Britain - The Official Thread

  • Thread starter Ross
  • 13,373 comments
  • 618,629 views

How will you vote in the 2024 UK General Election?

  • Conservative Party

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Green Party

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Labour Party

    Votes: 14 48.3%

  • Liberal Democrats

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Other (Wales/Scotland/Northern Ireland)

    Votes: 1 3.4%

  • Other Independents

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Other Parties

    Votes: 2 6.9%

  • Spoiled Ballot

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Will Not/Cannot Vote

    Votes: 8 27.6%
  • Total voters
    29
  • Poll closed .
Famine
It's so close to being right but, as is so often the case, half an inch out and it's embarrassingly in the wrong hole..
Click to expand...
I just sent my coffee! Thanks for the morning laugh!
Are we still doing the GTP Awards? If so I'm nominating this for quote of the year!
 
The government has ordered schools in England not to use resources from organisations which have expressed a desire to end capitalism.
Click to expand...
https://www.theguardian.com/educati...t-to-use-anti-capitalist-material-in-teaching
Does this seem a bit fascist?

Also, something mentioned in the article:
It listed examples of what were described as “extreme political stances”, such as “a publicly stated desire to abolish or overthrow democracy, capitalism, or to end free and fair elections”; opposition to freedom of speech; the use of racist, including antisemitic, language; the endorsement of illegal activity; and a failure to condemn illegal activities done in support of their cause.
Click to expand...
Have either the UK or England ever allowed or even claimed to allow free speech?

If a headteacher is aware of any laws created by the government that prohibit free speech, should they be removing all government resources from schools? Does this include the removal of staff who are employed by the state?
Would it also necessitate the removal of this new DfE guidance? Is that a paradox?
 
polysmut
https://www.theguardian.com/educati...t-to-use-anti-capitalist-material-in-teaching
Does this seem a bit fascist?
Click to expand...
This seems very influenced by recent ideological moves by Trump and looks to be an example of the right consolidating their power.

polysmut
Have either the UK or England ever allowed or even claimed to allow free speech?
Click to expand...
According to Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998, "everyone has the right to freedom of expression" in the UK. But the law states that this freedom "may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society".

If you believe that qualified freedom isn't freedom, then this sounds like a no to me. Perhaps whether this is a good thing or not depends whether or not one personally believes that "the marketplace of ideas" will eventually marginalise extremist viewpoints towards the outer darkness where there is great weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and where fewer people will listen to to or be influenced by them.
 
Last edited:
UKMikey
If you believe that qualified freedom isn't freedom, then this sounds like a no to me. Perhaps whether this is a good thing or not depends whether or not one personally believes that "the marketplace of ideas" will eventually marginalise extremist viewpoints towards the outer darkness where there is great weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and where fewer people will listen to to or be influenced by them.
Click to expand...
My thoughts on freedom of speech aren't fully formed.*
I think my current "best" idea on the matter is that I see the need and reason for free speech, defined as a guarantee of non-censure by the state for speaking or spreading one's ideas. As a caveat to that, I think some speech can be equivalent to assault against individuals and therefore a crime.

*This is true of most, or all, of my ideas relating to sociological and political topics. Perhaps that's a good thing, it allows room for learning new ideas & asking questions rather than preaching.
 
polysmut
https://www.theguardian.com/educati...t-to-use-anti-capitalist-material-in-teaching
Does this seem a bit fascist?
Click to expand...
No, its seems quite a bit fascist. Daily Mail readers are going to love it.


polysmut
Have either the UK or England ever allowed or even claimed to allow free speech?
Click to expand...
[/QUOTE]
Regardless of what is written in Common Law about self-expression, the history of censorship in the UK and the lack of an enshrined right to free speech put me firmly in the No camp for that question.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_the_United_Kingdom
 
Scaff
Regardless of what is written in Common Law about self-expression, the history of censorship in the UK and the lack of an enshrined right to free speech put me firmly in the No camp for that question.
Click to expand...
Working from that position then, the new guidance prohibits the use of government resources in English schools?
polysmut
Would it also necessitate the removal of this new DfE guidance? Is that a paradox?
Click to expand...
Maybe the new guidance voids itself?
 
I read the headline...

upload_2020-9-28_16-22-25.png


... and was all like ...

tenor.gif


Then I read the caption... and was all like ...

tenor.gif
 
Ironically, Parliament already has effectively banned alcohol sales after 10pm by forcing pubs, clubs and restaurants to close at 10pm.

And you cannot buy alcohol between 10pm and 10am from any shops in Scotland... is that true for England too?
 
Touring Mars
Ironically, Parliament already has effectively banned alcohol sales after 10pm by forcing pubs, clubs and restaurants to close at 10pm.

And you cannot buy alcohol between 10pm and 10am from any shops in Scotland... is that true for England too?
Click to expand...
It used to be something like 0800-2300 I think in England but changed in the early 2000s. Then it went 24 hour. Many 24 hour supermarkets closed the booze off at night for a while anyway but don't seem to anymore. Petrol stations were a good place for overnight sales when other shops were shut. One near me used to have lengthy queues outside the serving hatch between around midnight and 2 or 3ish.

Scotland and Northern Ireland are both stricter than England (and probably Wales?) on Sunday hours too, at least for pubs. Is it still hard to find a pub open before midday in Scotland on a Sunday?
I remember being caught out forgetting about that in Edinburgh one Sunday but having an 11am lock-in in return for putting the landlady's bins out.
 
There are some pubs that used to have weird opening hours, but I don't know of any nowadays.

My Dad told me a great story about a trip to Dublin around 2000... he went for a walk/sports newspaper one Sunday morning. He saw three guys walk into the shop ahead of him, and a minute later he entered the shop, only to find it was empty. He bought his newspaper and asked the shop owner if there was a bar open anywhere, and the guy let him through the back and into a massive, packed pub. It pays to be observant!
 
Wish it was 10PM here, Australia is strict as hell with Alcohol with it being at 9PM on Fridays and Saturdays and 8pm every other day.

Soo many times I have been in a situation to buy Alcohol only for it to be too late to buy any.
 
Touring Mars
Ironically, Parliament already has effectively banned alcohol sales after 10pm by forcing pubs, clubs and restaurants to close at 10pm.

And you cannot buy alcohol between 10pm and 10am from any shops in Scotland... is that true for England too?
Click to expand...
Seems they are stricter up north with booze what with the minimum unit price too
 
HenrySwanson
Seems they are stricter up north with booze what with the minimum unit price too
Click to expand...
Yeh, Glasgow is even tighter than Edinburgh insomuch as public drinking is banned except for licensed premises.

As such, Glasgow has some of the tightest drinking laws in the country - which is probably just as well...

I once spent a weekend in Newcastle and I was genuinely quite shocked at how wild it was compared to Glasgow - topless barmaids in an otherwise normal-looking city centre bar.. at 5pm; Ibiza-esque street scenes... at 5pm. And yet you can't get in anywhere without proper shoes, proper trousers and a collared shirt!

I nearly got killed on the way home from that weekend as my hungover friend made a horribly misjudged overtake on an A-road and we missed an on-coming car by about 2 seconds. Oh, and my other mate got bitten in the stomach by a horse.
 
Touring Mars
I once spent a weekend in Newcastle and I was genuinely quite shocked at how wild it was compared to Glasgow - topless barmaids in an otherwise normal-looking city centre bar.. at 5pm; Ibiza-esque street scenes... at 5pm. And yet you can't get in anywhere without proper shoes, proper trousers and a collared shirt!
Click to expand...
Sounds like you were in or around Bigg Market on a Saturday afternoon.
I'd guess pre-2008 if dress codes were still that prevalent.

In fact, a local bye law in Newcastle means you have to buy food with your drink in pubs before 10am.
Technically. ;)
Edit: Or you can go to the casino for 24 hour booze without buying food but the one right in the centre can be a nightmare with being sent to the other bar while they cash one up. Then that bar sends you to the other bar while they clean. Then eventually you manage to chase up a valet.
Not that I'm a jakey or owt.
 
Last edited:
polysmut
Sounds like you were in or around Bigg Market on a Saturday afternoon.
I'd guess pre-2008 if dress codes were still that prevalent.

In fact, a local bye law in Newcastle means you have to buy food with your drink in pubs before 10am.
Technically. ;)
Click to expand...
Yeh, this was a long time ago - like 1998... jeez, I didn't realise it was that long ago... it's all coming back to me now - I remember when they decided to close the hotel bar, so we ordered a bunch of drinks and took them to our room(s). I had to climb two flights of stairs carrying four pints and with glasses of gin and tonic in my trouser pockets.
 
Touring Mars
Yeh, Glasgow is even tighter than Edinburgh insomuch as public drinking is banned except for licensed premises.

As such, Glasgow has some of the tightest drinking laws in the country - which is probably just as well...

I once spent a weekend in Newcastle and I was genuinely quite shocked at how wild it was compared to Glasgow - topless barmaids in an otherwise normal-looking city centre bar.. at 5pm; Ibiza-esque street scenes... at 5pm. And yet you can't get in anywhere without proper shoes, proper trousers and a collared shirt!

I nearly got killed on the way home from that weekend as my hungover friend made a horribly misjudged overtake on an A-road and we missed an on-coming car by about 2 seconds. Oh, and my other mate got bitten in the stomach by a horse.
Click to expand...

Purely for scientific research purposes, what was the name of the bar? :D
 
Bar workers have been dumping unused ice on the streets of Scotland in protest at the lockdown rules. BBC.

Experts say this may not melt until early March.
 
The power just went out in my street. Given that this is the start of the lockdown I hope it's not the entire city. :nervous:
 

Similar threads

mef
  • Poll
Digital IDs and how they will be used to control us
2
Replies
40
Views
3K
MatskiMonk
MatskiMonk
The_Greaser
Forza Motorsport (2023): The Bugfest Thread
2 3 4
Replies
96
Views
19K
UKMikey
UKMikey
SilentPL
Thread deleted with no notice
Replies
4
Views
1K
SilentPL
SilentPL
Scaff
Assetto Corsa Evo Car Wishlist
Replies
8
Views
2K
Oggmeista
O
Dotini
  • Poll
The Trump Impeachment Thread
69 70 71
Replies
2K
Views
87K
TexRex
TexRex

Latest Posts

Back