If we met two German twenty year olds, one of whom was born to two German parents in Germany, the other to two Croatians and had never set foot in Germany until eight years ago, would anyone truly think they were both equally German? I think that would be ridiculous, and there’s neither skin colour nor preference for fellow Germans to influence my decision.
I think this is an utterly futile discussion.
Englishness/Britishness should be a question of sufficiency (do you qualify for a passport, have the right to work, vote etc) not a competition.
What is the ethnicity of white Britons?
This is not meant to provoke. I am interested in the sensible left position on this, and you are one of the few sensible PB lefties
My honest position is, I dunno. I haven't given it much thought, which probably reflects my privileged position as not part of an ethnic minority, so it doesn't feature much in my life. Likewise, this isn't a facile response, I'm just not sure that I feel it matters very much.
If I was asked my ethnicity I'd say white British, but I guess there is more underlying your question.
A fair answer, and thanks
Also, this stuff matters, because it is the everyday discourse of Tommy Robinson and his tribe, and they can no longer be discounted (whether we like it or not). They use this to stoke grievance
Thing is, until about 10 years ago - or so it seems and feels - everyone accepted that "British" was the non-racial appelation for us all, and it worked really well (because it was already a blend of nations). So you could be "Muslim British", "North British", "German British", "Black British", and that's all great, and it did work
At the same time the word for the ethnicity for the pale freckled people who live in England was "the English" - ditto Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Scots
But now the English are scolded. "No you are not exclusively English, many others are English too". OK fine, but then, what am I? What are my family? What is our identity in a world increasingly obsessed - thanks to the Woke - with ethnic identity?
None of this boring shit would have happened - we were all happy with the British/English thing, and multiracial Britain worked really quite well back then - if the Left hadn't gone insane around 2001. But they did
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
No, it's just a reasonable point.
Labelling a semi-random selection (there are numerous reasons they might support Reform) of around a third of the electorate as racist is just silly.
The British Army is so small now that Farage and co wont be able to copy their besties over in Washington and send the military into the cities to take on the enemy within.
They could just about calm Blackpool down maybe.
Isn't that where the Reform pub is? Are the two points related?
This all depends on the word “racist” having any emotional weight any more. Given that it is hurled at literally everything from maths to gardening to half of Britain - or nearly all of it if Labour is doing the hurling - then I don’t think it has any moral impact. Not any more
Go on. Racist maths... No doubt you may be able to find a link, but I can't believe you've actually come up against such a thing.
“Modern Mathematics Confronts Its White, Patriarchal Past”
I have spent a significant chunk of time over the past few years discussing this in school.
Leon isn't wrong.
But also, it's not wrong to say that the way we teach maths tends to pretend that it was all developed by the Greeks and then the universities of Western Europe. We have a big map of maths on the wall in our corridor highlighting that e.g. zero is Indian, prime numbers might have been discovered in what is now the DRC well before anywhere else.
It's a valuable corrective to the otherwise easily formed impression that maths is a white man's game.
But I agree that to label maths as racist is foolish laziness.
The point you make is the point the people mentioned in the articles make: that mathematical discoveries have often been assigned to people who were not their originators, for cultural reasons.
But that's not saying that 'maths is racist". It's saying that racism (and other isms) can intrude into maths, as it can into many other fields. And when it does, it can be racist.
Look at the title of the sciam article; that agrees with the point you made, doesn't it? And even the byline: "Mathematicians want to think their field is a meritocracy, but bias, harassment and exclusion persist" should hardly be controversial.
There are a few levels of this conversation going on.
I'm not disagreeing with you that Leon should read the links rather than Google them, skim the first line and hurl them at us. I do him the credit of assuming he is actually reading the links.
I'm not disagreeing with you that there are some useful thoughts that emerge once we accept that racist attitudes can intrude on maths (I have little doubt that what I'd call the maths canon was set by a bunch of racists and we haven't got around to correcting that yet).
But all these are quite subtle points, and our public discourse does subtlety poorly at present. Hence Leon is right that all this stuff does get boiled down to the sound bite "maths is racist" at times by clickbaiters and angry idiots on the internet.
Also, as you well know, the maths is racist discourse goes way beyond “oh don’t forget to mention how Arabs invented our numbers”
There is a real attempt to get actual arithmetic correctness labelled as white supremacy. It sounds mad - surely they don’t mean it - but then look how far genderwoo has gone. A chunk of the country believes men with penises are women
There is a second strand which believes that any subject which has a racial disparity in outcome - eg maths - MUST be racist. How come these East Asians are doing better? Tear it all down until there is completely racial equity of achievement
Plenty of people are trying to do exactly this to Maths and science. And it’s dangerous nonsense
As others more eloquent than me have said many times, a basic part of the problem is fragility around the word racist.
There is a (useful) interpretation of racism that says that maths as a living subject (rather than just a collection of facts) IS racist and sexist.
We miss recruiting geniuses into the world of maths because they are women or not white. Noone need feel guilt or shame about that, because (almost) noone actively sets out to maintain this status quo.
But if we could all be a little less angry, we could probably find a useful set of tweaks to how young people experience maths that would address this.
Oh and also, almost noone actually believes your first point that arithmetic correctness=white supremacy - I think that is almost purely an online bubble.
No, it's not
This is - or was - part of California's curriculum
"A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards"
This tool provides teachers an opportunity to examine their actions, beliefs, and values around teaching mathematics. The framework for deconstructing racism in mathematics offers essential characteristics of antiracist math educators and critical approaches to dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by making visible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture Jones and Okun 2001; dismantling Racism 2016) with respect to math
As a visual indicator, we italicize the terms used to identify white supremacy characteristics as defined by Jones and Okun (2001). They are as follows: • Perfectionism • Sense of Urgency • Defensiveness • Quantity Over Quality • Worship of the Written Word • Paternalism • Either/Or Thinking • Power Hoarding • Fear of Open Conflict • Individualism • Only One Right Way • Progress is Bigger, More • Objectivity • Right to Comfort
Because, who wants perfectionism, objecitvity or "only one right way" in.... that horrible white supremacist thing known as.... maths?
I think you're straying into territory you don't know enough about.
If I asked you to look at a matrix and tell me what 3D transformation it encodes, and told you there was only one right way of getting to the answer, I'd be a shit teacher and you'd end up a crap mathematician.
'One right way' is poisonous in maths. 'Arithmetic correctness' is not. Don't confuse the two.
Don't patronise me, twit
I'm showing you a chunk of the Californian education curriculum, in 2020, and it was the source of great controversy
"Now MATH is racist: Educators condemn $1M 'Dismantling Racism in Mathematics' program funded by Bill Gates which tells teachers NOT to push students to find the correct answer because it promotes white supremacy"
So it's you that doesn't know what he's talking about. Grrr
"Educators around the US have come out to condemn the 'Dismantling Racism in Mathematics' program It centers around a workbook which asserts that asking students to find the correct answer for math problems is inherently harmful for minorities
"So far, the workbook is being used by school districts in Georgia, Ohio, California and Oregon Critics say to it actually reinforces negative stereotypes and drives wedges between students according to their race
"'The workbook's ultimate message is clear: Black kids are bad at math, so why don't we just excuse them from really learning it,' one critic said"
I'm going to have a stonking large Cotswold gin and regain my steady composure
Surely funding the correct answer to Maths problems just reinforces East Asian superiority?
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
The age and health profile of Reform voters does not suggest they would last long in a fight.
In fact it's the woke 18-29 year olds, who voted for lefty parties at a ratio of 4:1, that would be the ones defending the gerontocracy.
There was a lot of discussion about how to deter badgers earlier. The only way is human piss and it has to be from an adult male, as it’s the testosterone they don’t like. If they dig a latrine in your lawn, you fill it in. And then piss on it every day. Try and identify there entry point to the garden and piss all over that too. I have saved literally pennies on my water meter by only going for a cheeky badger piss when at home.
What they are after is probably leather jackets and chafer grubs. So either maintain a dead and bone dry lawn that can’t sustain life. Or treat twice per year with nematodes.
The downside of this is that billy badger is the most effective mole control I have found. So you pick your poison. Daily mounds of mud. Or holes filled with sh1t from a tb laden menace.
Can’t help picturing badgers down the old Ken Market trying to find nice worn biker jackets to wear whilst hanging out together.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
No, it's just a reasonable point.
Labelling a semi-random selection (there are numerous reasons they might support Reform) of around a third of the electorate as racist is just silly.
Had to double check, but, yes, that matches Pavia. The clue is in the tidy up on the front left, which is where the collapsed tower stood.
Lots of other chunky red brick churches around the back streets of the centro storico.
I have cycled the length of Italy from Aosta to Rome and then down to Brindisi. The only annoying part was Pavia and the Po valley where there are millions of mosquitos. Not an enjoyable place at all.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
I think quite a few would prefer to see the Russians win if it the alternative was to rely on “those people”. You’re underestimating just how far gone they are.
There was a lot of discussion about how to deter badgers earlier. The only way is human piss and it has to be from an adult male, as it’s the testosterone they don’t like. If they dig a latrine in your lawn, you fill it in. And then piss on it every day. Try and identify there entry point to the garden and piss all over that too. I have saved literally pennies on my water meter by only going for a cheeky badger piss when at home.
What they are after is probably leather jackets and chafer grubs. So either maintain a dead and bone dry lawn that can’t sustain life. Or treat twice per year with nematodes.
The downside of this is that billy badger is the most effective mole control I have found. So you pick your poison. Daily mounds of mud. Or holes filled with sh1t from a tb laden menace.
Can’t help picturing badgers down the old Ken Market trying to find nice worn biker jackets to wear whilst hanging out together.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
Women find it erotic when men do the macho thing and take a piss outside. It shows masculine confidence and a warrior spirit
Data: personal observation, plus just an uncanny insight I just had
Men COMPLEXLY find women urinating outside both offensive and mildly arousing, but mainly bad
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
OMG this is a perfect Spectator piece, if only I wrote for the Spectator and not stupid effing flint knapping magazines. Ugh. This is one of those rare times I envy my stalker
WHY WOMEN LOVE MEN PISSING OUTSIDE
It would go totally viral and gain 4,985 subscribers, overnight
If we met two German twenty year olds, one of whom was born to two German parents in Germany, the other to two Croatians and had never set foot in Germany until eight years ago, would anyone truly think they were both equally German? I think that would be ridiculous, and there’s neither skin colour nor preference for fellow Germans to influence my decision.
I think this is an utterly futile discussion.
Englishness/Britishness should be a question of sufficiency (do you qualify for a passport, have the right to work, vote etc) not a competition.
I suppose you could come up with an algorithm that took inputs of family tree going back say 500 years, residence, place of work, passport(s) held, tax status, language spoken, and so forth, which could calculate the % Britishness of any particular individual. They could then be given a certificate with that on it to show other people should they wish to do so.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
I think quite a few would prefer to see the Russians win if it the alternative was to rely on “those people”. You’re underestimating just how far gone they are.
It's the Far Right and a few left over Tankies that support Putin. Same in most countries, from Hungary to the USA.
If we met two German twenty year olds, one of whom was born to two German parents in Germany, the other to two Croatians and had never set foot in Germany until eight years ago, would anyone truly think they were both equally German? I think that would be ridiculous, and there’s neither skin colour nor preference for fellow Germans to influence my decision.
I think this is an utterly futile discussion.
Englishness/Britishness should be a question of sufficiency (do you qualify for a passport, have the right to work, vote etc) not a competition.
What is the ethnicity of white Britons?
This is not meant to provoke. I am interested in the sensible left position on this, and you are one of the few sensible PB lefties
My honest position is, I dunno. I haven't given it much thought, which probably reflects my privileged position as not part of an ethnic minority, so it doesn't feature much in my life. Likewise, this isn't a facile response, I'm just not sure that I feel it matters very much.
If I was asked my ethnicity I'd say white British, but I guess there is more underlying your question.
A fair answer, and thanks
Also, this stuff matters, because it is the everyday discourse of Tommy Robinson and his tribe, and they can no longer be discounted (whether we like it or not). They use this to stoke grievance
Thing is, until about 10 years ago - or so it seems and feels - everyone accepted that "British" was the non-racial appelation for us all, and it worked really well (because it was already a blend of nations). So you could be "Muslim British", "North British", "German British", "Black British", and that's all great, and it did work
At the same time the word for the ethnicity for the pale freckled people who live in England was "the English" - ditto Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Scots
But now the English are scolded. "No you are not exclusively English, many others are English too". OK fine, but then, what am I? What are my family? What is our identity in a world increasingly obsessed - thanks to the Woke - with ethnic identity?
None of this boring shit would have happened - we were all happy with the British/English thing, and multiracial Britain worked really quite well back then - if the Left hadn't gone insane around 2001. But they did
It reminds me of the trans debate
I disagree with your narrative; in my view Englishness attracted negativity well before 2001 - in particular I remember it being associated with football hooliganism, which I guess is related to having an English national football team but e.g. a British Olympic team.
I also think identity always has been, and always will be, more complicated than you suggest. I am English, British, Cornish, Bristolian, European etc etc. and these identities overlap but also conflict.
I think there is a fetishising of identity across the political spectrum at the moment, which is unhelpful. But I also have sympathy with someone who isn't part of a 'majority identity' for want of a better word, and for whom their identity is more important than mine is e.g. Sikhs at our school who insist on wearing a turban.
I think it is possible, and useful, for those of us who are in the majority, to get a little less worked up by identity politics but allowing a little more slack to minorities to make more of a thing of it.
If we met two German twenty year olds, one of whom was born to two German parents in Germany, the other to two Croatians and had never set foot in Germany until eight years ago, would anyone truly think they were both equally German? I think that would be ridiculous, and there’s neither skin colour nor preference for fellow Germans to influence my decision.
I think this is an utterly futile discussion.
Englishness/Britishness should be a question of sufficiency (do you qualify for a passport, have the right to work, vote etc) not a competition.
What is the ethnicity of white Britons?
This is not meant to provoke. I am interested in the sensible left position on this, and you are one of the few sensible PB lefties
My honest position is, I dunno. I haven't given it much thought, which probably reflects my privileged position as not part of an ethnic minority, so it doesn't feature much in my life. Likewise, this isn't a facile response, I'm just not sure that I feel it matters very much.
If I was asked my ethnicity I'd say white British, but I guess there is more underlying your question.
A fair answer, and thanks
Also, this stuff matters, because it is the everyday discourse of Tommy Robinson and his tribe, and they can no longer be discounted (whether we like it or not). They use this to stoke grievance
Thing is, until about 10 years ago - or so it seems and feels - everyone accepted that "British" was the non-racial appelation for us all, and it worked really well (because it was already a blend of nations). So you could be "Muslim British", "North British", "German British", "Black British", and that's all great, and it did work
At the same time the word for the ethnicity for the pale freckled people who live in England was "the English" - ditto Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Scots
But now the English are scolded. "No you are not exclusively English, many others are English too". OK fine, but then, what am I? What are my family? What is our identity in a world increasingly obsessed - thanks to the Woke - with ethnic identity?
None of this boring shit would have happened - we were all happy with the British/English thing, and multiracial Britain worked really quite well back then - if the Left hadn't gone insane around 2001. But they did
It reminds me of the trans debate
I disagree with your narrative; in my view Englishness attracted negativity well before 2001 - in particular I remember it being associated with football hooliganism, which I guess is related to having an English national football team but e.g. a British Olympic team.
I also think identity always has been, and always will be, more complicated than you suggest. I am English, British, Cornish, Bristolian, European etc etc. and these identities overlap but also conflict.
I think there is a fetishising of identity across the political spectrum at the moment, which is unhelpful. But I also have sympathy with someone who isn't part of a 'majority identity' for want of a better word, and for whom their identity is more important than mine is e.g. Sikhs at our school who insist on wearing a turban.
I think it is possible, and useful, for those of us who are in the majority, to get a little less worked up by identity politics but allowing a little more slack to minorities to make more of a thing of it.
With that, to bed.
Probably best, because this whole comment is glib, simplistic bollocks in multiple ways
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
OMG this is a perfect Spectator piece, if only I wrote for the Spectator and not stupid effing flint knapping magazines. Ugh. This is one of those rare times I envy my stalker
WHY WOMEN LOVE MEN PISSING OUTSIDE
It would go totally viral and gain 4,985 subscribers, overnight
It's when they take a dump outside that the magic fades.
You can see exactly why @Cyclefree gets so angry. While everyone's dancing to Leon's "racist maths" stuff, which is essentially of no great importance, no one is taking much notice of this.
...When a female DDO questioned a decision to release on bail a man alleged to have raped his girlfriend, she pointed out he had also been accused of kicking the pregnant woman in the stomach. Sgt McIlvenny responded: "That's what she says." Panorama does not have the full details of the case. The female DDO later told the undercover reporter about her anger at the sergeant's response. "The way he went, 'Yeah, it's what she says.' He fucking stamped on her stomach when she was pregnant," she said. "I'd like to turn round and go, 'You wanker. You're a wanker.' But, unfortunately, I can't. He's got stripes on his shoulders."..
..In January this year, while the BBC's undercover reporter was working in the station, Sgt McIlvenny was told he was being investigated for inappropriate comments he had allegedly made to a woman in custody. Custody staff told our undercover reporter that the woman was Asian and that Sgt McIlvenny had said to her that she should be in the "massage business". British Transport Police officers had reported him, the custody staff said. But last month, before Panorama informed the Met of its findings, the sergeant told the BBC's reporter that he was back working in the custody suite...
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I said Tommy Robinsons lot, not Reform.
It is you that is mixing up fascists and Reform.
You were replying to my message - I was talking about flag shaggers and reform types, I never mentioned the subset of Tommy Robinson muppets. So I wasn’t mixing up anything.
Had to double check, but, yes, that matches Pavia. The clue is in the tidy up on the front left, which is where the collapsed tower stood.
Lots of other chunky red brick churches around the back streets of the centro storico.
I have cycled the length of Italy from Aosta to Rome and then down to Brindisi. The only annoying part was Pavia and the Po valley where there are millions of mosquitos. Not an enjoyable place at all.
I lived in Pavia for a while and, yes, the mozzies, which I was susceptible to, are terrible, it is a risotto growing area, which gives lots of breeding opportunities for the blighters. And the weather was either hot and muggy or pea soup foggy and cold for most of the year. I think early October probably hits it right in the short transition.
Loved the Italian lifestyle though.
As regards the cathedral, it appears different in my occasional dreams back to then, so I did have to double check to be 100% sure. Used to frequent a pub facing on to a very large square sat to the left hand side of the transept.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
The mighty French Army should be ready to go to war with Russia
“ The Chief of Staff for the French Army, Gen. Pierre Schill, has stated that forces must be ready “as early as tonight” for high-intensity warfare, warning of a potential direct military confrontation in the near future with Russia over the defense of a NATO Ally in Eastern Europe”
OMG this is a perfect Spectator piece, if only I wrote for the Spectator and not stupid effing flint knapping magazines. Ugh. This is one of those rare times I envy my stalker
WHY WOMEN LOVE MEN PISSING OUTSIDE
It would go totally viral and gain 4,985 subscribers, overnight
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Totally genuine. Reform have most of the racist vote but this doesn't mean most of their vote is racist. Esp not at the levels they are now polling.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
He does. His grandfather is usually politely ignored in lists of our school old boys too for some reason.
Unless he’s a Tommy fan I can’t imagine having a grandfather like that is the best ice breaker in polite society.
Maybe a plus in the US right now so swings and roundabouts.
There was a lot of discussion about how to deter badgers earlier. The only way is human piss and it has to be from an adult male, as it’s the testosterone they don’t like. If they dig a latrine in your lawn, you fill it in. And then piss on it every day. Try and identify there entry point to the garden and piss all over that too. I have saved literally pennies on my water meter by only going for a cheeky badger piss when at home.
What they are after is probably leather jackets and chafer grubs. So either maintain a dead and bone dry lawn that can’t sustain life. Or treat twice per year with nematodes.
The downside of this is that billy badger is the most effective mole control I have found. So you pick your poison. Daily mounds of mud. Or holes filled with sh1t from a tb laden menace.
Can’t help picturing badgers down the old Ken Market trying to find nice worn biker jackets to wear whilst hanging out together.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
Women find it erotic when men do the macho thing and take a piss outside. It shows masculine confidence and a warrior spirit
Data: personal observation, plus just an uncanny insight I just had
Men COMPLEXLY find women urinating outside both offensive and mildly arousing, but mainly bad
One of my mine takeaways years ago from Bolivia and Peru was how many middle aged women would just piss in the street. It was not arousing to be honest.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
He does. His grandfather is usually politely ignored in lists of our school old boys too for some reason.
Unless he’s a Tommy fan I can’t imagine having a grandfather like that is the best ice breaker in polite society.
Maybe a plus in the US right now so swings and roundabouts.
I have an inkling that his boss Thiel wouldn’t have held Louis’ grandparentage against him.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Totally genuine. Reform have most of the racist vote but this doesn't mean most of their vote is racist. Esp not at the levels they are now polling.
I would imagine that there are racists who vote for many parties because they can tie themselves up in a pretzel shape to justify voting for that party for their self interest.
I am sure there were racists who voted Tory “despite” Rishi, Labour voters who would make a horrible crack at Diane Abbot’s colour - Unfortunatley in society there are people who are racist but they also have the vote. Reform has maybe looked like a good depository but race is far from the reason why they are attracting the polling they are getting.
Stillwaters - You're right. I should have added "except for 'Broody Mary', who I learned about from the "memorable" history. (But monarchs earlier than Henry VIII are mostly a blur for me.)
There was a lot of discussion about how to deter badgers earlier. The only way is human piss and it has to be from an adult male, as it’s the testosterone they don’t like. If they dig a latrine in your lawn, you fill it in. And then piss on it every day. Try and identify there entry point to the garden and piss all over that too. I have saved literally pennies on my water meter by only going for a cheeky badger piss when at home.
What they are after is probably leather jackets and chafer grubs. So either maintain a dead and bone dry lawn that can’t sustain life. Or treat twice per year with nematodes.
The downside of this is that billy badger is the most effective mole control I have found. So you pick your poison. Daily mounds of mud. Or holes filled with sh1t from a tb laden menace.
Can’t help picturing badgers down the old Ken Market trying to find nice worn biker jackets to wear whilst hanging out together.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
Women find it erotic when men do the macho thing and take a piss outside. It shows masculine confidence and a warrior spirit
Data: personal observation, plus just an uncanny insight I just had
Men COMPLEXLY find women urinating outside both offensive and mildly arousing, but mainly bad
One of my mine takeaways years ago from Bolivia and Peru was how many middle aged women would just piss in the street. It was not arousing to be honest.
A takeaway of middle aged women’s piss doesn’t sound great on any level.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
Hmm, so the right wing authoritarian German born Thiel employs the grandson of Hitlers biggest British fanboi to run our ID database.
Impressive investigative journalism there. And brave of the undercover reporter. Investigating the police like that can't make you many friends.
All good clean fun.
.."This guy's fucking screamed," said PC Borg. "He had a lump on his foot that looked like a fucking tumour mate, afterwards." Recalling that the detainee had protested that the sergeant stamped on his leg, he remembered saying: "Yeah he fucking did, you c*nt." PC Borg said the sergeant had told him afterwards that the suspect had tried to kick him. "Absolutely Sarge," he recalled saying. "I'll put that in the MG11 if you like Sarge?" An MG11 is a witness statement. Ms Fish, the former chief constable, said if PC Borg had put fabricated information in it, which could be shown to be false, that would be "perverting the course of justice or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice". It is not clear in the CCTV footage if the man had tried to kick Sgt Stamp. The man had bare feet and four officers were restraining him at the time. One officer described how, if suspects refuse to have their fingerprints taken, he could pull two of their fingers hard to snap the tendons. "I love taking fingerprints by force," he said...
(c-word edited for PB rules. Interesting that the Beeb are OK with it these days.)
This all depends on the word “racist” having any emotional weight any more. Given that it is hurled at literally everything from maths to gardening to half of Britain - or nearly all of it if Labour is doing the hurling - then I don’t think it has any moral impact. Not any more
Go on. Racist maths... No doubt you may be able to find a link, but I can't believe you've actually come up against such a thing.
“Modern Mathematics Confronts Its White, Patriarchal Past”
I have spent a significant chunk of time over the past few years discussing this in school.
Leon isn't wrong.
But also, it's not wrong to say that the way we teach maths tends to pretend that it was all developed by the Greeks and then the universities of Western Europe. We have a big map of maths on the wall in our corridor highlighting that e.g. zero is Indian, prime numbers might have been discovered in what is now the DRC well before anywhere else.
It's a valuable corrective to the otherwise easily formed impression that maths is a white man's game.
But I agree that to label maths as racist is foolish laziness.
The point you make is the point the people mentioned in the articles make: that mathematical discoveries have often been assigned to people who were not their originators, for cultural reasons.
But that's not saying that 'maths is racist". It's saying that racism (and other isms) can intrude into maths, as it can into many other fields. And when it does, it can be racist.
Look at the title of the sciam article; that agrees with the point you made, doesn't it? And even the byline: "Mathematicians want to think their field is a meritocracy, but bias, harassment and exclusion persist" should hardly be controversial.
There are a few levels of this conversation going on.
I'm not disagreeing with you that Leon should read the links rather than Google them, skim the first line and hurl them at us. I do him the credit of assuming he is actually reading the links.
I'm not disagreeing with you that there are some useful thoughts that emerge once we accept that racist attitudes can intrude on maths (I have little doubt that what I'd call the maths canon was set by a bunch of racists and we haven't got around to correcting that yet).
But all these are quite subtle points, and our public discourse does subtlety poorly at present. Hence Leon is right that all this stuff does get boiled down to the sound bite "maths is racist" at times by clickbaiters and angry idiots on the internet.
Also, as you well know, the maths is racist discourse goes way beyond “oh don’t forget to mention how Arabs invented our numbers”
There is a real attempt to get actual arithmetic correctness labelled as white supremacy. It sounds mad - surely they don’t mean it - but then look how far genderwoo has gone. A chunk of the country believes men with penises are women
There is a second strand which believes that any subject which has a racial disparity in outcome - eg maths - MUST be racist. How come these East Asians are doing better? Tear it all down until there is completely racial equity of achievement
Plenty of people are trying to do exactly this to Maths and science. And it’s dangerous nonsense
As others more eloquent than me have said many times, a basic part of the problem is fragility around the word racist.
There is a (useful) interpretation of racism that says that maths as a living subject (rather than just a collection of facts) IS racist and sexist.
We miss recruiting geniuses into the world of maths because they are women or not white. Noone need feel guilt or shame about that, because (almost) noone actively sets out to maintain this status quo.
But if we could all be a little less angry, we could probably find a useful set of tweaks to how young people experience maths that would address this.
Oh and also, almost noone actually believes your first point that arithmetic correctness=white supremacy - I think that is almost purely an online bubble.
No, it's not
This is - or was - part of California's curriculum
"A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards"
This tool provides teachers an opportunity to examine their actions, beliefs, and values around teaching mathematics. The framework for deconstructing racism in mathematics offers essential characteristics of antiracist math educators and critical approaches to dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by making visible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture Jones and Okun 2001; dismantling Racism 2016) with respect to math
As a visual indicator, we italicize the terms used to identify white supremacy characteristics as defined by Jones and Okun (2001). They are as follows: • Perfectionism • Sense of Urgency • Defensiveness • Quantity Over Quality • Worship of the Written Word • Paternalism • Either/Or Thinking • Power Hoarding • Fear of Open Conflict • Individualism • Only One Right Way • Progress is Bigger, More • Objectivity • Right to Comfort
Because, who wants perfectionism, objecitvity or "only one right way" in.... that horrible white supremacist thing known as.... maths?
Anyone who knows anything at all about maths knows there is not "only one right way" to solve problems.
Anyone who thinks there is, is a very shit mathematician.
Having a relational understanding of Mathematics so you can tackle problems in different ways, and understand how those different ways relate to each other, is absolutely critical to developing Mathematical thinking.
Impressive investigative journalism there. And brave of the undercover reporter. Investigating the police like that can't make you many friends.
All good clean fun.
.."This guy's fucking screamed," said PC Borg. "He had a lump on his foot that looked like a fucking tumour mate, afterwards." Recalling that the detainee had protested that the sergeant stamped on his leg, he remembered saying: "Yeah he fucking did, you c*nt." PC Borg said the sergeant had told him afterwards that the suspect had tried to kick him. "Absolutely Sarge," he recalled saying. "I'll put that in the MG11 if you like Sarge?" An MG11 is a witness statement. Ms Fish, the former chief constable, said if PC Borg had put fabricated information in it, which could be shown to be false, that would be "perverting the course of justice or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice". It is not clear in the CCTV footage if the man had tried to kick Sgt Stamp. The man had bare feet and four officers were restraining him at the time. One officer described how, if suspects refuse to have their fingerprints taken, he could pull two of their fingers hard to snap the tendons. "I love taking fingerprints by force," he said...
(c-word edited for PB rules. Interesting that the Beeb are OK with it these days.)
Sign him up for Farage's ICE. Ticks all the boxes.
There was a lot of discussion about how to deter badgers earlier. The only way is human piss and it has to be from an adult male, as it’s the testosterone they don’t like. If they dig a latrine in your lawn, you fill it in. And then piss on it every day. Try and identify there entry point to the garden and piss all over that too. I have saved literally pennies on my water meter by only going for a cheeky badger piss when at home.
What they are after is probably leather jackets and chafer grubs. So either maintain a dead and bone dry lawn that can’t sustain life. Or treat twice per year with nematodes.
The downside of this is that billy badger is the most effective mole control I have found. So you pick your poison. Daily mounds of mud. Or holes filled with sh1t from a tb laden menace.
Can’t help picturing badgers down the old Ken Market trying to find nice worn biker jackets to wear whilst hanging out together.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
Women find it erotic when men do the macho thing and take a piss outside. It shows masculine confidence and a warrior spirit
Data: personal observation, plus just an uncanny insight I just had
Men COMPLEXLY find women urinating outside both offensive and mildly arousing, but mainly bad
One of my mine takeaways years ago from Bolivia and Peru was how many middle aged women would just piss in the street. It was not arousing to be honest.
A takeaway of middle aged women’s piss doesn’t sound great on any level.
Speaking of takeaways. I remember I got in trouble over there in a chicken shop with the difference between asking for rico pollo and rico polla. In Leon’s future babelfish world, such amusing mistakes will be lost to history.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
Hmm, so the right wing authritarian German born Thiel employs the grandson of Hitlers biggest British fanboi to run our ID database.
It's not hard to join the dots.
Why do you assume that Louis Mosley has the same traits as his grandfather? It’s more likely that he is where he is because he has the traits of his father who was a tech geek so to traduce him being hired because of his grandfathers politics is a bit basic.
There was a lot of discussion about how to deter badgers earlier. The only way is human piss and it has to be from an adult male, as it’s the testosterone they don’t like. If they dig a latrine in your lawn, you fill it in. And then piss on it every day. Try and identify there entry point to the garden and piss all over that too. I have saved literally pennies on my water meter by only going for a cheeky badger piss when at home.
What they are after is probably leather jackets and chafer grubs. So either maintain a dead and bone dry lawn that can’t sustain life. Or treat twice per year with nematodes.
The downside of this is that billy badger is the most effective mole control I have found. So you pick your poison. Daily mounds of mud. Or holes filled with sh1t from a tb laden menace.
Can’t help picturing badgers down the old Ken Market trying to find nice worn biker jackets to wear whilst hanging out together.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
Women find it erotic when men do the macho thing and take a piss outside. It shows masculine confidence and a warrior spirit
Data: personal observation, plus just an uncanny insight I just had
Men COMPLEXLY find women urinating outside both offensive and mildly arousing, but mainly bad
One of my mine takeaways years ago from Bolivia and Peru was how many middle aged women would just piss in the street. It was not arousing to be honest.
A takeaway of middle aged women’s piss doesn’t sound great on any level.
Impressive investigative journalism there. And brave of the undercover reporter. Investigating the police like that can't make you many friends.
All good clean fun.
.."This guy's fucking screamed," said PC Borg. "He had a lump on his foot that looked like a fucking tumour mate, afterwards." Recalling that the detainee had protested that the sergeant stamped on his leg, he remembered saying: "Yeah he fucking did, you c*nt." PC Borg said the sergeant had told him afterwards that the suspect had tried to kick him. "Absolutely Sarge," he recalled saying. "I'll put that in the MG11 if you like Sarge?" An MG11 is a witness statement. Ms Fish, the former chief constable, said if PC Borg had put fabricated information in it, which could be shown to be false, that would be "perverting the course of justice or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice". It is not clear in the CCTV footage if the man had tried to kick Sgt Stamp. The man had bare feet and four officers were restraining him at the time. One officer described how, if suspects refuse to have their fingerprints taken, he could pull two of their fingers hard to snap the tendons. "I love taking fingerprints by force," he said...
(c-word edited for PB rules. Interesting that the Beeb are OK with it these days.)
Sign him up for Farage's ICE. Ticks all the boxes.
I don't think we're there yet, but it's a danger.
Note that the "reforms" which Hegseth outlined at his absurd meeting with the generals relax the rules around this kind of abuse, as well as allowing records of it to be expunged from service records. Explicit policy.
It's who the Trump administration is. Whether Trump's UK fanboi follows him in that isn't yet very clear.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
Hmm, so the right wing authritarian German born Thiel employs the grandson of Hitlers biggest British fanboi to run our ID database.
It's not hard to join the dots.
Why do you assume that Louis Mosley has the same traits as his grandfather? It’s more likely that he is where he is because he has the traits of his father who was a tech geek so to traduce him being hired because of his grandfathers politics is a bit basic.
Well, there was also the fact that he said of Starrmer : "He gets it. He has the will."
An interesting choice of both words and emphasis, historically.
I haven't followed the indefinite leave to remain story closely, but am I right in thinking the allegation of racism stems from Reform saying that they wouldn't touch the post-Brexit deal for EU nationals? Kind of ironic if so.
There's also Tice's girlfriend effectively going back to the 1980s and saying John Barnes isn't British/English.
IN the world according to @Keir_Starmer if I grew up in, say, Somalia, I could credibly claim to be Somalian. Could I? Really? I think that would be laughable.
I remember meeting some friends of my grandparents who congratulated my then girlfriend, now wife, on how beautifully she spoke English. My wife is of Sri Lankan heritage (or "black as the ace of spades" as my granddad is alleged to have referred to her) but was born in Margate, and her English is a hell of a lot more beautiful than her Sinhala, judging by how tuk tuk drivers laugh at her efforts in Colombo. I suppose the people congratulating her on her English probably didn't consider themselves to have racist attitudes. My wife of course was gracious to them, as she was to my grandparents, who I think were rather fond of her.
There were female callers to James O'Brien this morning in tears because they feel unsafe in the country of their birth. It really is heartbreaking. They feel unsafe because the culture of fear that Farage and his vile minions have propagated. I f***in' despise Farage and Reform, and for once good on Starmer for calling out their racist bastardry.
His alleged schoolday anti-Semitism, his vile race-baiting politics and his dislike of people whose colour is darker than his pasty mush should be called out everyday and not celebrated. I posted earlier a Telegraph piece reporting that a Reform councillor in Cumbria? had promised to "shoot Starmer myself", yet according to Yusuf Starmer calling Reform POLICIES racist means Starmer has put a target on Farage's back.
Although when Farage made his broadcast one couldn't deny it was clever because the BBC and the Mail would deliberately misinterpret what Starmer had stated as a real and present threat. It was clever, but it is straight from the Trump playbook. The ghosts of the 1930s are here.
Come on you Tories, call this Charlatan who will devastate the country you love, out. Calling out Farage doesn't mean you don't support stopping the small boats.
Nigel Farage has said that he wishes to change Britain's immigration policies. The proposed change is not racist, and though it is never nice if people feel upset, preventing people from feeling upset is not the measure of a good policy. Indeed it is quite corrosive to form policies on the basis that they cannot upset anyone. That's how you get the Government spending more and more, regulating more and more, and effective dictatorship by Mumsnet.
It doesn't take long on here for misogyny to raise its head. Obviously things have gone wrong in this country because of mothers.
Obviously.
Perhaps men could, for once, take responsibility for the messes they make instead of blaming women.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
Hmm, so the right wing authritarian German born Thiel employs the grandson of Hitlers biggest British fanboi to run our ID database.
It's not hard to join the dots.
Why do you assume that Louis Mosley has the same traits as his grandfather? It’s more likely that he is where he is because he has the traits of his father who was a tech geek so to traduce him being hired because of his grandfathers politics is a bit basic.
Well, there was also the fact that he said of Starrmer : "He gets it. He has the will."
An interesting choice of both words and emphasis, historically.
They are perfectly acceptable phrases in English unless you are trying some bizarro stretch from “he has the will” to “The Triumph of the Will”. Are we not allowed to say that x player or team has the will to win now? Where there’s a will there’s a way, well only if you are a Nazi. FFS.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
Hmm, so the right wing authritarian German born Thiel employs the grandson of Hitlers biggest British fanboi to run our ID database.
It's not hard to join the dots.
Why do you assume that Louis Mosley has the same traits as his grandfather? It’s more likely that he is where he is because he has the traits of his father who was a tech geek so to traduce him being hired because of his grandfathers politics is a bit basic.
Well, there was also the fact that he said of Starrmer : "He gets it. He has the will."
An interesting choice of both words and emphasis, historically.
They are perfectly acceptable phrases in English unless you are trying some bizarro stretch from “he has the will” to “The Triumph of the Will”. Are we not allowed to say that x player or team has the will to win now? Where there’s a will there’s a way, well only if you are a Nazi. FFS.
If you read some of the context of the other parts of that interview, including his admiration for Thiel, who has publicly antidemocratic views, as well as relishing in "killing" other companies, I think it's a more likely than usual connection, which is why I drew it.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Could be worse. Not only was one of mine grandparents not English, he was Welsh. Even spoke Welsh.
I accept this will always make me very foreign to these English lands.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
Yes, it does. My mother is Scottish. Does that make me a bit Scottish? Arguably. In which case, if I'm 'a bit Scottish', I'm less English than someone whise parents are both English. There's nothing pejorative about this. But you can't be 100% x if you're also a bit y.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
Hmm, so the right wing authritarian German born Thiel employs the grandson of Hitlers biggest British fanboi to run our ID database.
It's not hard to join the dots.
Why do you assume that Louis Mosley has the same traits as his grandfather? It’s more likely that he is where he is because he has the traits of his father who was a tech geek so to traduce him being hired because of his grandfathers politics is a bit basic.
Well, there was also the fact that he said of Starrmer : "He gets it. He has the will."
An interesting choice of both words and emphasis, historically.
They are perfectly acceptable phrases in English unless you are trying some bizarro stretch from “he has the will” to “The Triumph of the Will”. Are we not allowed to say that x player or team has the will to win now? Where there’s a will there’s a way, well only if you are a Nazi. FFS.
If you read some of the context of the other parts of that interview, including his admiration for Thiel, who has publicly antidemocratic views, I think it's a more likely than usual connection, and hence why I drew it.
Maybe he got his views from his Labour MP grandfather or Labour donor uncle. Or maybe he just has his own views, merits and faults like everyone else.
Impressive investigative journalism there. And brave of the undercover reporter. Investigating the police like that can't make you many friends.
All good clean fun.
.."This guy's fucking screamed," said PC Borg. "He had a lump on his foot that looked like a fucking tumour mate, afterwards." Recalling that the detainee had protested that the sergeant stamped on his leg, he remembered saying: "Yeah he fucking did, you c*nt." PC Borg said the sergeant had told him afterwards that the suspect had tried to kick him. "Absolutely Sarge," he recalled saying. "I'll put that in the MG11 if you like Sarge?" An MG11 is a witness statement. Ms Fish, the former chief constable, said if PC Borg had put fabricated information in it, which could be shown to be false, that would be "perverting the course of justice or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice". It is not clear in the CCTV footage if the man had tried to kick Sgt Stamp. The man had bare feet and four officers were restraining him at the time. One officer described how, if suspects refuse to have their fingerprints taken, he could pull two of their fingers hard to snap the tendons. "I love taking fingerprints by force," he said...
(c-word edited for PB rules. Interesting that the Beeb are OK with it these days.)
Sign him up for Farage's ICE. Ticks all the boxes.
I don't think we're there yet, but it's a danger.
Note that the "reforms" which Hegseth outlined at his absurd meeting with the generals relax the rules around this kind of abuse, as well as allowing records of it to be expunged from service records. Explicit policy.
It's who the Trump administration is. Whether Trump's UK fanboi follows him in that isn't yet very clear.
Don’t worry, I am quite sure the policeman in question has scored 100% in all his online tests on Anti-Racism and Community Awareness.
I'm growing weary of this smearing of all Reform supporters as racist. It's offensive, counterproductive and wildly incorrect to say that. Of course the party disproportionately attracts racists but a large number of their supporters are not, probably as many as a half. Just assuming somebody who is resolved to vote Reform is racist is like tossing a coin and assuming it'll be tails. Would anyone in their right mind do that? I don't think so.
I’m trying to find your usual subtle arch criticism in that post and if it’s as genuine as I read it then a fine post.
I sometimes think that if the shit hit the fan with Russia (for example) the people happiest to throw shit at the flag shaggers and reform types would be praying to god those angry chaps go out and hold the line and protect the right of their previous critics to write pearl clutching articles about things they are uncomfortable about.
Probably, like the last war, we would have to intern Tommy Robinsons lot like we did to Mosley's fascists in 1939.
We obviously disagree but I don’t consider most of the reform lot to be fascists - maybe misguided, maybe unrealistic or easily led but to compare them to Mosley’s fascists is a bit strong.
I had wondered idly but twitter confirmed it today that the Mosley that heads Palantir UK is old Ozzy’s grandson. Small world.
Hmm, so the right wing authritarian German born Thiel employs the grandson of Hitlers biggest British fanboi to run our ID database.
It's not hard to join the dots.
Why do you assume that Louis Mosley has the same traits as his grandfather? It’s more likely that he is where he is because he has the traits of his father who was a tech geek so to traduce him being hired because of his grandfathers politics is a bit basic.
Well, there was also the fact that he said of Starrmer : "He gets it. He has the will."
An interesting choice of both words and emphasis, historically.
They are perfectly acceptable phrases in English unless you are trying some bizarro stretch from “he has the will” to “The Triumph of the Will”. Are we not allowed to say that x player or team has the will to win now? Where there’s a will there’s a way, well only if you are a Nazi. FFS.
If you read some of the context of the other parts of that interview, including his admiration for Thiel, who has publicly antidemocratic views, I think it's a more likely than usual connection, and hence why I drew it.
Maybe he got his views from his Labour MP grandfather or Labour donor uncle. Or maybe he just has his own views, merits and faults like everyone else.
Perhaps. But he seems to look up.to Thiel, and in other parts of the interview he revels in an ultra-aggressive, ultra-Darwinian corporate language, which is another fairly common marker of extreme views.
I haven't followed the indefinite leave to remain story closely, but am I right in thinking the allegation of racism stems from Reform saying that they wouldn't touch the post-Brexit deal for EU nationals? Kind of ironic if so.
There's also Tice's girlfriend effectively going back to the 1980s and saying John Barnes isn't British/English.
IN the world according to @Keir_Starmer if I grew up in, say, Somalia, I could credibly claim to be Somalian. Could I? Really? I think that would be laughable.
I remember meeting some friends of my grandparents who congratulated my then girlfriend, now wife, on how beautifully she spoke English. My wife is of Sri Lankan heritage (or "black as the ace of spades" as my granddad is alleged to have referred to her) but was born in Margate, and her English is a hell of a lot more beautiful than her Sinhala, judging by how tuk tuk drivers laugh at her efforts in Colombo. I suppose the people congratulating her on her English probably didn't consider themselves to have racist attitudes. My wife of course was gracious to them, as she was to my grandparents, who I think were rather fond of her.
There were female callers to James O'Brien this morning in tears because they feel unsafe in the country of their birth. It really is heartbreaking. They feel unsafe because the culture of fear that Farage and his vile minions have propagated. I f***in' despise Farage and Reform, and for once good on Starmer for calling out their racist bastardry.
His alleged schoolday anti-Semitism, his vile race-baiting politics and his dislike of people whose colour is darker than his pasty mush should be called out everyday and not celebrated. I posted earlier a Telegraph piece reporting that a Reform councillor in Cumbria? had promised to "shoot Starmer myself", yet according to Yusuf Starmer calling Reform POLICIES racist means Starmer has put a target on Farage's back.
Although when Farage made his broadcast one couldn't deny it was clever because the BBC and the Mail would deliberately misinterpret what Starmer had stated as a real and present threat. It was clever, but it is straight from the Trump playbook. The ghosts of the 1930s are here.
Come on you Tories, call this Charlatan who will devastate the country you love, out. Calling out Farage doesn't mean you don't support stopping the small boats.
Nigel Farage has said that he wishes to change Britain's immigration policies. The proposed change is not racist, and though it is never nice if people feel upset, preventing people from feeling upset is not the measure of a good policy. Indeed it is quite corrosive to form policies on the basis that they cannot upset anyone. That's how you get the Government spending more and more, regulating more and more, and effective dictatorship by Mumsnet.
It doesn't take long on here for misogyny to raise its head. Obviously things have gone wrong in this country because of mothers.
Obviously.
Perhaps men could, for once, take responsibility for the messes they make instead of blaming women.
I haven't 'blamed women'. Mumsnet frequently functions as a powerful lobby group, for good or ill. It is just one example, but it isn't one I feel is unjustified by the facts.
Liz Truss tells the story of how she tried to implement French nursery care rules (child to carer ratio etc.) in the UK when part of the coalition Government, because their system worked better. After facing a huge battle with the civil service and eventually prevailing, the policy was shitcanned after Mumsnet lobbied Nick Clegg. The French are not hack and slash Thatcherites - she was not trying to bring in an American system. But the policy had to be dropped because the sound of the changes caused a knee jerk reaction.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
Yes, it does. My mother is Scottish. Does that make me a bit Scottish? Arguably. In which case, if I'm 'a bit Scottish', I'm less English than someone whise parents are both English. There's nothing pejorative about this. But you can't be 100% x if you're also a bit y.
I agree, I was saying 'same' because I also have (had) a foreign grandparent.
Interesting to see another announcement from Lab saying they'll stop migrants bringing their families to the UK. I'm starting to wonder if the anti-Farage rhetoric is actually to give them political cover to bring in some fairly right-wing policies by Labour's standards.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
Yes, it does. My mother is Scottish. Does that make me a bit Scottish? Arguably. In which case, if I'm 'a bit Scottish', I'm less English than someone whise parents are both English. There's nothing pejorative about this. But you can't be 100% x if you're also a bit y.
By that measure I am not English at all because none of my grandparents are English. Yet both my parents are, and I am.
We’ve had this discussion before and its a blood and land nonsense.
Isn't Thiel one of those nutter billionaires who believe they became billionaires because of skill rather than luck and are now trying to drown the rest of us in their delusions?
Isn't Thiel one of those nutter billionaires who believe they became billionaires because of skill rather than luck and are now trying to drown the rest of us in their delusions?
Yes, one of the Broligarchs that are so corrupting our society.
Very heavy Murano glass 1960s ashtray. But these things are kind of beautiful. And it cost me £15 on eBay. Insane
Dropped inside is a wheel of metal found by me in a derelict nitrate mine in Yungay, in the atacama desert in Chile
Why is Yungay special? It is the deathliest place on the planet. Due to a double rain shadow in an already stark desert environment, less life - microbial etc - occurs here than anywhere else on earth, including Antarctica. Yungay in Chile is it. The most lifeless place on the globe
The day I went there I found a dust blown cemetery for the miners inexplicably adorned with modern dolls and toys and plastic snoopys
I took this dial of metal to remember the dead miners, and to honour rhe deathliness of earth. One day this planet too will be lifeless. And now the metal circle of man is submerged in kitsch murano glass
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
Yes, it does. My mother is Scottish. Does that make me a bit Scottish? Arguably. In which case, if I'm 'a bit Scottish', I'm less English than someone whise parents are both English. There's nothing pejorative about this. But you can't be 100% x if you're also a bit y.
I agree, I was saying 'same' because I also have (had) a foreign grandparent.
I have searched in vain for some hint, some little soupçon of exotic foreign ancestry in my maternal and paternal lines. My father looks like Julius Caesar - surely some Roman in there? Not according to the family tree. Stout yeomen of merrie England (the village of Quorn in Leicestershire) all the way back to the 1600s. My mother is 6 feet tall and looks Dutch. But no, as Devonshire as clotted cream and Buckfast tonic wine on both sides for at least 3 generations. I don’t even have any Welsh or Scottish forebears.
Isn't Thiel one of those nutter billionaires who believe they became billionaires because of skill rather than luck and are now trying to drown the rest of us in their delusions?
More than that, he believes that democracy is futile, because it doesn't allow the intellectual, technocrat-elite - himself, and a few other tech oligarchs - unfettered power.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
Yes, it does. My mother is Scottish. Does that make me a bit Scottish? Arguably. In which case, if I'm 'a bit Scottish', I'm less English than someone whise parents are both English. There's nothing pejorative about this. But you can't be 100% x if you're also a bit y.
I agree, I was saying 'same' because I also have (had) a foreign grandparent.
Baffles me that anyone wouldn’t agree with what Cookie and you say on this. It almost seems racist/xenophobic to insist people with that family background were 100% English, as if that were better than being roughly 75/25. It doesn’t really matter, it’s not like the pedigree of a dog, so why not just be honest? It’s more interesting
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
Yes, it does. My mother is Scottish. Does that make me a bit Scottish? Arguably. In which case, if I'm 'a bit Scottish', I'm less English than someone whise parents are both English. There's nothing pejorative about this. But you can't be 100% x if you're also a bit y.
I agree, I was saying 'same' because I also have (had) a foreign grandparent.
I have searched in vain for some hint, some little soupçon of exotic foreign ancestry in my maternal and paternal lines. My father looks like Julius Caesar - surely some Roman in there? Not according to the family tree. Stout yeomen of merrie England (the village of Quorn in Leicestershire) all the way back to the 1600s. My mother is 6 feet tall and looks Dutch. But no, as Devonshire as clotted cream and Buckfast tonic wine on both sides for at least 3 generations. I don’t even have any Welsh or Scottish forebears.
I am likewise disturbingly Yorkshire. Go back far enough and it will get more complicated of course.
There was a lot of discussion about how to deter badgers earlier. The only way is human piss and it has to be from an adult male, as it’s the testosterone they don’t like. If they dig a latrine in your lawn, you fill it in. And then piss on it every day. Try and identify there entry point to the garden and piss all over that too. I have saved literally pennies on my water meter by only going for a cheeky badger piss when at home.
What they are after is probably leather jackets and chafer grubs. So either maintain a dead and bone dry lawn that can’t sustain life. Or treat twice per year with nematodes.
The downside of this is that billy badger is the most effective mole control I have found. So you pick your poison. Daily mounds of mud. Or holes filled with sh1t from a tb laden menace.
Can’t help picturing badgers down the old Ken Market trying to find nice worn biker jackets to wear whilst hanging out together.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
Women find it erotic when men do the macho thing and take a piss outside. It shows masculine confidence and a warrior spirit
Data: personal observation, plus just an uncanny insight I just had
Men COMPLEXLY find women urinating outside both offensive and mildly arousing, but mainly bad
One of my mine takeaways years ago from Bolivia and Peru was how many middle aged women would just piss in the street. It was not arousing to be honest.
A takeaway of middle aged women’s piss doesn’t sound great on any level.
That was how Ernesto Bertarelli’s family made their money
There was a lot of discussion about how to deter badgers earlier. The only way is human piss and it has to be from an adult male, as it’s the testosterone they don’t like. If they dig a latrine in your lawn, you fill it in. And then piss on it every day. Try and identify there entry point to the garden and piss all over that too. I have saved literally pennies on my water meter by only going for a cheeky badger piss when at home.
What they are after is probably leather jackets and chafer grubs. So either maintain a dead and bone dry lawn that can’t sustain life. Or treat twice per year with nematodes.
The downside of this is that billy badger is the most effective mole control I have found. So you pick your poison. Daily mounds of mud. Or holes filled with sh1t from a tb laden menace.
Can’t help picturing badgers down the old Ken Market trying to find nice worn biker jackets to wear whilst hanging out together.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
Women find it erotic when men do the macho thing and take a piss outside. It shows masculine confidence and a warrior spirit
Data: personal observation, plus just an uncanny insight I just had
Men COMPLEXLY find women urinating outside both offensive and mildly arousing, but mainly bad
One of my mine takeaways years ago from Bolivia and Peru was how many middle aged women would just piss in the street. It was not arousing to be honest.
A takeaway of middle aged women’s piss doesn’t sound great on any level.
Speaking of takeaways. I remember I got in trouble over there in a chicken shop with the difference between asking for rico pollo and rico polla. In Leon’s future babelfish world, such amusing mistakes will be lost to history.
I suggest learning the difference between churro and chorro too.
Isn't Thiel one of those nutter billionaires who believe they became billionaires because of skill rather than luck and are now trying to drown the rest of us in their delusions?
Yes, one of the Broligarchs that are so corrupting our society.
It’s really only in the last year - arguably the last few months - that the sheer scale of plutocrat control over technology and the sources of information we rely on has become so apparent to me.
Musk you could write off as one mad geezer, but then there’s all the others lining up behind him. And the thing is there’s no choice. It’s their products, or it’s products controlled by the CCP.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
1 English, 1 Welsh, 1 Irish and 1 half Scottish-half American. I guess that makes me a mongrel
Isn't Thiel one of those nutter billionaires who believe they became billionaires because of skill rather than luck and are now trying to drown the rest of us in their delusions?
More than that, he believes that democracy is futile, because it doesn't allow the intellectual, technocrat-elite - himself, and a few other tech oligarchs - unfettered power.
Thiel owns Vance, who most likely will be President soon.
He also bought himself a weird NZ South Island bolthole in order to hide out from the apocalypse that he is busy creating.
Yes, Mrs Foxy injured her knee in an RTA some years back and was heading for a knee replacement.
All the pain went when she started Mounjaro for her diabetes. It wasn't the weight loss as the pain went before she had lost more than a couple of pounds.
Isn't Thiel one of those nutter billionaires who believe they became billionaires because of skill rather than luck and are now trying to drown the rest of us in their delusions?
More than that, he believes that democracy is futile, because it doesn't allow the intellectual, technocrat-elite - himself, and a few other tech oligarchs - unfettered power.
Thiel owns Vance, who most likely will be President soon.
He also bought himself a weird NZ South Island bolthole in order to hide out from the apocalypse that he is busy creating.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
1 English, 1 Welsh, 1 Irish and 1 half Scottish-half American. I guess that makes me a mongrel
Isn't Thiel one of those nutter billionaires who believe they became billionaires because of skill rather than luck and are now trying to drown the rest of us in their delusions?
More than that, he believes that democracy is futile, because it doesn't allow the intellectual, technocrat-elite - himself, and a few other tech oligarchs - unfettered power.
Thiel owns Vance, who most likely will be President soon.
He also bought himself a weird NZ South Island bolthole in order to hide out from the apocalypse that he is busy creating.
This all depends on the word “racist” having any emotional weight any more. Given that it is hurled at literally everything from maths to gardening to half of Britain - or nearly all of it if Labour is doing the hurling - then I don’t think it has any moral impact. Not any more
Go on. Racist maths... No doubt you may be able to find a link, but I can't believe you've actually come up against such a thing.
“Modern Mathematics Confronts Its White, Patriarchal Past”
I have spent a significant chunk of time over the past few years discussing this in school.
Leon isn't wrong.
But also, it's not wrong to say that the way we teach maths tends to pretend that it was all developed by the Greeks and then the universities of Western Europe. We have a big map of maths on the wall in our corridor highlighting that e.g. zero is Indian, prime numbers might have been discovered in what is now the DRC well before anywhere else.
It's a valuable corrective to the otherwise easily formed impression that maths is a white man's game.
But I agree that to label maths as racist is foolish laziness.
I don’t recall being taught the history of maths when I learnt maths at A level. Is it a feature now, or of Uni courses?
We had a great History of Maths course at Uni. Entirely voluntary, but enjoyed by all that attended.
Not all of the material presented was, er, entirely serious. The lecturer did say that he was in the process of writing a book, but unfortunately it does not seem to have seen the light of day.
Well done to BBC Panorama for exposing disgusting attitudes amongst some in the police.
Oh yes, some years after Baroness Casey and others before her exposed disgusting attitudes among some in the police, Panorama finally says the same.
What took them so long?
I'll tell you what has made me angry today. The Maria Kelly v Leonardo U.K. employment tribunal case. Once again a woman has been forced to give evidence about her periods and sexual assaults and other highly intimate personal matters to try and JUSTIFY why she wants to deal with such matters in private away from men. There is deliberate cruelty & humiliation (& I suspect that this is the point for at least some of those forcing women to do this). And there is also the increasingly widespread assumption that women's rights to even the most basic considerations of decency are not something that she ought to have as of right because she is a human being, but should only be conditional on whether this suits men (or a subset of them), an attitude which regrettably finds quite some support on here, as evidenced by the depressingly ignorant debate on this topic the other day by @Luckyguy1983 and @JosiasJessop. It is not just @Leon who talks shite about subjects he does not understand. It was perfectly obvious from that debate that neither of those posters had read or understood the relevant laws or judgment. Though ignorance has never stopped men talking bullshit on pretty much every topic under the sun.
As for the apparently pressing questions of racist maths and men pissing outside, I have no views on the former and as for the latter women in my experience do not find it erotic but are wearily grateful that if men piss on the lawn at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves.
Oh and I don't care about ethnicity either but then as the first person in my family to be born in this country I expect Farage thinks I ought to be on the deportation list. So he and his kind can fuck right off, frankly. I and my parents have done more for this country than him and his bunch of fraudulent shysters.
This all depends on the word “racist” having any emotional weight any more. Given that it is hurled at literally everything from maths to gardening to half of Britain - or nearly all of it if Labour is doing the hurling - then I don’t think it has any moral impact. Not any more
Go on. Racist maths... No doubt you may be able to find a link, but I can't believe you've actually come up against such a thing.
“Modern Mathematics Confronts Its White, Patriarchal Past”
I have spent a significant chunk of time over the past few years discussing this in school.
Leon isn't wrong.
But also, it's not wrong to say that the way we teach maths tends to pretend that it was all developed by the Greeks and then the universities of Western Europe. We have a big map of maths on the wall in our corridor highlighting that e.g. zero is Indian, prime numbers might have been discovered in what is now the DRC well before anywhere else.
It's a valuable corrective to the otherwise easily formed impression that maths is a white man's game.
But I agree that to label maths as racist is foolish laziness.
The point you make is the point the people mentioned in the articles make: that mathematical discoveries have often been assigned to people who were not their originators, for cultural reasons.
But that's not saying that 'maths is racist". It's saying that racism (and other isms) can intrude into maths, as it can into many other fields. And when it does, it can be racist.
Look at the title of the sciam article; that agrees with the point you made, doesn't it? And even the byline: "Mathematicians want to think their field is a meritocracy, but bias, harassment and exclusion persist" should hardly be controversial.
There are a few levels of this conversation going on.
I'm not disagreeing with you that Leon should read the links rather than Google them, skim the first line and hurl them at us. I do him the credit of assuming he is actually reading the links.
I'm not disagreeing with you that there are some useful thoughts that emerge once we accept that racist attitudes can intrude on maths (I have little doubt that what I'd call the maths canon was set by a bunch of racists and we haven't got around to correcting that yet).
But all these are quite subtle points, and our public discourse does subtlety poorly at present. Hence Leon is right that all this stuff does get boiled down to the sound bite "maths is racist" at times by clickbaiters and angry idiots on the internet.
Also, as you well know, the maths is racist discourse goes way beyond “oh don’t forget to mention how Arabs invented our numbers”
There is a real attempt to get actual arithmetic correctness labelled as white supremacy. It sounds mad - surely they don’t mean it - but then look how far genderwoo has gone. A chunk of the country believes men with penises are women
There is a second strand which believes that any subject which has a racial disparity in outcome - eg maths - MUST be racist. How come these East Asians are doing better? Tear it all down until there is completely racial equity of achievement
Plenty of people are trying to do exactly this to Maths and science. And it’s dangerous nonsense
As others more eloquent than me have said many times, a basic part of the problem is fragility around the word racist.
There is a (useful) interpretation of racism that says that maths as a living subject (rather than just a collection of facts) IS racist and sexist.
We miss recruiting geniuses into the world of maths because they are women or not white. Noone need feel guilt or shame about that, because (almost) noone actively sets out to maintain this status quo.
But if we could all be a little less angry, we could probably find a useful set of tweaks to how young people experience maths that would address this.
Oh and also, almost noone actually believes your first point that arithmetic correctness=white supremacy - I think that is almost purely an online bubble.
No, it's not
This is - or was - part of California's curriculum
"A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction is an integrated approach to mathematics that centers Black, Latinx, and Multilingual students in grades 6-8, addresses barriers to math equity, and aligns instruction to grade-level priority standards"
This tool provides teachers an opportunity to examine their actions, beliefs, and values around teaching mathematics. The framework for deconstructing racism in mathematics offers essential characteristics of antiracist math educators and critical approaches to dismantling white supremacy in math classrooms by making visible the toxic characteristics of white supremacy culture Jones and Okun 2001; dismantling Racism 2016) with respect to math
As a visual indicator, we italicize the terms used to identify white supremacy characteristics as defined by Jones and Okun (2001). They are as follows: • Perfectionism • Sense of Urgency • Defensiveness • Quantity Over Quality • Worship of the Written Word • Paternalism • Either/Or Thinking • Power Hoarding • Fear of Open Conflict • Individualism • Only One Right Way • Progress is Bigger, More • Objectivity • Right to Comfort
Because, who wants perfectionism, objecitvity or "only one right way" in.... that horrible white supremacist thing known as.... maths?
I think you're straying into territory you don't know enough about.
If I asked you to look at a matrix and tell me what 3D transformation it encodes, and told you there was only one right way of getting to the answer, I'd be a shit teacher and you'd end up a crap mathematician.
'One right way' is poisonous in maths. 'Arithmetic correctness' is not. Don't confuse the two.
I studied Maths at University, but at Primary school I could not understand long multiplication, at least as it was explained in our Maths workbooks. So I worked out a different way to multiply large numbers (which I later found out is sometimes known as the Russian Peasant's method). This resulted in my baffled primary school teacher asking me to explain what I was doing, which I must have done sufficiently well as she did not press me to learn the long multiplication method, another kid in the class - Edward - and I subsequently became unofficial teaching assistants when the class was doing Maths.
As it happens I do not think I am at all non-white, though I have some amount of Jewish ancestry. But I am different, and my differentness was tolerated, rather than squashed out of me.
I think one of the big problems here is that the language used by those who seek to improve Maths education in this way is really, really bad. It's almost designed to provoke opposition, rather than to maximise understanding.
Starmer should probably welcome these memes; they’re not really a piss take out of him and get him some funny publicity
They're great. The best sort of affectionate self-deprecatory British humour.
In the light of the news today, I don’t think “boss man” as the name for a kebab shop owner is “gentle British humour” - especially when aimed at Starmer
Reform and the Tories combined AHEAD of the SNP and Labour. Must be the first time since the 1950s parties of the right have had the highest voteshare in Scotland?
Reform and the Tories combined AHEAD of the SNP and Labour. Must be the first time since the 1950s parties of the right have had the highest voteshare in Scotland?
Reform and the Tories combined AHEAD of the SNP and Labour. Must be the first time since the 1950s parties of the right have had the highest voteshare in Scotland?
I don't quite understand. SNP + Labour = 49%. Reform + Tory = 34%.
One of my grandparents wasn't English originally (or British). I wonder if that makes me less English than someone with 4 English grandparents. Interesting philosophical debating point.
Same.
Yes, it does. My mother is Scottish. Does that make me a bit Scottish? Arguably. In which case, if I'm 'a bit Scottish', I'm less English than someone whise parents are both English. There's nothing pejorative about this. But you can't be 100% x if you're also a bit y.
I agree, I was saying 'same' because I also have (had) a foreign grandparent.
Baffles me that anyone wouldn’t agree with what Cookie and you say on this. It almost seems racist/xenophobic to insist people with that family background were 100% English, as if that were better than being roughly 75/25. It doesn’t really matter, it’s not like the pedigree of a dog, so why not just be honest? It’s more interesting
A person born and brought up in the same English town/suburb/street as you is just as English as you.
If they happen to have an antecedent from Scotland/Ghana/wherever then genetically they are a bit from that place too. If they want to identify with that part of their heritage then they can. It's literally in their DNA.
They may have no interest in that part of their lineage. Or they may love it. Either way it does not affect their Englishness.
Lordy. More from Doncaster Council. These people are 4 year olds caught stealing jam trying to justify themselves, then blaming each other, and hoping no one will notice.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it". https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
Reform and the Tories combined AHEAD of the SNP and Labour. Must be the first time since the 1950s parties of the right have had the highest voteshare in Scotland?
Reform and the Tories combined AHEAD of the SNP and Labour. Must be the first time since the 1950s parties of the right have had the highest voteshare in Scotland?
Comments
Also, this stuff matters, because it is the everyday discourse of Tommy Robinson and his tribe, and they can no longer be discounted (whether we like it or not). They use this to stoke grievance
Thing is, until about 10 years ago - or so it seems and feels - everyone accepted that "British" was the non-racial appelation for us all, and it worked really well (because it was already a blend of nations). So you could be "Muslim British", "North British", "German British", "Black British", and that's all great, and it did work
At the same time the word for the ethnicity for the pale freckled people who live in England was "the English" - ditto Irish, Welsh, Cornish, Scots
But now the English are scolded. "No you are not exclusively English, many others are English too". OK fine, but then, what am I? What are my family? What is our identity in a world increasingly obsessed - thanks to the Woke - with ethnic identity?
None of this boring shit would have happened - we were all happy with the British/English thing, and multiracial Britain worked really quite well back then - if the Left hadn't gone insane around 2001. But they did
It reminds me of the trans debate
Labelling a semi-random selection (there are numerous reasons they might support Reform) of around a third of the electorate as racist is just silly.
Which is presumably why Starmer didn't.
In fact it's the woke 18-29 year olds, who voted for lefty parties at a ratio of 4:1, that would be the ones defending the gerontocracy.
I think the human piss thing is just an excuse for a chap to take a piss in the garden during a bbq rather than the faff of going inside.
Another piece of shite politics. He needs to go
Data: personal observation, plus just an uncanny insight I just had
Men COMPLEXLY find women urinating outside both offensive and mildly arousing, but mainly bad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mg0MMqKBbyw
WHY WOMEN LOVE MEN PISSING OUTSIDE
It would go totally viral and gain 4,985 subscribers, overnight
I also think identity always has been, and always will be, more complicated than you suggest. I am English, British, Cornish, Bristolian, European etc etc. and these identities overlap but also conflict.
I think there is a fetishising of identity across the political spectrum at the moment, which is unhelpful. But I also have sympathy with someone who isn't part of a 'majority identity' for want of a better word, and for whom their identity is more important than mine is e.g. Sikhs at our school who insist on wearing a turban.
I think it is possible, and useful, for those of us who are in the majority, to get a little less worked up by identity politics but allowing a little more slack to minorities to make more of a thing of it.
With that, to bed.
However, as you are retiring, good night!
It is you that is mixing up fascists and Reform.
While everyone's dancing to Leon's "racist maths" stuff, which is essentially of no great importance, no one is taking much notice of this.
...When a female DDO questioned a decision to release on bail a man alleged to have raped his girlfriend, she pointed out he had also been accused of kicking the pregnant woman in the stomach. Sgt McIlvenny responded: "That's what she says." Panorama does not have the full details of the case.
The female DDO later told the undercover reporter about her anger at the sergeant's response. "The way he went, 'Yeah, it's what she says.' He fucking stamped on her stomach when she was pregnant," she said.
"I'd like to turn round and go, 'You wanker. You're a wanker.' But, unfortunately, I can't. He's got stripes on his shoulders."..
..In January this year, while the BBC's undercover reporter was working in the station, Sgt McIlvenny was told he was being investigated for inappropriate comments he had allegedly made to a woman in custody.
Custody staff told our undercover reporter that the woman was Asian and that Sgt McIlvenny had said to her that she should be in the "massage business". British Transport Police officers had reported him, the custody staff said.
But last month, before Panorama informed the Met of its findings, the sergeant told the BBC's reporter that he was back working in the custody suite...
Loved the Italian lifestyle though.
As regards the cathedral, it appears different in my occasional dreams back to then, so I did have to double check to be 100% sure. Used to frequent a pub facing on to a very large square sat to the left hand side of the transept.
Investigating the police like that can't make you many friends.
You’re as English as your king.
The mighty French Army should be ready to go to war with Russia
“ The Chief of Staff for the French Army, Gen. Pierre Schill, has stated that forces must be ready “as early as tonight” for high-intensity warfare, warning of a potential direct military confrontation in the near future with Russia over the defense of a NATO Ally in Eastern Europe”
https://x.com/sentdefender/status/1973429028628447436?s=61
Unless he’s a Tommy fan I can’t imagine having a grandfather like that is the best ice breaker in polite society.
Maybe a plus in the US right now so swings and roundabouts.
I am sure there were racists who voted Tory “despite” Rishi, Labour voters who would make a horrible crack at Diane Abbot’s colour - Unfortunatley in society there are people who are racist but they also have the vote. Reform has maybe looked like a good depository but race is far from the reason why they are attracting the polling they are getting.
It's not hard to join the dots.
.."This guy's fucking screamed," said PC Borg. "He had a lump on his foot that looked like a fucking tumour mate, afterwards." Recalling that the detainee had protested that the sergeant stamped on his leg, he remembered saying: "Yeah he fucking did, you c*nt."
PC Borg said the sergeant had told him afterwards that the suspect had tried to kick him. "Absolutely Sarge," he recalled saying. "I'll put that in the MG11 if you like Sarge?"
An MG11 is a witness statement. Ms Fish, the former chief constable, said if PC Borg had put fabricated information in it, which could be shown to be false, that would be "perverting the course of justice or conspiracy to pervert the course of justice".
It is not clear in the CCTV footage if the man had tried to kick Sgt Stamp. The man had bare feet and four officers were restraining him at the time.
One officer described how, if suspects refuse to have their fingerprints taken, he could pull two of their fingers hard to snap the tendons. "I love taking fingerprints by force," he said...
(c-word edited for PB rules.
Interesting that the Beeb are OK with it these days.)
Anyone who thinks there is, is a very shit mathematician.
Having a relational understanding of Mathematics so you can tackle problems in different ways, and understand how those different ways relate to each other, is absolutely critical to developing Mathematical thinking.
Note that the "reforms" which Hegseth outlined at his absurd meeting with the generals relax the rules around this kind of abuse, as well as allowing records of it to be expunged from service records.
Explicit policy.
It's who the Trump administration is.
Whether Trump's UK fanboi follows him in that isn't yet very clear.
An interesting choice of both words and emphasis, historically.
Obviously.
Perhaps men could, for once, take responsibility for the messes they make instead of blaming women.
I accept this will always make me very foreign to these English lands.
My mother is Scottish. Does that make me a bit Scottish? Arguably. In which case, if I'm 'a bit Scottish', I'm less English than someone whise parents are both English.
There's nothing pejorative about this. But you can't be 100% x if you're also a bit y.
Liz Truss tells the story of how she tried to implement French nursery care rules (child to carer ratio etc.) in the UK when part of the coalition Government, because their system worked better. After facing a huge battle with the civil service and eventually prevailing, the policy was shitcanned after Mumsnet lobbied Nick Clegg. The French are not hack and slash Thatcherites - she was not trying to bring in an American system. But the policy had to be dropped because the sound of the changes caused a knee jerk reaction.
Does it matter anyway?
"Election Maps UK
@ElectionMapsUK
Scottish Westminster Voting Intention:
SNP: 31% (=)
RFM: 23% (+2)
LAB: 18% (-2)
CON: 11% (-1)
LDM: 9% (+1)
GRN: 7% (=)
Via
@NorstatUKPolls
, 22-25 Sep.
Changes w/ 27-30 May."
https://x.com/ElectionMapsUK/status/1973497130104029526
We’ve had this discussion before and its a blood and land nonsense.
Very heavy Murano glass 1960s ashtray. But these things are kind of beautiful. And it cost me £15 on eBay. Insane
Dropped inside is a wheel of metal found by me in a derelict nitrate mine in Yungay, in the atacama desert in Chile
Why is Yungay special? It is the deathliest place on the planet. Due to a double rain shadow in an already stark desert environment, less life - microbial etc - occurs here than anywhere else on earth, including Antarctica. Yungay in Chile is it. The most lifeless place on the globe
The day I went there I found a dust blown cemetery for the miners inexplicably adorned with modern dolls and toys and plastic snoopys
I took this dial of metal to remember the dead miners, and to honour rhe deathliness of earth. One day this planet too will be lifeless. And now the metal circle of man is submerged in kitsch murano glass
I hear other people use IKEA
Go back far enough and it will get more complicated of course.
https://www.forbes.com/profile/ernesto-bertarelli/
(I’m not joking - his grandfather started out with a donkey and cart collecting piss from Italian nunneries to reprocess into fertility drugs)
Musk you could write off as one mad geezer, but then there’s all the others lining up behind him. And the thing is there’s no choice. It’s their products, or it’s products controlled by the CCP.
In what sense is it hidden?
There have been by now ca 10 recent reports setting out in excruciating detail misogyny and racism inside the Met.
Which would make GLP1s the first drugs to have any clinical effect in treating the disease (rather than its symptoms).
A billion people will have osteoarthritis by 2050
Clinical data show that GLP1s help, which could be in 3 ways:
1. Weight loss – less mechanical load
2. Direct and indirect anti-inflammatory effects
3. Binding to GLP1 receptors in the joint could limit cartilage breakdown
https://x.com/DrSamuelBHume/status/1973381799297388977
He also bought himself a weird NZ South Island bolthole in order to hide out from the apocalypse that he is busy creating.
It's real Bond villain stuff.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/feb/15/why-silicon-valley-billionaires-are-prepping-for-the-apocalypse-in-new-zealand?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other
But there's always that nagging doubt. Why should the henchmen and bodyguards guard him rather than toss him in the piranha tank?
All the pain went when she started Mounjaro for her diabetes. It wasn't the weight loss as the pain went before she had lost more than a couple of pounds.
It's a total shock to me. Who could have seen that but for a few bad apples.....
Not all of the material presented was, er, entirely serious. The lecturer did say that he was in the process of writing a book, but unfortunately it does not seem to have seen the light of day.
I see there was some controversy that saw him end up in a story in the London Times.
https://www.thetimes.com/uk/science/article/maths-means-nothing-if-we-dont-know-where-the-numbers-come-from-bq5l8gb3m
https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/22320
https://hom.soc.srcf.net/
What took them so long?
I'll tell you what has made me angry today. The Maria Kelly v Leonardo U.K. employment tribunal case. Once again a woman has been forced to give evidence about her periods and sexual assaults and other highly intimate personal matters to try and JUSTIFY why she wants to deal with such matters in private away from men. There is deliberate cruelty & humiliation (& I suspect that this is the point for at least some of those forcing women to do this). And there is also the increasingly widespread assumption that women's rights to even the most basic considerations of decency are not something that she ought to have as of right because she is a human being, but should only be conditional on whether this suits men (or a subset of them), an attitude which regrettably finds quite some support on here, as evidenced by the depressingly ignorant debate on this topic the other day by @Luckyguy1983 and @JosiasJessop. It is not just @Leon who talks shite about subjects he does not understand. It was perfectly obvious from that debate that neither of those posters had read or understood the relevant laws or judgment. Though ignorance has never stopped men talking bullshit on pretty much every topic under the sun.
As for the apparently pressing questions of racist maths and men pissing outside, I have no views on the former and as for the latter women in my experience do not find it erotic but are wearily grateful that if men piss on the lawn at least the women don't have to clean up the lavatory before using it, men being apparently incapable of aiming or too selfish to clean up after themselves.
Oh and I don't care about ethnicity either but then as the first person in my family to be born in this country I expect Farage thinks I ought to be on the deportation list. So he and his kind can fuck right off, frankly. I and my parents have done more for this country than him and his bunch of fraudulent shysters.
As it happens I do not think I am at all non-white, though I have some amount of Jewish ancestry. But I am different, and my differentness was tolerated, rather than squashed out of me.
I think one of the big problems here is that the language used by those who seek to improve Maths education in this way is really, really bad. It's almost designed to provoke opposition, rather than to maximise understanding.
If they happen to have an antecedent from Scotland/Ghana/wherever then genetically they are a bit from that place too. If they want to identify with that part of their heritage then they can. It's literally in their DNA.
They may have no interest in that part of their lineage. Or they may love it. Either way it does not affect their Englishness.
And these two passed Nigel's world-class vetting system, which he backed out of in the summer to let the rejects have another run.
A Reform UK councillor has stepped down as deputy leader of the Doncaster branch of the party over her involvement in a company she co-founded to do business with the council.
Councillor Rachel Reed set up Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd with Councillor David Knight, who was also a Reform UK councillor until he was stripped of the party whip over the saga.
The party has said the business was Knight's idea and Reed - who had worked in a school before entering politics - was unaware of the implications it would have.
Reed will remain as a councillor for Conisbrough ward and has resigned as a director of Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Doncaster Reform UK has appointed Councillor Karl Hughes as deputy leader.
Fly Doncaster (Auxiliary Services) Ltd was established on 18 September after the council created Fly Doncaster to manage Doncaster Sheffield Airport (DSA).
Earlier this month, Reform spokesperson Jason Charity said Fly Doncaster (Auxillary Services) Ltd was Knight's idea, as he "thought that the auxiliary services around DSA have not been established, and he thought there was a business opportunity in it".
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cly9d5v2rqpo
Bring on the Marx Brothers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hv5lqE0f3Q
Rfm + con = 23 + 11 = 34
Snp + lab = 31 + 18 = 49
Otherwise, not much.