded. Stunning city centre, unique topography with the big drop to the river (Edinburgh-esque). Direct line to London. Weather isn't too bad either on the east coast.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
Oh give over. There's a big bloody tidal river between them.
I lived there for six years. They operate entirely as a single entity, with numerous river crossings. There is a tidal river in London too – doesn't make it two cities.
There's a genuine cultural divide though. Folk like me who were brought up in Hackney seldom went south of the river, except to Epsom for the racing or Brighton for dirty weekends.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
Out of curiosity, do you think the same applies to Liverpool and Birkenhead?
Those are most definitely separate.
The fact there's only one tunnel that directly links the two and zero bridges is a big part in the lack of integration. Contrast with London that has 35 bridges crossing the Thames.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
Isn't this just how things work in life? The groups around Palestine, Trans, LGBT, Rights and Active Travel are at least in part because those are the current emphases in Green Party community - some short term, some long term - and the Green Party is one of the focus points ("Communities grow where networks intersect" - Bishop Graham Cray iirc). 20 years ago you would have had homeopathy as well.
Similar in the different non-conformist and socialist and utilitarian traditions in Trade Unionism.
Equally in access and active travel we have the Paternalistic / Aristocratic tradition (eg Octavia Hill, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley who founded the NT), and Mass Trespass ("it's OUR countryside too) and others more associated with the Ramblers. Cycling is probably more on the aristo side of that from the early (Victorian) days when cyclists were campaigning for better roads.
One divide I notice now that I always try to bridge is between Urban type activists, who have noticed the Equality Act, and are starting to use that in getting illegal anti-wheelchair barriers removed one on side; and the Rambler type people who know about Right of Way law but are mainly rural.
The urban ones understand accessibility and Equality Law. The rural ones understand Rights of Way law. They need joining up.
One interesting quirk which I need to chip away at is that the Ramblers' "Path Accessibility Fund" is proudly replacing styles with gates which are not wheelchair or mobility scooter accessible, and wheelchair / scooter rambling have been transformed in the last 2 decades. I think sometimes this makes accessible paths inaccessible, but does not matter if the basic path is not accessible.
They have done 250 gates in @Foxy 's country in the Isle of Wight alone. I've started talking out loud about this, but it's a sensitive issue needing raising careful. It will come up against the usual "but look what WE'VE done for YOU; can't you be grateful?" statements. https://campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2023/05/14/isle-of-wight-ramblers-250th-gate/
I think Farage was instrumental in the Brexit vote. It was, lest we forget, a close result - and at the time he displayed a knack for reaching voters other politicians, particularly Tories, couldn’t (Boris’ appeal at that stage with those voters being somewhat nascent and nothing near what he was able to do by 2019).
But the other thing about Farage is he now has more baggage than Heathrow Airport and I remain unconvinced he is the populist right’s great hope. He already has vast swathes of the population turned against him. I have been very clear on here that I do expect the populist right to emerge as a significant force in British politics in the coming years - but if they’re looking for a figure to take them to new highs, Farage ain’t it.
Farage was the Godfather of Brexit and for me that's appropriate because the core spirit of Brexit (although not all Leavers share it) is the spirit of Farage. It was a project of the Populist Right.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
Only very loosely related, but I passed our very own Palestine camp on my way into the Uni this morning. Looked a bit forlorn really, about fifteen people waving some flags and chanting something along the lines of "What do we want?..."
Was before 9 though, so maybe worth me checking back later. They were making an impressive amount of noise for the size of the group. I pity those in offices nearby.
More related - yes, I know what you mean. Two members of the group that stopped the train* on it's way to Drax tried to recruit me to that effort, one through a climbing group and one through a student committee.
*https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/jun/14/activists.carbonemissions (The nature of the thing I was being invited to was not disclosed to me - just that it was direct action, non-violent, with high likelihood of arrest. They were later all acquitted, I think due to the involvement of under cover police)
Luke Akehurst, a shoe in to be Durham North's next MP, has been harangued by pro Palestine protesters during his campaign over the weekend including turning up to this campaign HQ in Pelton Fell with flags and lots of chants.
A competitive Gaza-based campaign in North Durham would have been interesting, but it doesn't seem to be fertile ground for one.
When you say “Gaza-based campaign” do you mean the UK Government should level it?
Or perhaps a Newcastle-based candidate with Orange Order connections who cries at the end.
Point of pedantry: Gazza is from Gateshead, not Newcastle.
Same place. The idea that they are two separate towns is parochial nonsense.
Out of curiosity, do you think the same applies to Liverpool and Birkenhead?
Those are most definitely separate.
The fact there's only one tunnel that directly links the two and zero bridges is a big part in the lack of integration. Contrast with London that has 35 bridges crossing the Thames.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
@KateEMcCann Ooof. Kemi Badenoch accuses @StigAbell of inviting her on @TimesRadio breakfast under “false pretences” because he asked her about … social care. After asking her about equalities for 80 per cent of the interview. Asking Cabinet ministers about election manifesto policy definitely isn’t off limits… usually.
How people see Badenoch as leadership material is beyond me. She really really doesn’t have it. At least Penny Mordaunt has charm.
It’s because she is willing to spout the claptrap that a significant portion of idiot Tories are signed up to. What stuns me is the way certain Tory politicians take the GB news shilling and certain Tory supporters fall over themselves to big up that outlet when their agenda is antithetical to the survival of an electable Tory party.
I think she's bang-on with identity politics.
Whether she's ready to be leader is another matter.
I’d say that aspects of the analysis are correct, the solutions that are proposed are more problematic. I have no issues with ensuring that biological women have proper protection in single sex spaces but too often rather than treat the problem as bad actors in the trans space the likes of Kemi and her ilk give the impression that Trans people are nothing but bad actors. That’s wrong and won’t help anyone get to the right place on this issue.
I have remarkably little interest in the Trans issue, which I imagine is the same of most people.
It's the broader point of judging people and weighting their experiences/views by what identity group they're in that I think is a problem. Even talking about it too much can reinforce it.
I was watching a youtube Warhammer video the other day which, if you can believe it, started talking about identity politics in an interesting way, in the context of geek fandom.
Essentially, I think we're Donald Ducked. Social media, even back to the Usenet days, is a huge engine for creating identity-based groups. The pandemic gave a good kicking to in-person socialisation that would act to balance it.
Identity-based social grouping creates a sense of being an embattled and victimised minority, it damages broader social empathy, and creates an atomised society of mutually antagonistic identity groups.
Albeit, social majorities acting in the name of unity and homogeneity have done the same, and worse. The twentieth century was riddled with atrocities done by those with that mindset. Treating people well seems like a better guideline than trying to live without any social identity, and a lot more strategically sustainable in case the bad guys really are trying to destroy your group.
Yeah. Clearly I can't get a perfect account of my nuanced position across in this format, and a balance between the two extremes is warranted. There have definitely been some genuinely marginalised minority groups that have benefited a lot from the internet's ability to allow people with niche interests and minority identities to find each other.
But if everyone's identity reduces down only to which minority identity groups they are a member of (me = cyclist, aspie, knitter, mathmo, wargamer, geek, ecosocialist, hiker), and no shared identity on a larger scale (me = English, British, Democrat, European, Human) then I think we have a serious problem.
In particular, if a lot of those minority identity groups have no history of meaningful victimisation, but create a feeling of victimisation through the online expression of that identity group, which is particularly the case with geek fandom, and, say, drivers.
These minority interest groups get more interesting when attempts are made to build bridges between them. For example, I am very active in active travel and hiking/climbing groups. Both groups have large crossovers to LGBT, pro-Palestine, drug using communities, and it's often assumed that I would be interested in those too.
I'm sympathetic to their needs and objectives, but begrudge that assumption and get very irritated when I see Palestine flags all over the place when I'm trying to solve a problem like dooring, or trying to work out if a particular carabiner is incompatible with a belay device.
I like climbing. But I find it weirdly fixated on identity politics. Both indoor climbing centres I frequent have LGBTQ+ nights. One of them runs a 'free climbing for ethnic minorities' scheme (no idea how this is policed, but I can imagine it could lead to some quite awkward conversations.) One of them has the trans flag everywhere. I don't see why there should be a link. Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
It goes back earlier still - the Clarion Cycling Clubs which you still occasionally see around have their origin in 1890s socialist campaigns, and there were rambling and choir parts of the same movement. There was a big hoohah a couple of years ago when the remnants of the club finally took out mention of socialism from their constitution.
Ditto on the right. Scouting and nationalism/imperialism. The Nazis loved a bit of camping. Kibbo kift were quite odd
They really were. You can't read their 1930s folksong anthem without thinking it's got a bit of proto-fascism about it:
"All Hael! All Hael! We wield the lashing flail, That beats the golden life out of all things stale. We come, we come, we come, the Kibbo Kift, Children of the Fire and the wide world's drift. Whoso wrong our fiery throng stuns. We are the strong ones, we the Kibbo Kift, We come, we come, we come, the Kibbo Kift, Children of the Fire and the wide world's drift."
Rolf Gardiner (who wrote this) was kind of the missing link between Morris dancing and Nazi eugenics. Which is a sentence I never thought I'd write. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Gardiner
“Newcastle” - a prosperous university city, market town and communication and retail centre, enjoys some superb Georgian and early Victorian architecture (29 Grade I listed, 49 Grade II*)
It often gets confused with the wider Tyneside region - so some think “Jarrow March” when they hear of it.
Oh well, more space for those who know to enjoy it.
Separately I was slightly surprised to see Brighton having the second highest population density after London - the Georgians knew how to build high density and still create pleasant cities.
Very few of those directly affected would have been likely to vote Tory, so unlikely to change many people's voting intention - but it will further add to the general feeling of chaos and decline.
The Tories desperately need to find a couple of good news stories before the postal votes go out, but it's hard to see where they're going to come from.
Comments
Funny old world.
So when people say Musk is an idiot, Trump is a bad politician, Farage is a serial loser, they aren't wholly wrong. And pointing out the opposite also isn't wholly wrong. You can't sum anyone up in such simple terms. Except for Leon. Leon's a prat.
A necessary response to the tedious trope of 'Nazi uniforms were so sexy & stylish, they were designed by Hugo Boss you know'
On the latter point, the Wokingham Cons have selected someone who seems to be confused as to whether she is fighting Woking or Wokingham. She previously also stood for Henley so I'm guessing as no local connections at all.
Generally seems a bad move as she is fighting a LD local champion (unless the Cons are writing it off and giving her experience)
When Dave & George faced off against Ed and Ed 2 years ago... they basically had very little to no work experience outside politics between them...
Whatever you think of their politics - Starmer, Sunak, Reeves and Hunt have had previous careers outside politics.
Sunak? Hmmm. Pretty narrow fund management stuff.
Hunt? Yes.
Reeves? Five minutes in the BoE and then some retail banking. So, sort of, but nothing massively impressive.
Maybe outdoor climbing is different - I don't know.
My Dad tells me however that back in the 1960s there was quite a big crossover between hiking, climbing, folk music and left wing politics. So it's not a new thing.
https://x.com/joseph_gellman/status/1797547988379955603
So while I have some sympathy with the view Farage was less important once the vote was called, as it’s you saying it I am reduced to helpless laughter, with an edge of cruel mockery. Which is a shame
Go and have a lie down and think of a chip n pin machine.
Note that that’s not the same thing as Remain losing.
Osborne, Cameron & Miliband didn't have 6 years of outside politics work experience between them when they started as MPs.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/nick-clegg-bankrolls-lib-dems-in-old-seat/ar-BB1nu9nc?ocid=winp2fptaskbarent&cvid=f9139967802b4c59ab32100e02e61b03&ei=21&sc=shoreline
The one thing I was hoping was we would not be flooded with these crackpots.
I follow him now on social media and any post he makes about his campaign is immediately followed with a deluge of stuff calling him all sorts. All to do with Israel and Gaza.
Totally obscuring any message about the seat.
https://x.com/CiaranFitz_/status/1797586319864189317
"The PM is in Henley campaigning and chatting to rowers ahead of the Regatta. Right behind him…a boat full of Lib Dem’s appeared"
https://newcastlegateshead.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUej2pWLUUc
Given them pension relief, and they get to about 50, pay the mortgage off, and either go part-time or retire.
Fundementally, if you can arrange to earn enough by the time you're 50 to pay for a comfortable lifestyle for the rest of your life, for a lot of people, why would you keep on working? But the logical conclusion to that is that the only fix to make them work longer is to pay doctors less - which just means they trot off to Australia in even greater numbers.
I think what all this illustrates most plainly is the folly of progressively increasing tax rates; if income tax was a flat 20% rather than progressive bands, then incentives to drop to 3 days a week become much weaker, as do the incentives to load up the pension and retire earlier.
The other side of the coin is that the cost of doctors is a function of supply and demand; there is no shortage of applicants for medical school, but because we restrict training (because training doctors is expensive) supply of doctors is very limited. What we could do with is training more doctors (increasing supply, so they will cost less to hire), but then somehow saddle them with the cost of their training in such a way that if they go abroad or decide to retire at 50 they have to pay it back in full. As for how we might actually do that, answers on a postcard...
The highlight was them defensively assuring us that they were going to vote for Kim McGuinness as Greater Newcastle mayor. Then finding, last-minute, yet another reason not to!
It is, indeed, a very funny old world.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jun/14/keir-hardies-cycling-club-jettisons-socialism
Why not just come clean?
Gove is the more interesting one. Some of his political obituarists have rightly pointed out that he would argue for the slaughter of the firstborn if he thought it would own the libs, but in general, he's still seen as intelligent, polite and hardworking. But a large chunk of his career has been a failure.
Meanwhile, Farage keeps Faraging on. It's easier if you shout from the sidelines, rather than actually trying to build stuff.
'They think it's Moldova. Chisinau!'
To be fair, 11 years later a small parcel of my brain is still taken up by that useless fact, so the energetic chap had a point.
Here's a little something to brighten your day.
https://newcastle.gov.uk/services/parking-and-permits/car-parks-and-street-parking/cashless-parking
Quite how he collects it remains to be seen.
I did a gentle audit on the Stockley Trail near the M1 J29 on Sunday; it is a 2 mile stretch of the former Midland Railway with goodies such as a couple of nature reserves and mountain bike tracks, rail gradient pathways and so on.
It has been advertised as a "multiuser path for walkers, cyclists, horse riders and wheelchair users" for about 3 decades. The piccie below is the car park, showing disabled spaces, and barriers preventing access to the trail by mobility aid. These are also vintage mid-1990s. The only alternative for mobility aid users is to wheel yourself through a bush, a hole in the fence, and over rough, unfinished tarmac.
At the other end of the trail the lane has 6 full width road humps - uncomfortable or unusable in a mobility aid without a motor vehicle. The implicit model is "bring your wheelchair using relative, or your dog, or your children, in the car, and take them for a walk".
The really ironic thing is that all the rest is good - farmgates and 1.5m gaps wide side by side all the way - if you can get into the end of it. I never understand why these aren't thought through, and never joined up in the head of the designers, or on the ground. Plus there's miles more of ex-railway joined to the end of this. We have a network of ex-railways covering most of the country that could be superb.
Fortunately, unusually here the whole thing is dedicated as a Bridleway (Glapwell BW1, Ault Hucknall BW23, Scarsdale BW38) - which hardly ever happens for these trails.
I need to see how Derbyshire County Council react to being told that their road humps (and the barriers in the photo) are an unlawful obstruction on a public highway under S137 of the Highways Act 1980, and must have a 1.5m flat route created through them. Easy to say, difficult to make happen if they drag their feet.
The appropriate what3words for this pic is https://what3words.com/overcomes.frantic.slowness
(It's actually pretty optimistic for them. Henley is only 125 on their defence list, it falls on an 11% swing. If you offered that to CCHQ- holding more than 250 seats- they would be adivsed take it before the fates changed their mind.)
We should train a lot more (close to double), pay them a bit more earlier on, a bit less as they get older, a lot less and use them less when contracting rather than salaried, and give them less pension relief.
Farage successfully tapped into that feeling at EU elections but he didn't create it, it already existed.
Gateshead, County Durham.
Is it just me or the Lib Dems are nailing this campaign? Great massive Red Ensign too.
That's almost shocking enough to make me question my beliefs LOL.
But- different times. Imagine youth groups split by political worldview today.
In that context it looks sensible to be there.
Agree, as usual, on the substantive points.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_areas_in_the_United_Kingdom
Farage jumped on a bandwagon.
That's what populists tend to do. Find a cause and try to claim it for your own.
Euroscepticism runs much deeper, much wider and much healthier than Nigel effing Farage.
But, I'm happy to accept you made a simple error. Okay – it's forgotten.
But the other thing about Farage is he now has more baggage than Heathrow Airport and I remain unconvinced he is the populist right’s great hope. He already has vast swathes of the population turned against him. I have been very clear on here that I do expect the populist right to emerge as a significant force in British politics in the coming years - but if they’re looking for a figure to take them to new highs, Farage ain’t it.
Should've been the centre piece of levelling up.
So is Gateshead.
The fact there's only one tunnel that directly links the two and zero bridges is a big part in the lack of integration. Contrast with London that has 35 bridges crossing the Thames.
Similar in the different non-conformist and socialist and utilitarian traditions in Trade Unionism.
Equally in access and active travel we have the Paternalistic / Aristocratic tradition (eg Octavia Hill, Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley who founded the NT), and Mass Trespass ("it's OUR countryside too) and others more associated with the Ramblers. Cycling is probably more on the aristo side of that from the early (Victorian) days when cyclists were campaigning for better roads.
One divide I notice now that I always try to bridge is between Urban type activists, who have noticed the Equality Act, and are starting to use that in getting illegal anti-wheelchair barriers removed one on side; and the Rambler type people who know about Right of Way law but are mainly rural.
The urban ones understand accessibility and Equality Law. The rural ones understand Rights of Way law. They need joining up.
One interesting quirk which I need to chip away at is that the Ramblers' "Path Accessibility Fund" is proudly replacing styles with gates which are not wheelchair or mobility scooter accessible, and wheelchair / scooter rambling have been transformed in the last 2 decades. I think sometimes this makes accessible paths inaccessible, but does not matter if the basic path is not accessible.
They have done 250 gates in @Foxy 's country in the Isle of Wight alone. I've started talking out loud about this, but it's a sensitive issue needing raising careful. It will come up against the usual "but look what WE'VE done for YOU; can't you be grateful?" statements.
https://campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2023/05/14/isle-of-wight-ramblers-250th-gate/
Lab lead ranging from 12 to 27
Ave lead calculated as Mean Average 21.12
Median Lead 22
Modal lead 23
Data from UK Polling Wiki
Raw Data 22, 14, 22, 12, 17, 27, 23, 23, 23, 27, 19, 16, 20, 25, 24, 20, 25
"All Hael! All Hael! We wield the lashing flail,
That beats the golden life out of all things stale.
We come, we come, we come, the Kibbo Kift,
Children of the Fire and the wide world's drift.
Whoso wrong our fiery throng stuns.
We are the strong ones, we the Kibbo Kift,
We come, we come, we come, the Kibbo Kift,
Children of the Fire and the wide world's drift."
Rolf Gardiner (who wrote this) was kind of the missing link between Morris dancing and Nazi eugenics. Which is a sentence I never thought I'd write. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolf_Gardiner
If you can't take the piss, are you even British?
It often gets confused with the wider Tyneside region - so some think “Jarrow March” when they hear of it.
Oh well, more space for those who know to enjoy it.
Separately I was slightly surprised to see Brighton having the second highest population density after London - the Georgians knew how to build high density and still create pleasant cities.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ceqqv249gn6o
Very few of those directly affected would have been likely to vote Tory, so unlikely to change many people's voting intention - but it will further add to the general feeling of chaos and decline.
The Tories desperately need to find a couple of good news stories before the postal votes go out, but it's hard to see where they're going to come from.