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The greatest resurrection of all time. There’s more Liz Truss leadership talk – politicalbetting.com

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  • BlancheLivermoreBlancheLivermore Posts: 6,261
    Just got an exciting looking email

    "You have been selected!

    We have a surprise for Currys Costumers.."

    A job in wardrobe on the Rocky Horror Picture Show?
  • isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    I wasn't looking to take offence, and didn't find it polite or reasonable. So where does that leave us?

    I have just told you that I wasn't looking to take offence, and I am not lying.

    Why do you want to carry it on so much, when you must surely know that I am not going to give an inch?

    Because I find it strange and am browsing PB killing time while my sushi rice cooks, and not much else is being discussed. If you could name literally a single thing impolite or unreasonable about it, I'd drop it.

    My house has a tradition that as a family we make sushi on Easter Sunday.
    Just drop it anyway
    I'll take that as an implicit acceptance you can't name anything impolite or unreasonable about it.

    Thank you.
    Honestly, are you that pathetic?

    I said an hour or so ago that we should drop it because we wont agree, and it could drag on for weeks, I then told you I wasn't looking for offence and did find it impolite and unreasonable, then confirmed that I wasn't lying when you wouldn't believe me, whilst repeatedly asking you to drop it, and yet you won't just leave it.

    Do you need to feel like you won so much that I should pretend that you have caught me out so that you feel good about yourself? You are a grown man I believe, so try and accept that you are being told to go away
    Is this your first day on pedantic betting. People not letting things lie is kind of the modus operandi of this site.

    And if you had a single impolite or unreasonable thing to name, you could do so in far fewer characters than what you just wrote. But you don't, so c'est la vie.

    Now my rice is cooling and I have what feels like 100 prawns to de-vein so logging off now. Enjoy the rest of your Easter.
  • isamisam Posts: 41,258

    isam said:

    CatMan said:

    isam said:

    DougSeal said:

    isam said:

    DougSeal said:

    Love to see how the Rightists on here spin this generous Easter message from SKS as being somehow “woke” or anti-Christian

    Wishing a very happy Easter to Christians across the UK and around the world, as they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    As we look to the future with hope, I want to thank Christians for their huge contributions to our country.


    https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/1913837531541459320?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q

    Exactly as @leon said. It’s like the PM of Pakistan addressing Muslims on an Islamic holiday as he were talking to tourists visiting for the weekend
    How? It is clearly a sincere celebration of the holiday from an excellent PM. Your shoehorning of some casual dog-whistle Islamophobia in there tells one all we need to know about your motivations here.

    As for @leon - even a Nobel Prize winning theoretical physicist thinks he’s a loser. Safely ignored.

    Edit: sorry - he never won the Nobel Prize. Point stands though.
    Islamophobia! How boring

    My motivation was that it seemed an strange way to address a country that until very recently considered itself Christian, and only doesn't now because of a mass immigration of non Christians that the Christians neither asked for or like much.

    I'd argue the decrease in Christianity is much more to do with the rise of Atheism/Agnosticism among the home grown population than mass immigration, especially since quite a lot of recent immigrants are if anything *more* Christian.
    That is a fair point, but if there had been no immigration of non Christians, and England were simply Christian or Atheist as a result of declining belief in God, I don't think politicians such as Starmer would be so mealy mouthed
    There’s a plaque in York commemorating the 1190 pogrom of Jews there. So at least we know that when isam bemoans the immigration of non-Christians, he is carrying on a very old tradition. Maybe in another thousand years, we will have finally grown out of the sentiment.
    Oh, jolly good
  • isamisam Posts: 41,258
    edited April 20

    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    I wasn't looking to take offence, and didn't find it polite or reasonable. So where does that leave us?

    I have just told you that I wasn't looking to take offence, and I am not lying.

    Why do you want to carry it on so much, when you must surely know that I am not going to give an inch?

    Because I find it strange and am browsing PB killing time while my sushi rice cooks, and not much else is being discussed. If you could name literally a single thing impolite or unreasonable about it, I'd drop it.

    My house has a tradition that as a family we make sushi on Easter Sunday.
    Just drop it anyway
    I'll take that as an implicit acceptance you can't name anything impolite or unreasonable about it.

    Thank you.
    Honestly, are you that pathetic?

    I said an hour or so ago that we should drop it because we wont agree, and it could drag on for weeks, I then told you I wasn't looking for offence and did find it impolite and unreasonable, then confirmed that I wasn't lying when you wouldn't believe me, whilst repeatedly asking you to drop it, and yet you won't just leave it.

    Do you need to feel like you won so much that I should pretend that you have caught me out so that you feel good about yourself? You are a grown man I believe, so try and accept that you are being told to go away
    Is this your first day on pedantic betting. People not letting things lie is kind of the modus operandi of this site.

    And if you had a single impolite or unreasonable thing to name, you could do so in far fewer characters than what you just wrote. But you don't, so c'est la vie.

    Now my rice is cooling and I have what feels like 100 prawns to de-vein so logging off now. Enjoy the rest of your Easter.
    You not letting things go is one of the things I remember, to the extent that one of the sites best posters decided he couldn't stand it here any longer.

    Kid yourself you have a win if it is so important to you, it takes all sorts

    I like to be unique, and have offered a middle way of agreeing to disagree several times rather than carry it on. If you wont take it, so be it
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572
    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    isam said:

    I wasn't looking to take offence, and didn't find it polite or reasonable. So where does that leave us?

    I have just told you that I wasn't looking to take offence, and I am not lying.

    Why do you want to carry it on so much, when you must surely know that I am not going to give an inch?

    Because I find it strange and am browsing PB killing time while my sushi rice cooks, and not much else is being discussed. If you could name literally a single thing impolite or unreasonable about it, I'd drop it.

    My house has a tradition that as a family we make sushi on Easter Sunday.
    Just drop it anyway
    I'll take that as an implicit acceptance you can't name anything impolite or unreasonable about it.

    Thank you.
    Honestly, are you that pathetic?

    I said an hour or so ago that we should drop it because we wont agree, and it could drag on for weeks, I then told you I wasn't looking for offence and did find it impolite and unreasonable, then confirmed that I wasn't lying when you wouldn't believe me, whilst repeatedly asking you to drop it, and yet you won't just leave it.

    Do you need to feel like you won so much that I should pretend that you have caught me out so that you feel good about yourself? You are a grown man I believe, so try and accept that you are being told to go away
    Is this your first day on pedantic betting. People not letting things lie is kind of the modus operandi of this site.

    And if you had a single impolite or unreasonable thing to name, you could do so in far fewer characters than what you just wrote. But you don't, so c'est la vie.

    Now my rice is cooling and I have what feels like 100 prawns to de-vein so logging off now. Enjoy the rest of your Easter.
    You not letting things go is one of the things I remember, to the extent that one of the sites best posters decided he couldn't stand it here any longer.

    Kid yourself you have a win if it is so important to you, it takes all sorts

    I like to be unique, and have offered a middle way of agreeing to disagree several times rather than carry it on. If you wont take it, so be it
    Lastworditis is the besetting sin of PB.
    We should all make our repentance.

    (I acknowledge my own weakness in this respect.)
  • CarlottaVanceCarlottaVance Posts: 60,341
    Rejoice! For the They / Thems have risen. After being legally crucified by the Supreme Court last Wednesday, the trans faithful marched from Parliament Square in London yesterday in a display of devotion and defiance. It was a tantrum disguised as a protest over the court’s heresy – that the word ‘woman’ refers to a biological category, not a personal sense of gender.…

    The showstopper was a man from the Trans Legal Clinic. After explaining that ‘all cops are bastards’, he raged that despite his ‘double-D titties’, he’d been called ‘Sir’ by a police officer.


    https://www.spiked-online.com/2025/04/20/a-trans-activist-temper-tantrum/#google_vignette

  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,769

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    I know you don't want it.

    And the rest of your post is specious guff.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,769
    edited April 20

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Every Easter I get faked out by TV ads that make hot cross buns look absolutely delicious, buy a pack in anticipation, have a couple and then go "meh". And every year I forget that happened last year.

    You heathen. Nothing better than a toasted hot cross bun slathered in butter. Im so glad i dont recall the days they were a seasonal item.
    Hot cross buns are beaut - but must be eaten HOT and with that melting butter. Oooh
    And strawberry jam. As I had them for breakfast today!
    I think strawberry jam is gilding the lily - I am with Leon on this one. Actually to eat, i prefer the hot cross bun's larger and less religious cousin the toasted tea cake. Bigger, more crunch. But either are delicious. Must be with a cup of tea. And with indecent amounts of salted butter.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,151

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    It’s the latest argument for why 30 year planning disputes over infrastructure are a good thing.

    If you want to build a half mile of road/tram/cycleway in less than a generation, you are NuFascist.
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,325

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    In terms of practical political campaigning, it probably doesn't matter. It Trumpism fails (which right now, looks pretty likely), anyone wanting to get elected is going to have to explain very clearly how their agenda isn't Trumpism.

    "Radical anti-blobbery is a great idea that hasn't been tried properly" reminds me of the line about true socialism that never worked.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,636

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    We were discussing Liz Truss and her anti-Blob approach. Truss has made very clear her support for Trump and MAGA. So, I think it’s reasonable to presume that Trump’s approach is close to Truss’s.

    Indeed, we’ve now seen Truss’s anti-Blob approach crash the UK economy *and* Trump’s crash the global economy, so it’s 2 for 2. Actually, we could add in Erdoğan and make it 3 for 3…

    If you have a different anti-Blob approach, I would suggest, from a marketing point of view, you clearly distance yourself from Truss and Trump.
  • williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 54,769

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    We were discussing Liz Truss and her anti-Blob approach. Truss has made very clear her support for Trump and MAGA. So, I think it’s reasonable to presume that Trump’s approach is close to Truss’s.

    Indeed, we’ve now seen Truss’s anti-Blob approach crash the UK economy *and* Trump’s crash the global economy, so it’s 2 for 2. Actually, we could add in Erdoğan and make it 3 for 3…

    If you have a different anti-Blob approach, I would suggest, from a marketing point of view, you clearly distance yourself from Truss and Trump.
    You're conflating financial markets with the economy.
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,769

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    It’s the latest argument for why 30 year planning disputes over infrastructure are a good thing.

    If you want to build a half mile of road/tram/cycleway in less than a generation, you are NuFascist.
    It's quite tiring the non-stop projectile spewing of propaganda. Who knew that by being troubled by the cost, power and unnaccountability of our bloated state was in fact an endorsement of Donald Trump? And can we expect Tommy Robinson and Vladimir Putin to also join our ranks soon for the hattrick?
  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,769

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    We were discussing Liz Truss and her anti-Blob approach. Truss has made very clear her support for Trump and MAGA. So, I think it’s reasonable to presume that Trump’s approach is close to Truss’s.

    Indeed, we’ve now seen Truss’s anti-Blob approach crash the UK economy *and* Trump’s crash the global economy, so it’s 2 for 2. Actually, we could add in Erdoğan and make it 3 for 3…

    If you have a different anti-Blob approach, I would suggest, from a marketing point of view, you clearly distance yourself from Truss and Trump.
    You're conflating financial markets with the economy.
    He's also conflating his arse with his face, presumably because he has difficulty in establishing their relative whereabouts.
  • bondegezoubondegezou Posts: 13,636

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    It’s the latest argument for why 30 year planning disputes over infrastructure are a good thing.

    If you want to build a half mile of road/tram/cycleway in less than a generation, you are NuFascist.
    It's quite tiring the non-stop projectile spewing of propaganda. Who knew that by being troubled by the cost, power and unnaccountability of our bloated state was in fact an endorsement of Donald Trump? And can we expect Tommy Robinson and Vladimir Putin to also join our ranks soon for the hattrick?
    You’re defending Liz Truss, who has endorsed Donald Trump. It’s the endorsement of Donald Trump that tells me it’s an endorsement of Donald Trump.
  • stodgestodge Posts: 14,456
    Afternoon all :)

    First, Happy Easter to all on PB, whether contributor or lurker.

    Second, one or two getting very aerated about the Find Out Now MRP numbers. I had a look at the five Liberal Democrat "losses" - in four of them, the Conservative and LD percentages are the same so it's less than one per cent difference which is meaningless. The other LD loss is in Wales to Reform who are going to surge from 14% to 38% to "win" Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe.

    This is not to be taken seriously by anyone - it's a spreadsheet exercise which shows what you can do with a few formulae. Given how the MRP forecasts performed before the election last year, I don't know why we give them any credence now. YouGov got the LD number right but all overstated the Labour number, understated the Conservative total. overstated the SNP figure and missed the "Independents".

    More serious polling on the forthcoming Canadian and Australian elections. In Canada, the three rolling tracking polls continue to diverge markedly. Nanos, who poll via telephone, show the largest Liberal lead while Mainstreet Research, which polls using Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) has a Conservative lead. I think there's a discussion about that kind of methodology to be had and we'll see which turns out to be the more accurate.

    We really need some updated Ontario and Quebec pollings - they have 199 of the 338 risings so are crucual to the overall result.

    In Australia, the latest Newspoll shows very little change - the Liberal National coalition has a one point lead over Labor (35-34) in primary polling but in the 2PP polling Labor leads 52-48 which is close to the 2022 numbers. Such State polling as we have shows a better picture for the coalition especially in Victoria and Tasmania.

    There are 151 electorates - New South Wales has 47, Victoria 38 and Queensland 30 which leaves 36 for all the other territories. Labor's strength is New South Wales and they are holding firm there - Victoria has seen a small swing to the coalition while Queensland is the coalition heartland and they are holding firm there. IF Labor are piling up votes in seats they already hold, the coalition might yet have a chance.
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,577

    I never use my photo allowance. Afternoon tea on the Strathspey Railway with Mrs RP for her 50th birthday tomorrow.

    Beautiful railway, took my Mum there in 2019 :)
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,582
    Good afternoon everyone.

    What an unusual conversation round-and-round-the-hot-cross-bun, like a teddy bear round the garden one presumes.

    I've been out for a walk this morning and done my first "12000 steps" day on the rehab campaign. Lovely and sunny here, and a morning walk around the Oak Walk at Hardwick Hall.

    I've also found a new hegg-supplier, about 25 houses up the road. Quote "we get about 8 eggs a day, and they have very golden yolks. The gees are white, except I have one blue hen, so the occasional one may be blue."

    Furry nuff.

    I'm experimenting with a salad, but I just realised I don't have the pink grapefruit for the recipe, so it may be nectarine and pomegranate instead - to go with the squid.
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,151
    edited April 20

    I never use my photo allowance. Afternoon tea on the Strathspey Railway with Mrs RP for her 50th birthday tomorrow.

    Nice pic

    10/10 for a full railway high tea.

    Get a dog for scale and it’d be perfect.

    I’m thinking terrier?
  • RochdalePioneersRochdalePioneers Posts: 29,837
    Ah good. My wee dram has arrived
  • Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 53,577
    Aviemore, Strathspey platform back in August 2019:


  • Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 30,769

    I never use my photo allowance. Afternoon tea on the Strathspey Railway with Mrs RP for her 50th birthday tomorrow.

    Fab!
  • MalmesburyMalmesbury Posts: 54,151

    Ah good. My wee dram has arrived

    Which is why scale is so vital


  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745
    HYUFD said:

    Scott_xP said:

    @JayMallow3

    “No photo op. No public blessing. Just a cold shoulder—and a firm reminder from the Vatican about who the Catholic Church stands with.”
    - I love this for him

    Pope Ghosts JD Vance at Vatican, Sends Top Cardinal to Lecture VP on Compassion

    https://x.com/JayMallow3/status/1913706078510174623

    Vance is of course on the conservative, pro Latin Mass wing of the Roman Catholic church which preferred the late Pope Benedict to the more liberal Pope Francis
    You are rather missing the point.

    It was a message on compassion.

  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,299

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It's that we are a Christian country and the massage was phrased as though Christians were, as isam noted, visitors who made a plucky contribution to the country.
    We are not a Christian country, we are a diverse one in which Christians are one minority amongst many, with an established Church.
    Formally we are a Christian country although of course there are many faiths and people of no faith (bonjour).
    Formally we have an established Church. That is all.

    We are a diverse country. There is no requirement for citizens of this country to be members of the established Church and never has been.
    I'm not sure that's quite true: following the Act of Supremacy in 1534, the English were required to be members of the CoE. And that (broadly) was the case until the splintering of protestantism around the time of the Civil War.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,582
    edited April 20

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.
    As I see it, the Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is "let's salt the earth in the USA so that it will take a century to build a tolerant, civilised society". Their practical guiding value is nihilism, whatever else they call it.

    Trump won't care ... before long he'll be in his coffin six feet under, with a urinal installed on his gravestone.

    One of the things they have started destroying this week has been the "Americorps", which is the inside-the-USA version of the Peace Corps. For anyone not in the know, that is a national volunteering programme which engages young adults. To quote:

    AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work programs in many sectors. These programs include AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps Seniors, the Volunteer Generation Fund, and other national service initiatives. The agency's mission is "to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering". (Wiki)

    The equivalent here would be taking out the National Citizen Service and all the engagement activities of setups such as the National Trust, taking away Community Service Volunteers, and many other parallel programmes.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,299

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    We were discussing Liz Truss and her anti-Blob approach. Truss has made very clear her support for Trump and MAGA. So, I think it’s reasonable to presume that Trump’s approach is close to Truss’s.

    Indeed, we’ve now seen Truss’s anti-Blob approach crash the UK economy *and* Trump’s crash the global economy, so it’s 2 for 2. Actually, we could add in Erdoğan and make it 3 for 3…

    If you have a different anti-Blob approach, I would suggest, from a marketing point of view, you clearly distance yourself from Truss and Trump.
    You're conflating financial markets with the economy.
    The two are inherently connected though: those mortgage rates Americans pay when they want to buy a house are just prices set by individual investors, which together make up the market.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It seemed very formulaic.

  • Penddu2Penddu2 Posts: 754
    carnforth said:

    Leon said:

    DougSeal said:

    Love to see how the Rightists on here spin this generous Easter message from SKS as being somehow “woke” or anti-Christian

    Wishing a very happy Easter to Christians across the UK and around the world, as they celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    As we look to the future with hope, I want to thank Christians for their huge contributions to our country.


    https://x.com/keir_starmer/status/1913837531541459320?s=46&t=CW4pL-mMpTqsJXCdjW0Z6Q

    It’s so weirdly phrased. It’s like Christians are some quaint minority in the UK - less important than Sikhs. Maybe on a par with Zen Buddhists or Sufis
    Christians quite literally are a minority.

    There is no majority religion in this country.

    https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/bulletins/religionenglandandwales/census2021
    But there is a state religion.
    Only in England. Disestablished in Scotland & Wales
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 650
    Succession to the Crown Act 2013. To be eligible for the throne, a person must:
    • Be a legitimate descendant of Princess Sophia of Hanover.
    • Be Protestant and in communion with the Church of England.
    • Not be a Roman Catholic (though marrying a Catholic no longer disqualifies).
    • If among the first six in line, have the monarch’s consent to marry
    So can the CofE be 'catholic' ?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745

    isam said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    "Thank you Sir Christopher Wren for the contribution you made to St Pauls Cathedral"
    Well, he was the architect, wasn't he? Or is I missing something?
    No, he's precisely remembered for his contribution to St Paul's Cathedral.

    He didn't build it single handedly but he did make an important contribution. Odd example to choose.
    Wren is remembered for a hell of a lot more than that
  • Penddu2Penddu2 Posts: 754

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It's that we are a Christian country and the massage was phrased as though Christians were, as isam noted, visitors who made a plucky contribution to the country.
    We are not a Christian country, we are a diverse one in which Christians are one minority amongst many, with an established Church.
    Formally we are a Christian country although of course there are many faiths and people of no faith (bonjour).
    Formally we have an established Church. That is all.

    .
    Again...Only in England. Not is Wales, Scotland or NI
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It's that we are a Christian country and the massage was phrased as though Christians were, as isam noted, visitors who made a plucky contribution to the country.
    We are not a Christian country, we are a diverse one in which Christians are one minority amongst many, with an established Church.
    Nah. The country has an underlying culture - heritage, institutions, mindset, etc - that is distinct from the church going habits of its current residents.

    Fundamentally we are a Judeo-Christian culture.

  • AnneJGPAnneJGP Posts: 3,403
    MattW said:

    Good afternoon everyone.

    What an unusual conversation round-and-round-the-hot-cross-bun, like a teddy bear round the garden one presumes.

    I've been out for a walk this morning and done my first "12000 steps" day on the rehab campaign. Lovely and sunny here, and a morning walk around the Oak Walk at Hardwick Hall.

    I've also found a new hegg-supplier, about 25 houses up the road. Quote "we get about 8 eggs a day, and they have very golden yolks. The gees are white, except I have one blue hen, so the occasional one may be blue."

    Furry nuff.

    I'm experimenting with a salad, but I just realised I don't have the pink grapefruit for the recipe, so it may be nectarine and pomegranate instead - to go with the squid.

    With you all the way until the word squid.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,582
    edited April 20
    Battlebus said:

    Succession to the Crown Act 2013. To be eligible for the throne, a person must:

    • Be a legitimate descendant of Princess Sophia of Hanover.
    • Be Protestant and in communion with the Church of England.
    • Not be a Roman Catholic (though marrying a Catholic no longer disqualifies).
    • If among the first six in line, have the monarch’s consent to marry
    So can the CofE be 'catholic' ?
    I'll probably leave that to @HYUFD , beyond noting that Church of England Bishops are within the Apostolic Succession - so the answer is "yes". Papal quibbles over that are the Pope's problem (imo !).

    You also mean Catholic, not catholic. With a small c, it mainly means "universal". Though some people might disagree over that.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745
    Nigelb said:

    Stereodog said:

    malcolmg said:

    Leon said:

    kle4 said:

    Every Easter I get faked out by TV ads that make hot cross buns look absolutely delicious, buy a pack in anticipation, have a couple and then go "meh". And every year I forget that happened last year.

    You heathen. Nothing better than a toasted hot cross bun slathered in butter. Im so glad i dont recall the days they were a seasonal item.
    Hot cross buns are beaut - but must be eaten HOT and with that melting butter. Oooh
    Hot cross buns have been poncified so you now have to choose between 57 different varieties, from cinnamon to caramel through apple and all points in between. Here is part of Sainsbury's selection:-
    • Apple & Cinnamon Hot Cross Buns
    • Chocolate & Salted Caramel Hot Cross Buns
    • Cinnamon & Brown Sugar Hot Cross Buns
    • Coffee & Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns
    • Fruity Hot Cross Buns
    • Lemon & White Chocolate Hot Cross Buns
    • Orange Marmalade Hot Cross Buns
    • Triple Berry Hot Cross Buns
    Even hot cross buns are woke now, country is really F***ed up
    Absolutely! Our national treats used to be cautiously flavourful. Bread with a few currents in it or a hotdog bun with a bit of icing on top. We used to leave it to the Americans to do ludicrously sweet and gooey treats.
    Is it too PB pedantic to point out that hot cross buns are only supposed to be consumed on Good Friday?
    Unless you are a Tudor or a Stuart, that's simply wrong. And even then, the prohibition wasn't quite so tightly drawn.

    ...In 1592, during the reign of Elizabeth I of England, the London Clerk of Markets issued a decree forbidding the sale of spiced buns and other spiced breads, except at burials, on Good Friday, or at Christmas. The punishment for transgressing the decree was forfeiture of all the forbidden product to the poor. As a result, hot cross buns at the time were primarily made in domestic kitchens.


    Further attempts to suppress the sale of these items outside of these holy days took place during the reign of James I of England (1603–1625)...
    That’s not spice! Just a bit of mud, love!
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572
    .
    rcs1000 said:

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.

    We were discussing Liz Truss and her anti-Blob approach. Truss has made very clear her support for Trump and MAGA. So, I think it’s reasonable to presume that Trump’s approach is close to Truss’s.

    Indeed, we’ve now seen Truss’s anti-Blob approach crash the UK economy *and* Trump’s crash the global economy, so it’s 2 for 2. Actually, we could add in Erdoğan and make it 3 for 3…

    If you have a different anti-Blob approach, I would suggest, from a marketing point of view, you clearly distance yourself from Truss and Trump.
    You're conflating financial markets with the economy.
    The two are inherently connected though: those mortgage rates Americans pay when they want to buy a house are just prices set by individual investors, which together make up the market.
    Trump and his MAGA followers don't really believe in the link. In that they're not dissimilar to some of the less analytical on the left.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734

    isam said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    "Thank you Sir Christopher Wren for the contribution you made to St Pauls Cathedral"
    Well, he was the architect, wasn't he? Or is I missing something?
    No, he's precisely remembered for his contribution to St Paul's Cathedral.

    He didn't build it single handedly but he did make an important contribution. Odd example to choose.
    Wren is remembered for a hell of a lot more than that
    Indeed. Winnie the Pooh.
  • BattlebusBattlebus Posts: 650
    MattW said:

    Battlebus said:

    Succession to the Crown Act 2013. To be eligible for the throne, a person must:

    • Be a legitimate descendant of Princess Sophia of Hanover.
    • Be Protestant and in communion with the Church of England.
    • Not be a Roman Catholic (though marrying a Catholic no longer disqualifies).
    • If among the first six in line, have the monarch’s consent to marry
    So can the CofE be 'catholic' ?
    I'll probably leave that to @HYUFD , beyond noting that Church of England Bishops are within the Apostolic Succession - so the answer is "yes". Papal quibbles over that are the Pope's problem (imo !).

    You also mean Catholic, not catholic. With a small c, it mainly means "universal". Though some people might disagree over that.
    Indeed I was referring to the issue of the CofE view of Catholics means it can't be catholic.
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,582

    isam said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    "Thank you Sir Christopher Wren for the contribution you made to St Pauls Cathedral"
    Well, he was the architect, wasn't he? Or is I missing something?
    No, he's precisely remembered for his contribution to St Paul's Cathedral.

    He didn't build it single handedly but he did make an important contribution. Odd example to choose.
    Wren is remembered for a hell of a lot more than that
    Probably my most enjoyable "Wren" project was visiting all the City Churches observing the bits of St Paul's he'd tried out in miniature elsewhere.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It seemed very formulaic.
    As opposed to ... ?
  • MattWMattW Posts: 26,582
    Taz said:

    I never use my photo allowance. Afternoon tea on the Strathspey Railway with Mrs RP for her 50th birthday tomorrow.

    That all looks rather splendid. Hope you both have a lovely time
    That looks great. But will you even fit in your Tesla after half of that little lot?
  • TazTaz Posts: 17,548

    Ah good. My wee dram has arrived

    Which is why scale is so vital


    I’m currently working through a 10 year Arran. It’s rather pleasant. Started it Friday. Probably be finished this evening.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,202

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572
    Battlebus said:

    Succession to the Crown Act 2013. To be eligible for the throne, a person must:

    • Be a legitimate descendant of Princess Sophia of Hanover.
    • Be Protestant and in communion with the Church of England.
    • Not be a Roman Catholic (though marrying a Catholic no longer disqualifies).
    • If among the first six in line, have the monarch’s consent to marry
    So can the CofE be 'catholic' ?
    Catholic, but not Roman Catholic. Which it views as a separate part of the "One Church".

    "The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church
    worshipping the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It professes the faith
    uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which
    faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation. Led by the Holy
    Spirit, it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty-nine
    Articles of Religion, the Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests
    and Deacons..."

    Like much in religion, a strict logical analysis can only take you so far.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,299

    isam said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    "Thank you Sir Christopher Wren for the contribution you made to St Pauls Cathedral"
    Well, he was the architect, wasn't he? Or is I missing something?
    No, he's precisely remembered for his contribution to St Paul's Cathedral.

    He didn't build it single handedly but he did make an important contribution. Odd example to choose.
    Wren is remembered for a hell of a lot more than that
    Indeed: most important the Wren Library at Trinity.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572
    AnneJGP said:

    MattW said:

    Good afternoon everyone.

    What an unusual conversation round-and-round-the-hot-cross-bun, like a teddy bear round the garden one presumes.

    I've been out for a walk this morning and done my first "12000 steps" day on the rehab campaign. Lovely and sunny here, and a morning walk around the Oak Walk at Hardwick Hall.

    I've also found a new hegg-supplier, about 25 houses up the road. Quote "we get about 8 eggs a day, and they have very golden yolks. The gees are white, except I have one blue hen, so the occasional one may be blue."

    Furry nuff.

    I'm experimenting with a salad, but I just realised I don't have the pink grapefruit for the recipe, so it may be nectarine and pomegranate instead - to go with the squid.

    With you all the way until the word squid.
    A useful phrase for many occasions ?
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,299

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It seemed very formulaic.

    Starmer reminds me of when a comedian gets a prime acting gig, and then it turns out that actually he can't act.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,299

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    The thing is, that cuts both ways.

    It's the dangers of oppositionalism.
  • rcs1000 said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It's that we are a Christian country and the massage was phrased as though Christians were, as isam noted, visitors who made a plucky contribution to the country.
    We are not a Christian country, we are a diverse one in which Christians are one minority amongst many, with an established Church.
    Formally we are a Christian country although of course there are many faiths and people of no faith (bonjour).
    Formally we have an established Church. That is all.

    We are a diverse country. There is no requirement for citizens of this country to be members of the established Church and never has been.
    I'm not sure that's quite true: following the Act of Supremacy in 1534, the English were required to be members of the CoE. And that (broadly) was the case until the splintering of protestantism around the time of the Civil War.
    Good bit of pedantic betting, well done, but though the Civil War was before the foundation of the United Kingdom, so it's never been required within the UK.
  • Alphabet_SoupAlphabet_Soup Posts: 3,584
    edited April 20
    rcs1000 said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It seemed very formulaic.

    Starmer reminds me of when a comedian gets a prime acting gig, and then it turns out that actually he can't act.
    "Thank you for your contribution" is the sort of formula the chair of a meeting might use when a member of the audience jumps up and says something so outlandish that the speaker(s) are lost for words.
  • TheuniondivvieTheuniondivvie Posts: 43,273
    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    We all know that deep down Don thinks JC was a LOSER!

    I’ve noted before that when things are going badly Trump reverts to the stolen election and sleepy Joe. I guess we’re going to get much more of that.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,202
    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,202
    rcs1000 said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    The thing is, that cuts both ways.

    It's the dangers of oppositionalism.
    Of course.

    Each side has every reason to not compromise and even escalate.

    So, we are in our quandary and likely to remain so until we get very mature and brave political leaders.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    We all know that deep down Don thinks JC was a LOSER!

    I’ve noted before that when things are going badly Trump reverts to the stolen election and sleepy Joe. I guess we’re going to get much more of that.
    It’s his traditional Easter message, so we can’t read much into it.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,686
    An American friend, who writes an extremely popular travel substack - he goes from city to city - has just messaged me his astonished dismay from a city in Italy
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572

    rcs1000 said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It seemed very formulaic.

    Starmer reminds me of when a comedian gets a prime acting gig, and then it turns out that actually he can't act.
    "Thank you for your contribution" is the sort of formula the chair of a meeting might use when a member of the audience jumps up and says something so outlandish that the speaker(s) are lost for words.
    The next few years are going to be tedious enough, without our parsing Starmer’s every tweet.
    You don’t have to demonstrate that he’s linguistically clumsy - there’s already more than enough evidence of that.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    We all know that deep down Don thinks JC was a LOSER!

    I’ve noted before that when things are going badly Trump reverts to the stolen election and sleepy Joe. I guess we’re going to get much more of that.
    In that case, perversely, I hope we do. Cannot find it in my heart, even at Easter, to wish things *not* to go badly for him. Sorry, Jesus, unworthy I know.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572
    edited April 20
    Leon said:

    An American friend, who writes an extremely popular travel substack - he goes from city to city - has just messaged me his astonished dismay from a city in Italy

    He needs your expertise.
    I went to see where Mussolini’s body was strung up and displayed, almost exactly 80 yrs ago. But no sign of anything. Did I go to the wrong Piazzale Loreto?
  • OldKingColeOldKingCole Posts: 34,549
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
    AIUI Jesus would have forgiven him his trespasses.
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,068
    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It's that we are a Christian country and the massage was phrased as though Christians were, as isam noted, visitors who made a plucky contribution to the country.
    We are not a Christian country, we are a diverse one in which Christians are one minority amongst many, with an established Church.
    Formally we are a Christian country although of course there are many faiths and people of no faith (bonjour).
    Formally we have an established Church. That is all.

    We are a diverse country. There is no requirement for citizens of this country to be members of the established Church and never has been.
    "At the institutional level, the Anglican Church maintains its status of religion of the state and the King is still Head of the Church: hence by law, England is still a Christian country, which entails some specific privileges for the Church of England that are not extended to other religions."

    So you know, legally and all, we are a Christian country.
    You are talking to a brick Topping
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
    AIUI Jesus would have forgiven him his trespasses.
    Amazingly yes he would. That's what it's all about, forgiveness and redemption. I'm not up to it, sadly.
  • Scott_xPScott_xP Posts: 38,057
    Leon said:

    I have discovered a grave lack in the global lexicon

    Bishkek is one of those places where in Late April it’s boiling hot in the sun and you want to be in shorts, but as soon as you step into shade it’s cold and you need a thick coat

    Why?

    It is a result of low humidity + high solar angle + thin mountain air:


    • The sun is strong, especially at altitude (Bishkek’s ~800m), so it heats the skin directly

    • But the air temperature remains low - so as soon as you’re out of the direct sun, you feel the actual chill

    • No ambient heat is held in the air the way it is in more humid or maritime places.

    There is no word for this in English. What’s more, there is no word for it in any language that I can find:

    In German, they sometimes call this “Schattenkälte” – “shade-cold” – the sudden chill of stepping out of the sun.

    In Japanese, there’s hinata-bokko (日向ぼっこ), which refers to the joy of basking in the sun on a cold day

    But even these words don’t describe the overall feeling and scenario. To lexical arms, citoyens!

    If there is a word in some language I’d be grateful to learn it from any knowledgeable PBer

    Apricity, the warmth of the sun in Winter.

    The situtation you are describing would seem therefore to be apricious.

    Also, as Malcolm noted, Scotland.

    Just been for a walk at Ratho. Bright sun. Freezing cold.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734
    Leon said:

    An American friend, who writes an extremely popular travel substack - he goes from city to city - has just messaged me his astonished dismay from a city in Italy

    Do they call him The Wanderer?
  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,068

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
    Is hung with bloom along the bough,
    And stands about the woodland ride
    Wearing white for Eastertide.

    Now, of my threescore years and ten,
    Twenty will not come again,
    And take from seventy springs a score,
    It only leaves me fifty more.

    And since to look at things in bloom
    Fifty springs are little room,
    About the woodlands I will go
    To see the cherry hung with snow….


    And that’s why I’m in Kyrgyzstan

    Alternatively, I could go to Myrekirk Road, which is within walking distance of my house and which, for approximately a fortnight each year, starting last week, is simply magnificent. Vivid pink blossoms in that case.
    Can’t be arsed going all the way to Helensburgh (besides I wouldn’t get this drone’s eye view) but this is pretty good. I’d like to think the colour hasn’t been enhanced..


    Bellevue Crescent in Ayr, why go to some godforsaken dump like Kyrgyzstan

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,068

    I never use my photo allowance. Afternoon tea on the Strathspey Railway with Mrs RP for her 50th birthday tomorrow.

    Hope you had a great day, looks like a lovely afternoon tea
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,325
    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    As shown by the way that Christian-leaders-not-flogging-memecoins, whether Episcopalian, Roman Catholic or even Southern Baptist, are repeatedly saying that the Trump-Vance agenda doesn't match up to Christian standards.

    Getting the credit for upholding Christendom whilst replacing it with a MAGA cult is a damn good trick, but a trick it undoubtedly is.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,686
    Scott_xP said:

    Leon said:

    I have discovered a grave lack in the global lexicon

    Bishkek is one of those places where in Late April it’s boiling hot in the sun and you want to be in shorts, but as soon as you step into shade it’s cold and you need a thick coat

    Why?

    It is a result of low humidity + high solar angle + thin mountain air:


    • The sun is strong, especially at altitude (Bishkek’s ~800m), so it heats the skin directly

    • But the air temperature remains low - so as soon as you’re out of the direct sun, you feel the actual chill

    • No ambient heat is held in the air the way it is in more humid or maritime places.

    There is no word for this in English. What’s more, there is no word for it in any language that I can find:

    In German, they sometimes call this “Schattenkälte” – “shade-cold” – the sudden chill of stepping out of the sun.

    In Japanese, there’s hinata-bokko (日向ぼっこ), which refers to the joy of basking in the sun on a cold day

    But even these words don’t describe the overall feeling and scenario. To lexical arms, citoyens!

    If there is a word in some language I’d be grateful to learn it from any knowledgeable PBer

    Apricity, the warmth of the sun in Winter.

    The situtation you are describing would seem therefore to be apricious.

    Also, as Malcolm noted, Scotland.

    Just been for a walk at Ratho. Bright sun. Freezing cold.
    Apricity is one of my fave words. But it’s not a word that describes “the situation of being in a place where if you sit in the sun you feel extremely warm and need few clothes but at the same time if you move to the shade you desire a coat as it’s so cold”

  • malcolmgmalcolmg Posts: 44,068
    Taz said:

    Ah good. My wee dram has arrived

    Which is why scale is so vital


    I’m currently working through a 10 year Arran. It’s rather pleasant. Started it Friday. Probably be finished this evening.
    What a hero
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,202
    edited April 20
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
    Sorry, but you don't. You are a typical arrogant hyperliberal who thinks they're right about everything and that everything they see further proves they are right. You have no humility, natural sense of scepticism or self-awareness. You are extraordinary resistant to any suggestion you might have something to learn. Which all humans do, because none of us are ever right about everything and we often get it wrong - badly wrong.

    The scary thing is that you genuinely think you're part of a bright and enlightened elite, who've got it sussed whilst everyone else is your inferior. There are those in your camp - and on this site - who share your side of the political spectrum, and are elite thinkers, but, sadly, you are not one of them.

    If you were, you wouldn't be such a dogmatist: you'd accept you still had things to learn and you'd exhibit more curiosity and self-reflection. But because you secretly doubt your intellectual capabilities you don't have the confidence to go there, so cling to your comfort blanket instead.
  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,686
    malcolmg said:

    DavidL said:

    Leon said:

    Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
    Is hung with bloom along the bough,
    And stands about the woodland ride
    Wearing white for Eastertide.

    Now, of my threescore years and ten,
    Twenty will not come again,
    And take from seventy springs a score,
    It only leaves me fifty more.

    And since to look at things in bloom
    Fifty springs are little room,
    About the woodlands I will go
    To see the cherry hung with snow….


    And that’s why I’m in Kyrgyzstan

    Alternatively, I could go to Myrekirk Road, which is within walking distance of my house and which, for approximately a fortnight each year, starting last week, is simply magnificent. Vivid pink blossoms in that case.
    Can’t be arsed going all the way to Helensburgh (besides I wouldn’t get this drone’s eye view) but this is pretty good. I’d like to think the colour hasn’t been enhanced..


    Bellevue Crescent in Ayr, why go to some godforsaken dump like Kyrgyzstan

    Because, at my new “local”, the “boho cafe” in Oak Park, Bishkek (near the Opera) they do a wonderful shakshuka for brunch


  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
    Sorry, but you don't. You are a typical arrogant hyperliberal who thinks they're right about everything and that everything they see further proves they are right. You have no humility, natural sense of scepticism or self-awareness. You are extraordinary resistant to any suggestion you might have something to learn. Which all humans do, because none of us are ever right about everything and we often get it wrong - badly wrong.

    The scary thing is that you genuinely think you're part of a bright and enlightened elite, who've got it sussed whilst everyone else is your inferior. There are those in your camp - and on this site - who share your side of the political spectrum, and are elite thinkers, but, sadly, you are not one of them.

    If you were, you wouldn't be such a dogmatist: you'd accept you still had things to learn and you'd exhibit more curiosity and self-reflection. But because you secretly doubt your intellectual capabilities you don't have the confidence to go there, so cling to your comfort blanket instead.
    Didn’t someone also say judge not, lest you be judged ?
  • DecrepiterJohnLDecrepiterJohnL Posts: 30,110
    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    An American friend, who writes an extremely popular travel substack - he goes from city to city - has just messaged me his astonished dismay from a city in Italy

    He needs your expertise.
    I went to see where Mussolini’s body was strung up and displayed, almost exactly 80 yrs ago. But no sign of anything. Did I go to the wrong Piazzale Loreto?
    Is he in Milan?
  • StuartinromfordStuartinromford Posts: 18,325
    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
    AIUI Jesus would have forgiven him his trespasses.
    Amazingly yes he would. That's what it's all about, forgiveness and redemption. I'm not up to it, sadly.
    Trump is more of a Herod than a Pilate, I reckon. More of the campy swagger... I can imagine a younger Trump singing

    Prove to me that You're no fool
    Walk across my swimming pool.

    Anyway, the Gospel accounts have Jesus saying nothing to Herod, which probably sent him even madder than the finger would. But yes, that would have been accompanied by forgiveness, because ultimately that's the whole damn point and God can do it when we can't.

    And that's yet another sign that, whatever it is that Trump believes, it ain't Christianity.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
    Sorry, but you don't. You are a typical arrogant hyperliberal who thinks they're right about everything and that everything they see further proves they are right. You have no humility, natural sense of scepticism or self-awareness. You are extraordinary resistant to any suggestion you might have something to learn. Which all humans do, because none of us are ever right about everything and we often get it wrong - badly wrong.

    The scary thing is that you genuinely think you're part of a bright and enlightened elite, who've got it sussed whilst everyone else is your inferior. There are those in your camp - and on this site - who share your side of the political spectrum, and are elite thinkers, but, sadly, you are not one of them.

    If you were, you wouldn't be such a dogmatist: you'd accept you still had things to learn and you'd exhibit more curiosity and self-reflection. But because you secretly doubt your intellectual capabilities you don't have the confidence to go there, so cling to your comfort blanket instead.
    That's a rather unChristian post, Casino. But I will forgive you since it's Easter.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745
    MattW said:

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.
    As I see it, the Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is "let's salt the earth in the USA so that it will take a century to build a tolerant, civilised society". Their practical guiding value is nihilism, whatever else they call it.

    Trump won't care ... before long he'll be in his coffin six feet under, with a urinal installed on his gravestone.

    One of the things they have started destroying this week has been the "Americorps", which is the inside-the-USA version of the Peace Corps. For anyone not in the know, that is a national volunteering programme which engages young adults. To quote:

    AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work programs in many sectors. These programs include AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps Seniors, the Volunteer Generation Fund, and other national service initiatives. The agency's mission is "to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through
    service and volunteering".
    (Wiki)

    The equivalent here would be taking out the National Citizen Service and all the
    engagement activities of setups such as the National Trust, taking away Community Service Volunteers, and many other parallel programmes.
    I am in no way a fan of what they are doing. There is so much good that is being thrown out and utterly destroyed - longitudinal studies for example. There is also a looting of the public sphere and a complete disregard for standards in public life.

    On the other hand government doesn’t work in the UK at the moment - it’s sclerotic and borderline corrupt in the intertwining of the third sector with government. Of course government needs to be careful, and it will be slow because of the impact it can have on individuals. But that doesn’t mean all reform is a bad thing.

    But @bondegezou was conflating any attempt to reform the public sector with Trump/Musk/DOGE.

    THAT is what I was objecting to. Misrepresentation. And then he has the gall to say that supporters of my position need to “clearly differentiate” ourselves. Quick suggestion: how about you don’t lie about your opponents instead?
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572
    edited April 20
    Ukraine appears to have taken the Easter ceasefire rather more seriously than the invaders who proposed it.

    That’s my fourth Easter at the frontline. And today we were ordered not to open fire if we are not being attacked.

    Happy Easter. Appreciate what you have.

    https://x.com/OSINTua/status/1913955594941104223
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745
    Battlebus said:

    Succession to the Crown Act 2013. To be eligible for the throne, a person must:

    • Be a legitimate descendant of Princess Sophia of Hanover.
    • Be Protestant and in communion with the Church of England.
    • Not be a Roman Catholic (though marrying a Catholic no longer disqualifies).
    • If among the first six in line, have the monarch’s consent to marry
    So can the CofE be 'catholic' ?
    Catholic =/= Roman Catholic

    For example Mel Gibson is, I believe, an Old Catholic. And then you have Marionites who are just confused.
  • FF43FF43 Posts: 17,869

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    Reading the mad and vindictive tripe spouted by Trump in the post quoted above, I genuinely don't see why Trump gets so many votes. I've lived long enough in the real world to know that this lack of understanding isn't due to a moral failing on my part.
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745
    kinabalu said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It seemed very formulaic.
    As opposed to ... ?
    It was a bit of a “meh” comment

    You get the sense that he likes to celebrate Diwali or Eid or whatever even if he is not a believer. But the tone of this was just he put it out because he was told he had to so he just copy pasted something a junior spad wrote.

  • LeonLeon Posts: 59,686
    FF43 said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    Reading the mad and vindictive tripe spouted by Trump in the post quoted above, I genuinely don't see why Trump gets so many votes. I've lived long enough in the real world to know that this lack of understanding isn't due to a moral failing on my part.
    Have you considered the possibility that you are stupid?
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745

    rcs1000 said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It's that we are a Christian country and the massage was phrased as though Christians were, as isam noted, visitors who made a plucky contribution to the country.
    We are not a Christian country, we are a diverse one in which Christians are one minority amongst many, with an established Church.
    Formally we are a Christian country although of course there are many faiths and people of no faith (bonjour).
    Formally we have an established Church. That is all.

    We are a diverse country. There is no requirement for citizens of this country to be members of the established Church and never has been.
    I'm not sure that's quite true: following the Act of Supremacy in 1534, the English were required to be members of the CoE. And that (broadly) was the case until the splintering of protestantism around the time of the Civil War.
    Good bit of pedantic betting, well done, but
    though the Civil War was before the foundation of the United Kingdom, so it's never been required within the UK.
    Can we have an argument about whether England is a predecessor state to the UK now…
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,202
    FF43 said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    Reading the mad and vindictive tripe spouted by Trump in the post quoted above, I genuinely don't see why Trump gets so many votes. I've lived long enough in the real world to know that this lack of understanding isn't due to a moral failing on my part.
    He gets votes because he sticks it to people lots of voters despise, and he will continue to do so until they learn why.
  • NigelbNigelb Posts: 76,572

    MattW said:

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.
    As I see it, the Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is "let's salt the earth in the USA so that it will take a century to build a tolerant, civilised society". Their practical guiding value is nihilism, whatever else they call it.

    Trump won't care ... before long he'll be in his coffin six feet under, with a urinal installed on his gravestone.

    One of the things they have started destroying this week has been the "Americorps", which is the inside-the-USA version of the Peace Corps. For anyone not in the know, that is a national volunteering programme which engages young adults. To quote:

    AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work programs in many sectors. These programs include AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps Seniors, the Volunteer Generation Fund, and other national service initiatives. The agency's mission is "to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through
    service and volunteering".
    (Wiki)

    The equivalent here would be taking out the National Citizen Service and all the
    engagement activities of setups such as the National Trust, taking away Community Service Volunteers, and many other parallel programmes.
    I am in no way a fan of what they are doing. There is so much good that is being thrown out and utterly destroyed - longitudinal studies for example. There is also a looting of the public sphere and a complete disregard for standards in public life.

    On the other hand government doesn’t work in the UK at the moment - it’s sclerotic and borderline corrupt in the intertwining of the third sector with government. Of course government needs to be careful, and it will be slow because of the impact it can have on individuals. But that doesn’t mean all reform is a bad thing.

    But @bondegezou was conflating any attempt to reform the public sector with Trump/Musk/DOGE.

    THAT is what I was objecting to. Misrepresentation. And then he has the gall to say that supporters of my position need to “clearly differentiate” ourselves. Quick suggestion: how about you don’t lie about your opponents instead?
    If you’re talking about Reform, Farage has said quite plainly that the U.K. needs its own DOGE.

    While I don’t disagree with you about the principle of public sector reform, I’m not seeing much in the way of serious proposals from opposition parties, as opposed to rhetoric - which is effectively meaningless, as we’ve heard that for decades.
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
    AIUI Jesus would have forgiven him his trespasses.
    Amazingly yes he would. That's what it's all about, forgiveness and redemption. I'm not up to it, sadly.
    Trump is more of a Herod than a Pilate, I reckon. More of the campy swagger... I can imagine a younger Trump singing

    Prove to me that You're no fool
    Walk across my swimming pool.

    Anyway, the Gospel accounts have Jesus saying nothing to Herod, which probably sent him even madder than the finger would. But yes, that would have been accompanied by forgiveness, because ultimately that's the whole damn point and God can do it when we can't.

    And that's yet another sign that, whatever it is that Trump believes, it ain't Christianity.
    When you see his (snarky mardy) face ... you know he believes in nothing that's good.

    Could the Monkees rewrite maybe?
  • Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 62,202
    Nigelb said:

    kinabalu said:

    kinabalu said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    He's not being very Christian there, though, is he? Unless Christianity is all about meanness of spirit. Which isn't my understanding of it.
    You don't understand "it" very much at all. And you don't even begin to want to.

    Which is precisely the problem.
    I do. I like Easter. Lots of people do. Trump is spoiling it for everybody, putting out that sort of snarky shit. Jesus would have given him the finger and rightly so.
    Sorry, but you don't. You are a typical arrogant hyperliberal who thinks they're right about everything and that everything they see further proves they are right. You have no humility, natural sense of scepticism or self-awareness. You are extraordinary resistant to any suggestion you might have something to learn. Which all humans do, because none of us are ever right about everything and we often get it wrong - badly wrong.

    The scary thing is that you genuinely think you're part of a bright and enlightened elite, who've got it sussed whilst everyone else is your inferior. There are those in your camp - and on this site - who share your side of the political spectrum, and are elite thinkers, but, sadly, you are not one of them.

    If you were, you wouldn't be such a dogmatist: you'd accept you still had things to learn and you'd exhibit more curiosity and self-reflection. But because you secretly doubt your intellectual capabilities you don't have the confidence to go there, so cling to your comfort blanket instead.
    Didn’t someone also say judge not, lest you be judged ?
    Judge away. Not fussed.

    I'm far from perfect. And I get things wrong.

    And that's ok. The important thing is whether one has a learning mindset, or not.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,299

    Battlebus said:

    Succession to the Crown Act 2013. To be eligible for the throne, a person must:

    • Be a legitimate descendant of Princess Sophia of Hanover.
    • Be Protestant and in communion with the Church of England.
    • Not be a Roman Catholic (though marrying a Catholic no longer disqualifies).
    • If among the first six in line, have the monarch’s consent to marry
    So can the CofE be 'catholic' ?
    Catholic =/= Roman Catholic

    For example Mel Gibson is, I believe, an Old Catholic. And then you have Marionites who are just confused.
    Aren't the Marionites in full communion with the church of Rome?

    So, while liturgy etc are very different and they have their own Patriarch, they are still (technically) party of the Roman Catholic Church.
  • Sorry @isam that I got a bit too carried away before, wouldn't want to upset you.
  • rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 59,299

    FF43 said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    Reading the mad and vindictive tripe spouted by Trump in the post quoted above, I genuinely don't see why Trump gets so many votes. I've lived long enough in the real world to know that this lack of understanding isn't due to a moral failing on my part.
    He gets votes because he sticks it to people lots of voters despise, and he will continue to do so until they learn why.
    If they learn why, will the despising stop?
  • CatManCatMan Posts: 3,200

    kinabalu said:

    TOPPING said:

    Yeah, I'm with isam and leon here. Weird message by SKS, although that does appear to be the least of his problems rn.

    "contribution Christians have made to this country"? Just weird.

    What on Earth is weird or wrong about that? Even as an atheist I'd acknowledge that Christian have made contributions to this country and Easter is a polite day to recognise that.

    Christians, like Jews, Pagans, atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and more have throughout history made contributions to this country.

    The only reason I could see anyone could object is if someone was stupid enough to think Christians haven't contributed, or stupid enough to think they're the only ones who have. Which is it?
    It seemed very formulaic.
    As opposed to ... ?
    It was a bit of a “meh” comment

    You get the sense that he likes to celebrate Diwali or Eid or whatever even if he is not a believer. But the tone of this was just he put it out because he was told he had to so he just copy pasted something a junior spad wrote.

    Fun fact: "Meh's popularity surged after its use on the American animated television series The Simpsons. It was first used in the 1994 episode "Sideshow Bob Roberts", when a librarian reacts to Lisa's surprise that voting records are not classified."

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meh
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745
    Nigelb said:

    MattW said:

    Foxy said:

    Taking advice from Liz Truss on dealing with the mythic "Blob" is only useful if you do the opposite.

    It's a bit like how Labour decided to take advice from John Ashworth on campaigning. A man who lost one of Labour's safest seats during a Labour landslide, and then found his office a bit useless.

    https://bsky.app/profile/birdma2.bsky.social/post/3ln6m4odrek2s

    She will be advising him to do the opposite. Liz Truss didn't deal with the blob - she sacked one or two key underperformers which resulted in ear splitting squealing in the media (and on PB). NF will be laying waste to the Blob from day 1 and rightly so.
    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that, be it delivered by Farage or Truss.
    Classic misrepresentation. The Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is not the same as all “anti-blob approaches”.
    As I see it, the Trump/Musk/DOGE approach is "let's salt the earth in the USA so that it will take a century to build a tolerant, civilised society". Their practical guiding value is nihilism, whatever else they call it.

    Trump won't care ... before long he'll be in his coffin six feet under, with a urinal installed on his gravestone.

    One of the things they have started destroying this week has been the "Americorps", which is the inside-the-USA version of the Peace Corps. For anyone not in the know, that is a national volunteering programme which engages young adults. To quote:

    AmeriCorps is an independent agency of the United States government that engages more than five million Americans in service through a variety of stipended volunteer work programs in many sectors. These programs include AmeriCorps VISTA, AmeriCorps NCCC, AmeriCorps State and National, AmeriCorps Seniors, the Volunteer Generation Fund, and other national service initiatives. The agency's mission is "to improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through
    service and volunteering".
    (Wiki)

    The equivalent here would be taking out the National Citizen Service and all the
    engagement activities of setups such as the National Trust, taking away Community Service Volunteers, and many other parallel programmes.
    I am in no way a fan of what they are doing. There is so much good that is being thrown out and utterly destroyed - longitudinal studies for example. There is also a looting of the public sphere and a complete disregard for standards in public life.

    On the other hand government doesn’t work in the UK at the moment - it’s sclerotic and borderline corrupt in the intertwining of the third sector with government. Of course government needs to be careful, and it will be slow because of the impact it can have on individuals. But that doesn’t mean all reform is a bad thing.

    But @bondegezou was conflating any attempt to reform the public sector with Trump/Musk/DOGE.

    THAT is what I was objecting to. Misrepresentation. And then he has the gall to say that supporters of my position need to “clearly differentiate” ourselves. Quick suggestion: how about you don’t lie about your opponents instead?
    If you’re talking about Reform, Farage has said quite plainly that the U.K. needs its own DOGE.

    While I don’t disagree with you about the principle of public sector reform, I’m not seeing much in the way of serious proposals from opposition parties, as opposed to rhetoric - which is effectively meaningless, as we’ve heard that for decades.
    What I am talking about is the attempt to conflate ANY reform with an extreme approach which has not worked. This comment:

    We’ve seen now what an anti-Blob approach is like from Trump and the Republicans: global economic crash, rising government debt, break down of the rule of law, mass corruption. We absolutely do not
    want that,


    And I am not satisfied with any political party. I do my own thing.
  • viewcodeviewcode Posts: 24,214

    Nigelb said:

    Leon said:

    An American friend, who writes an extremely popular travel substack - he goes from city to city - has just messaged me his astonished dismay from a city in Italy

    He needs your expertise.
    I went to see where Mussolini’s body was strung up and displayed, almost exactly 80 yrs ago. But no sign of anything. Did I go to the wrong Piazzale Loreto?
    Is he in Milan?
    Unknown. He may be too sexy for his shirt
  • StillWatersStillWaters Posts: 9,745
    edited April 20
    rcs1000 said:

    Battlebus said:

    Succession to the Crown Act 2013. To be eligible for the throne, a person must:

    • Be a legitimate descendant of Princess Sophia of Hanover.
    • Be Protestant and in communion with the Church of England.
    • Not be a Roman Catholic (though marrying a Catholic no longer disqualifies).
    • If among the first six in line, have the monarch’s consent to marry
    So can the CofE be 'catholic' ?
    Catholic =/= Roman Catholic

    For example Mel Gibson is, I believe, an Old Catholic. And then you have Marionites who are just confused.
    Aren't the Marionites in full communion with the church of Rome?

    So, while liturgy etc are very different and they have their own Patriarch, they are still (technically) party of the Roman Catholic Church.
    I thought they were Orthodox who accepted the authority of the Pope?

    But they may have change since the Anglican priest* who married my parents left the CofE to become the Marionite Archbishop

    * Fulham & Gibraltar
  • kinabalukinabalu Posts: 44,734
    Leon said:

    FF43 said:

    https://x.com/trump_repost/status/1913937783279988812

    Happy Easter to all, including the Radical Left Lunatics who are fighting and scheming so hard to bring Murderers, Drug Lords, Dangerous Prisoners, the Mentally Insane, and well known MS-13 Gang Members and Wife Beaters, back into our Country. Happy Easter also to the WEAK and INEFFECTIVE Judges and Law Enforcement Officials who are allowing this sinister attack on our Nation to continue, an attack so violent that it will never be forgotten! Sleepy Joe Biden purposefully allowed Millions of CRIMINALS to enter our Country, totally unvetted and unchecked, through an Open Borders Policy that will go down in history as the single most calamitous act ever perpetrated upon America. He was, by far, our WORST and most Incompetent President, a man who had absolutely no idea what he was doing -- But to him, and to the person that ran and manipulated the Auto Pen (perhaps our REAL President!), and to all of the people who CHEATED in the 2020 Presidential Election in order to get this highly destructive Moron Elected, I wish you, with great love, sincerity, and affection, a very Happy Easter!!!

    Thing is, you get people who sneer at Easter, or play it down, reducing it to one of many in a free market of religions of that - and dismissing the Christian roots of the country - and then you see precisely why Trump gets so many votes.
    Reading the mad and vindictive tripe spouted by Trump in the post quoted above, I genuinely don't see why Trump gets so many votes. I've lived long enough in the real world to know that this lack of understanding isn't due to a moral failing on my part.
    Have you considered the possibility that you are stupid?
    That would be Trump voters.
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