Britain - The Official Thread

[Johnnypenso]

You're not doing yourself any favors by skipping the article itself, Johnny. Read the article as well.

Edit: Forgot to put the quote in.

Why would I read someone's opinion when I can listen to the direct video evidence and form my own opinion? So I ask again, did you watch the video, form your own opinion on what Farage actually said, then get back to me.

Saying that a group of lobbyists is large isn't anti-semitic if there's no more to it. Neither is criticising a national government. I haven't watched the video or looked into the case but I have noticed recently that some of the critics of the UK Labour party's definition of anti-semitism have sounded as if they think any criticism of Israel is automatically anti-semitic.
This may not be relevant to the case you guys are discussing (as I said, I haven't watched the video or even clicked the link) but I find it astounding that criticising any nation is seen as automatically racist.

He didn't criticize Israel or Jews. He just said that the caller was making a point that the lobby was big and influential among many other powerful lobbies in American politics.

The video is 37 seconds. I suggest anyone wanting to get involved here listen to what is actually said.

 

[polysmut]

I suggest anyone wanting to get involved here listen to what is actually said.

You make a good point about looking into the specific case being discussed here. I haven't done that and was speaking more generally about other things I've seen recently.

 

[Robin]

Jeremy Hunt doesn't even know where is own wife is from Are immigration services going to be knocking on his door?

 

[TenEightyOne]

Jeremy Hunt doesn't even know where is own wife is from Are immigration services going to be knocking on his door?

What a culture secretary.

 

[Touring Mars]

Jeremy is having problems with his Countries again.

 

[Biggles]

So now Geraint Thomas wins the TDF. Will there be payback when some overweight Frenchman wins the PDC World Darts Championship?

 

[Famine]

Jeremy Hunt doesn't even know where is own wife is from Are immigration services going to be knocking on his door?

The last guy forgot he even had a wife a few times...

 

[Robin]

The last guy forgot he even had a wife a few times...

The last guy compared the UK relationship with China to Harry Potter having a Chinese girlfriend... he also said that Ping Pong was invented on the dining tables of Eaton.

I don't know which foreign secretary is worse...

 

[TenEightyOne]

'Ecky thump, I never knew it wo't'Yorkshire Day tha dee lad!

 

[ryzno]

Sorry to bring my stupidity to this thread, but on the previous few pages I've seen y'all complain about the heat in old buildings. Do they sell window ac units over there? While it'll never beet central air they do help.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Sorry to bring my stupidity to this thread, but on the previous few pages I've seen y'all complain about the heat in old buildings. Do they sell window ac units over there? While it'll never beet central air they do help.

I'm sure somebody does but I've never ever seen one installed, British houses are made to keep out the rain and cold most of the time, it's 40-something years since the last heatwave

 

[PeterJB]

Sorry to bring my stupidity to this thread, but on the previous few pages I've seen y'all complain about the heat in old buildings. Do they sell window ac units over there? While it'll never beet central air they do help.

My dad has a few A/C units in the house which also provide heat in the winter, but since they cost about £10,000 it's not something most people can afford, or want to afford since we have central heating for the winter and sustained periods of 20+ degree weather in the summer rarely last as long as this.

 

[ryzno]

My dad has a few A/C units in the house which also provide heat in the winter, but since they cost about £10,000 it's not something most people can afford, or want to afford since we have central heating for the winter and sustained periods of 20+ degree weather in the summer rarely last as long as this.

I was thinking about the ones for $3-400. They only cool and can be removed from the window in the winter. I've stayed in some old down south houses with no central air. I know the struggle.

 

[TenEightyOne]

I was thinking about the ones for $3-400. They only cool and can be removed from the window in the winter. I've stayed in some old down south houses with no central air. I know the struggle.

It would still be a waste of money for the few days each year when it's hot or the few weeks twice a century when the heat's sustained. Plus... we're British. We made it through the plague and the Blitz and we'll make it through this etc. etc.

 

[PeterJB]

I'm embracing this while we have because I cannot stand the 6 months of cold, damp, miserable, mostly snowless darkness we get from September to March. I'm pretty good with heat. I'm more than happy to be in the house with all the doors and windows closed if it means various invertebrates can't get in, same can't be said about mum, despite the fact she lived in Australia for ten years.

 

[polysmut]

Do they sell window ac units over there?

Not since the socialism, no.

 

[DK]

The way I see it, if sweating means weight loss (based on what I hear about F1 drivers), this heatwave isn't so bad, it gives me more of an excuse to have pizza.

 

[TexRex]

The way I see it, if sweating means heat loss (based on what I hear about F1 drivers), this heatwave isn't so bad, it gives me more of an excuse to have pizza.

I imagine you mean weight loss.

 

[TenEightyOne]

RIP Barry Chuckle

I saw the Chuckle Brothers in panto twice - wanted to hate it both times but actually loved it, all those old clichés about knowing how to work a crowd were certainly true.

To me, to you.

 

[ECGadget]

Oh no. Chucklevision was one of the best shows ever for me. I was hoping to see them back on channel five. RIP Barry.

 

[Touring Mars]

The day the laughter died... well, half of it anyway.

RIP Barry Chuckle

 

[Touring Mars]

So Boris Johnson has put his foot in it yet again, this time in a Telegraph opinion piece he wrote on Sunday saying that women who wear burkas 'looking like letter boxes'. Ironically, the article is an argument for why the UK should not follow Denmark's ban on burka wearing, but Boris's unsubtle attempts at humour have, predictably, caused uproar. Theresa May has said "I do think that we all have to be very careful about the language and terms we use. And some of the terms Boris used describing people’s appearance obviously have offended... I believe women should be able to choose how they dress.” Ironically, this is exactly what Boris Johnson was saying, albeit with the caveats that he thinks burkas are ridiculous.

 

[baldgye]

So Boris Johnson has put his foot in it yet again, this time in a Telegraph opinion piece he wrote on Sunday saying that women who wear burkas 'looking like letter boxes'. Ironically, the article is an argument for why the UK should not follow Denmark's ban on burka wearing, but Boris's unsubtle attempts at humour have, predictably, caused uproar. Theresa May has said "I do think that we all have to be very careful about the language and terms we use. And some of the terms Boris used describing people’s appearance obviously have offended... I believe women should be able to choose how they dress.” Ironically, this is exactly what Boris Johnson was saying, albeit with the caveats that he thinks burkas are ridiculous.

It's the French folly of trying to give women freedom by legally enforcing what they were and were-not allowed to wear.

 

[Famine]

Ironically, this is exactly what Boris Johnson was saying

It's all suddenly got super weird on this. Boris's point, as far as I can tell, was that he thinks they're daft, but wouldn't ban them. That's pretty much the definition of liberalism - "I don't like this thing, but it's up to you if you want to".

But everyone has objected. Daily Mail readers are cackling along to him making fun of them, but saying he should have gone further and say they should be banned (he did go further, he said the exact opposite you sack of assless chaps). Guardian readers are clambering all over each other to denounce him as racist for daring to find them funny, and ignoring the fact he said the most liberal thing a Conservative has said in for-****ing-ever.

MPs are leaking out of the woodwork all over the place to be appalled at Boris being racist/not being racist enough. Old Tweets are resurfacing from Sadiq Khan questioning burqas and pointing out Jack Straw calling for a ban...

... it's ridiculous.

 

[Touring Mars]

It is pretty strange - the criticism, some going as far to say that Boris Johnson's words are tantamount to inciting racial hatred, if focused on the fact that Boris Johnson mocked the appearance of the burka, but doesn't (oddly) focus on the point of what he was saying. The article itself is typical Boris Johnson - it makes a serious point but is jocular throughout, though I can see how some people might be offended by some of his remarks - but 'making hate crime more likely'? Ironically, Boris Johnson mentions an incident in Denmark this week where 'a scuffle broke out as someone tried to rip a burka off the head of a woman' - I wonder how many times that happened in (ultra-liberal) Denmark before the ban was introduced? If anything, it is the law that Boris Johnson is criticising that is far more likely to 'make hate crime more likely' - when is the last time that some idiot attacked a woman wearing a niqab or burqa because they thought they looked ridiculous? However much Johnson is a buffoon, it is a sad day when you are not allowed to express an opinion on what something looks like, lest you be accused of inciting racial hatred.

 

[baldgye]

It's all suddenly got super weird on this. Boris's point, as far as I can tell, was that he thinks they're daft, but wouldn't ban them. That's pretty much the definition of liberalism - "I don't like this thing, but it's up to you if you want to".

But everyone has objected. Daily Mail readers are cackling along to him making fun of them, but saying he should have gone further and say they should be banned (he did go further, he said the exact opposite you sack of assless chaps). Guardian readers are clambering all over each other to denounce him as racist for daring to find them funny, and ignoring the fact he said the most liberal thing a Conservative has said in for-****ing-ever.

MPs are leaking out of the woodwork all over the place to be appalled at Boris being racist/not being racist enough. Old Tweets are resurfacing from Sadiq Khan questioning burqas and pointing out Jack Straw calling for a ban...

... it's ridiculous.

While it has gotten pretty out of hand, the problem is that he is a very prominent Tory politician who is openly mocking a minority. All this does is open the door for others to do so, this is not how you approach or deal with a complex issue like women rights and freedoms in religion.

That said, due to his shenanigans around Brexit and May, it's not surprising some are pushing for him to be fired.

 

[Robin]

Setting aside the right or wrong of the language think much of the "outrage" coming from Westminster is totally a polical agenda to try and be rid of Boris once and for all and undermine any chances of his future ambitions.

They are using this (like they have with many other gaffs he has done) to orchestrate something rather than actually caring about the issue and debate that needs to be had.

 

[Touring Mars]

Setting aside the right or wrong of the language think much of the "outrage" coming from Westminster is totally a polical agenda to try and be rid of Boris once and for all and undermine any chances of his future ambitions.

They are using this (like they have with many other gaffs he has done) to orchestrate something rather than actually caring about the issue and debate that needs to be had.

Nailed it.

In a similar vein, I laughed the other day when I saw a newspaper headline 'Secret Plot To Oust Corbyn'... I reckon the people who are openly plotting to oust Corbyn will be worried that the secret plotters might beat them to it.

 

[Touring Mars]

Now Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, has weighed in and said 'Wearing a burqa is like wearing a crucifix and should be defended' and added "If you use the analogy of Christianity, would you ever write in the Telegraph that you should have a debate about banning Christians from wearing crucifixes?"... except that isn't even close to what he's done, but never mind. Still, she has a point about crucifixes because there is nothing weird about wearing an effigy of a dying person who has been nailed to a cross.

 

[HenrySwanson]

While it has gotten pretty out of hand, the problem is that he is a very prominent Tory politician who is openly mocking a minority. All this does is open the door for others to do so, this is not how you approach or deal with a complex issue like women rights and freedoms in religion.

That said, due to his shenanigans around Brexit and May, it's not surprising some are pushing for him to be fired.

For what it's worth, I think Maajid Nawaz has the right outlook:

This is the uniform of medieval patriarchal tyranny. It victim-blames women for their beauty. Where this is enforced it symbolises violent mysogyny. I’m not advocating banning this monstrosity but I refuse to defend it. It deserves to be ridiculed. Not the women inside it.