bickster

Yes because picking the end of a debate where it’s impossible to get any kind of logical common ground and where the one side is clearly wrong is the best point to highlight. The argument which was put forward that it was the “woke” agenda that created groups of people in society is clearly and obviously wrong, it’s not really worthy of debate. The argument iirc was I don’t do this so it’s the woke brigade that caused the groups. As the meme goes… prove me wrong.

I picked 1960, nor arbitrarily but because it’s doubtful that anyone on VT had any interest in politics before that time, I then went back to WW2 as it’s an often quoted metric because the world and the UK changed at that point I doubt Wales is alone in not voting Tory for a very long time. I think you have to go back to the 60s at least to when the Tories had any representation in Liverpool. Certainly since the 1974 local Govt reorganisation it’s never voted Tory Wales is also not politically one homogenous mass and it’s never voted for a majority of Plaid (other independence movements are available) and that is somewhat relevant as it’s never really indicated as a whole that it wants independence either.

That’s not particularly true, Since 1960 there have been sixteen general elections the Tories are two up with nine victories to seven Labour. If Labour win as expected in the next one, that'll be seventeen elections and there'll be one victory between them. Even if you take it back to the end of WW2 the Tories are only currently three up in a series of twenty-one Of course it depends where your jumping in point is as to how you perceive it but the idea that we nearly always get Tory governments is demonstrably incorrect

Anyway on other matters, I just pulled out a Magazine album (Real Life) to realise that the band before it in my filing system is Luxuria. I wonder if Howard Devoto planned it that way? probably not but it did give me a brief second of an interesting thought

Yep, was in the middle of typing similar, its a much broader church than Labour even The SNPs problem is also its raison d'etre, it's a single issue party and right now, that single issue isn't quite as popular as it used to be regardless of the infighting and the sleaze Just like any broad church its harder to keep the coalitions together when things are not going your way much like in both Labour and Tory but amplified

It seems the word on the Surry streets was right

Wordle 1,045 3/6* Snap!

Yep, forgot about Juno, I've used them too, never a problem

@Jonesy7211 I've bought new online at Rough Trade and Norman Records but online I tend to buy from the labels themselves but as I like fairly obscure stuff this tends to be from the likes of Invada, On-U Sound and Castles in Space. To be honest I’ve never had a problem buying online but prefer to use a shop because I like browsing For more mainstream stuff there’s always HMV but they are often very expensive But google says there is a place called rebel records in Tamworth, looks very much like a collectors store though, it’s in an industrial unit somewhere

But it’s their forte (blame Sid he started it from the shed)

Yep, they are brilliant. It’s the lack of waste and portion sizes that do it for me, that’s where the money saving is. For example you need 200g of mince for a recipe, can you buy 200g can you shite, so you either have mince going to waste, make two meals out of it or cook it all anyway therefore over eating. With Gousto (and their competitors) you get just the right amount of food. There also loads of room in the fridge now for essentials like beer I think in three months I’ve rated 2 meals 3* and he rest have been 4* or 5* Theres absolutely no way I was paying £50 for 5 days food before this, more like £70-£90 And the not having to go to the shops apart from a small shop on a Sat morning is also a huge bonus for me. My diet is also far more varied now than its ever been It’s really one of the best things we've done domestically ever.

Say what they like but stop conflating Israel with Jews. It really isn’t that hard to grasp. It’s one of the least contentious parts of the widely accepted definition of anti-semitism and it isn’t hard to do.

You agree with them but don’t know what they’ve said? What?

Is there a point to this post? Lots of US students are as wrong as you. What is the point you’re attempting to make?

Yes and you still fell into the trap

Actually, he’d already stepped off the pavement and into the march a number of times, which is why the policeman called what he said disingenuous. On the back of that there was a campaign to get the Chief Constable sacked, that is correct… until the full story came out and the likes of Braverman were shown up to be exactly what they were. Also if the idea was to get he chief constable sacked then he would be an agent provocateur of the Tory Party, I doubt Israel give a shit about Mark Rowley but the Tories definitely do hence the campaign demonstrably run by them to oust him and get the current (non Peel principled) CC of Greater Manchester in position instead.

You are the sort of person who walks blindly forward in front of a.big neon sign that says trap with an arrow pointing to the trap and just triggers the trap anyway. What you do and many others is not tip toe round the trap and then YOU become the agent of the opinion you are in opposition to, you are literally doing their work for them. It is just so unintelligent.

Falter leads a group of political activists founded as a result of the rise in antisemitism in the UK brought about by the 2014 Israel Gaza conflict. You see the difference between mine and yours? They campaign on AS not Israel you have to take that at face value unless you have proof otherwise and you don’t. Yes he clearly is “Team Israel” as you put it but that does not make what you’ve said any less anti-Semitic. His actions that day were in support of his perceived right as a Jew to walk through a pro-Palestine March. He was wrong, he didn’t have that right. I’m completely inside with the Policeman’s actions but he wasn’t attempting to walk through that crowd with an Israeli flag, he was attempting to walk through that crowd as an obviously identifiable Jew to stoke up tension and cause conflict, no doubts about it but It was as a Jew not an Israeli or a pro-Israeli supporter It really is simple but you don’t ever seem to get it

No it really doesn’t, there is no middle ground here. There’s no sort of, you can’t be sort of black or sort of French. You either are or you aren’t. Israeli provocateur implies he was undertaking his actions at the behest of the state of Israel. There is literally no evidence of this. So he should be regarded as a Jewish rights campaigner until such times as actual evidence exists To say what Jareth says is actually giving this arsehole what he wants

Totally agree but his motivation isn’t because he'll lose his seat. His motivation is not to stay on the gravy train, which was the point. As he'd be in the much smaller and most likely opposition Tory Party, in a safe seat, he'd be more likely to be better paid as Opposition spokesperson on health given his prior political and life experience. The Tories will have a much smaller pool to pick people from and he'd be in one of their safer seats. No idea what his motivation actually is but it’s not that but I do think he's genuine about the NHS, he wrote an article in the Guardian in 2022 advocating for the Government to pay nurses more during the strikes. It could also be quite amusing watching the scramble for this seat given its safety, the constituency (apart from the Ipswich bit) is farmers and retirees. It really could attract some prominent names on the danger list

An Israeli provocateur or a Jewish rights campaigner? Not understanding the difference is anti-Semitic Do you have any evidence linking the Campaign Against Antisemitism to the Israeli Government? Gideon Falter is an arsehole but you have zero evidence to call him an Israeli Provocateur You keep conflating Israel with Jew, you really should stop doing that

His majority is 26k and it’s in East Anglia, completely different kettle of fish to mid-beds / Tamworth.

Wordle 1,044 4/6*

Could be worse, you could be in the Norbreck Castle (and yes I have stayed there, the night before Black did a kids TV show called It’s Wicked iirc.)

And on we go…