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WelshIan wrote:Picking up on Friday's theme of Welsh shop names, our local grocer is Veg of Evans.
I particularly like the very apt name of a firm of Newport estate agents - Crook & Blight.
Mr Riots' grandson works on the fish counter in the largest supermarket in his town. He's known as Ben the Fish by all the other staff. I wonder if there's also a John the Cheese and Rees the Dogfood and so on?
I would hope there is at least a John the Cheese! There is a tradition in Wales for people's names to be suffixed by their job - my father was Tony the Tax (he was a tax inspector), a couple of others I can remember are Mike the Garage and Alan Accounts (an accountant). It's nice to hear the tradition is carrying on!
I believe that's why Ivor the Engine's driver is called Jones the Steam.
AngryAsWell wrote:Martin Rowson @MartinRowson · 46 secs47 seconds ago
I could get used to not filing a Graun toon on a Sunday so my soul'd be unsullied by the gallimaufry of these ludicrous cunts in the "news"
Rowson was on brilliant form on twitter yesterday, brain worm cartoon was great too.
Re NonOxCol's comment above - which I almost totally agree with - one (the only?) good thing that will surely happen next year is that Clegg and his Orange Quislings will get their comeuppance. If that was to somehow fail to happen, then our democracy really would be irretrievably f***ed
(worth noting, for amusement value if nothing else, that DFH has been loudly predicting a revival in their fortunes before the GE for the last two years at least - when's it starting?)
AngryAsWell wrote:Martin Rowson @MartinRowson · 46 secs47 seconds ago
I could get used to not filing a Graun toon on a Sunday so my soul'd be unsullied by the gallimaufry of these ludicrous cunts in the "news"
He is also good for film tips!
Martin Rowson @MartinRowson · 33m33 minutes ago
Now in sunny Calstock looking over the Tamar for tonight's gig at @CalstockArts. I think a walk before lunch,then Colonel Blimp on ITV4 at 2
There was a book published in the mid-noughties by one Dan Hannan, The Plan. Very incorrect to mention it, even in 2011, you'd get an avalanche of conspiracy loon accusations rain down on you. Yet we've moved far further to the right than that, but I wonder how many see that, or even that the book has been out there is the open presaging everything that has happened.
I still have a credibility gap in my own mind, this is England, and surely it can't be possible that a majority might acquiesce to what is no longer an incipient fascism. I'm heartened by the Twitter storm, and always by the reminders here that there are ways in which this slide can be stalled. Not so heartened by thoughts that the SNP is needed to assist us here in England. They've got their own agenda, and with the concessions they seem to have negotiated can head off after their own dream. They'll go along with whatever it takes to make it happen, and have to deal with the consequences further down the line.
I'm hoping our processes will still function well enough to carry us through if there is a tory fail come Election Day. A unity front on everything left of centre is starting to become a priority, if that is anything achievable. Right now the kippers are promising anything and everything to groups of uncertain voters, and their word looks about as binding as an IOU, nothing remotely like a manifesto anywhere in sight.
AngryAsWell wrote:Martin Rowson @MartinRowson · 46 secs47 seconds ago
I could get used to not filing a Graun toon on a Sunday so my soul'd be unsullied by the gallimaufry of these ludicrous cunts in the "news"
He is also good for film tips!
Martin Rowson @MartinRowson · 33m33 minutes ago
Now in sunny Calstock looking over the Tamar for tonight's gig at @CalstockArts. I think a walk before lunch,then Colonel Blimp on ITV4 at 2
I love Blimp....but have it on DVD so won't bother this time.
The sequence of Blimp, Canterbury Tale, I Know Where I'm Going, A Matter of Life and Death, Black Narcissus, the Red Shoes, The Small Back Room in the 40s is amongst the finest made by anybody.
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
Afternoon all.
Re the references to Fascism, Laurence W Britt compiled a handy check list. By my reckoning we fulfill at least 10 of the criteria:
1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.
2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.
3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial, ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.
4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.
5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.
6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.
8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.
9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.
10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.
11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.
12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.
13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.
14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.
Wiping out the left's history - another step on the road to hell
"Stars join the fight to save people’s history as cuts threaten Manchester’s radical heritage
Campaigners hope to save two working class museums with a little help from some celebrity supporters"
WelshIan wrote:Picking up on Friday's theme of Welsh shop names, our local grocer is Veg of Evans.
I particularly like the very apt name of a firm of Newport estate agents - Crook & Blight.
Mr Riots' grandson works on the fish counter in the largest supermarket in his town. He's known as Ben the Fish by all the other staff. I wonder if there's also a John the Cheese and Rees the Dogfood and so on?
I would hope there is at least a John the Cheese! There is a tradition in Wales for people's names to be suffixed by their job - my father was Tony the Tax (he was a tax inspector), a couple of others I can remember are Mike the Garage and Alan Accounts (an accountant). It's nice to hear the tradition is carrying on!
I believe that's why Ivor the Engine's driver is called Jones the Steam.
Indeed, I know a roofer called Dai the Roof, and an electrician that goes by Mike the spark, and a Dai Plumber..
@Citizenja, you may have seen this already, if not can you have a read of it and give us your opinion, bit sneery towards Tristram Hunt, but is the whole thrust of the article correct? Think I'm not mistaken in that you live in Stoke?
rebeccariots2 wrote:
Mr Riots' grandson works on the fish counter in the largest supermarket in his town. He's known as Ben the Fish by all the other staff. I wonder if there's also a John the Cheese and Rees the Dogfood and so on?
I would hope there is at least a John the Cheese! There is a tradition in Wales for people's names to be suffixed by their job - my father was Tony the Tax (he was a tax inspector), a couple of others I can remember are Mike the Garage and Alan Accounts (an accountant). It's nice to hear the tradition is carrying on!
I believe that's why Ivor the Engine's driver is called Jones the Steam.
Indeed, I know a roofer called Dai the Roof, and an electrician that goes by Mike the spark, and a Dai Plumber..
Oh what is my memory like ... we have the iconic Dogfood Dave in our neighbouring village. We all - and I mean all - go there for everything related to animals and their needs.
danesclose wrote:Bit of a Twitter spat going on between Tom Watson & Ivan Lewis
Bit testy aren't they, Lewis accusing Watson of ''manipulation'' both want to wind their necks in, Watson especially, I really don't know where he's coming from these days?
danesclose wrote:Bit of a Twitter spat going on between Tom Watson & Ivan Lewis
Bit testy aren't they, Lewis accusing Watson of ''manipulation'' both want to wind their necks in, Watson especially, I really don't know where he's coming from these days?
Eoin Clarke blocked me after I dared to criticise Tom on Friday.
Watson is doing these kinds of thing too often for it to just be coincidence, he has been throwing increasingly public paddies since the Falkirk episode.
@Rog, Martin's tweet prompted me to dig out my P & P DVD boxset and I will be watching Colonel Blimp after the end of the grand prix.
danesclose wrote:Bit of a Twitter spat going on between Tom Watson & Ivan Lewis
Bit testy aren't they, Lewis accusing Watson of ''manipulation'' both want to wind their necks in, Watson especially, I really don't know where he's coming from these days?
Eoin Clarke blocked me after I dared to criticise Tom on Friday.
Watson is doing these kinds of thing too often for it to just be coincidence, he has been throwing increasingly public paddies since the Falkirk episode.
@Rog, Martin's tweet prompted me to dig out my P & P DVD boxset and I will be watching Colonel Blimp after the end of the grand prix.
He's on there too, it wouldn't do Clarke's credibility no harm if he kept his nose out.. Watson these days gives the impression of being a tad embittered.
letsskiptotheleft wrote:
Bit testy aren't they, Lewis accusing Watson of ''manipulation'' both want to wind their necks in, Watson especially, I really don't know where he's coming from these days?
Eoin Clarke blocked me after I dared to criticise Tom on Friday.
Watson is doing these kinds of thing too often for it to just be coincidence, he has been throwing increasingly public paddies since the Falkirk episode.
@Rog, Martin's tweet prompted me to dig out my P & P DVD boxset and I will be watching Colonel Blimp after the end of the grand prix.
He's on there too, it wouldn't do Clarke's credibility no harm if he kept his nose out.. Watson these days gives the impression of being a tad embittered.
letsskiptotheleft wrote:Though to be fair, Lewis said to Watson ''this is one leadership you can't manipulate'' obviously he's going to come back to that strongly.
Wish they'd be both put a cork in it, the overwhelming majority of us in Labour want to win next May, we can't afford crap like this.
Yes, he is obviously going to come back to it, but why so publicly? I mean, they both work in the same 'office' during the week, it could (and should) have been addressed then; as usual this is about Watson making himself the story.
@Letsskip, Watson is obviously Eoin's posterboy, no way was he going to stay out of it. I despair some days, I really do.
letsskiptotheleft wrote:Though to be fair, Lewis said to Watson ''this is one leadership you can't manipulate'' obviously he's going to come back to that strongly.
Wish they'd be both put a cork in it, the overwhelming majority of us in Labour want to win next May, we can't afford crap like this.
Watson sent an email to Labour members in Scotland endorsing his favoured candidate. In my opinion all English MP's should be standing back and letting Scottish Labour elect who they want without input from high profile wanabees sticking their ore in
I saved the@ Danesclose post and as I pasted it, noticed the article below that I saved some time back.
I think whether Fascist or Communist all these points show this government isn't democratic.
Posted by Tom Pride in pettiness
≈ 73 Comments
Cameron, open government, unemployment
Revealed – Cameron’s Secret Revolutionary Stalinist Plan for the UK
Our secret investigation has, for the first time, uncovered shocking evidence of a possible plot to undermine the democratic foundations which underlie the British state.
And we’ve managed to dig up some worrying information which may point to Cameron’s particularly aggressive form of British Conservatism being the cover for a secret Stalinist plot to establish a totalitarian Communist state in the UK.
That’s right – a political coup of radical totalitarian revolutionaries backed by infiltrators at the highest levels of state apparatus.
And now, it may finally be necessary to ask ourselves this shocking question:
Could David Cameron, our Prime Minister, be a secret revolutionary Stalinist?
Before you dismiss these ideas as fanciful, please consider the following facts we have painstakingly uncovered through detailed research and the use of professional investigative reporting techniques such as skimming through wikipedia articles and googling stuff.
Here they are:
1) Stalin’s Soviet State claimed it had defeated the scourge of unemployment by forcing armies of unemployed workers to do forced labour, with pitiful ‘wages’ paid for by the state, to carry out menial tasks such as stacking shelves in massive supermarkets.
Cameron’s workfare programme claims it is defeating the scourge of unemployment by forcing armies of unemployed workers to do forced labour, with pitiful ‘wages’ paid for by the state, to carry out menial tasks such as stacking shelves in massive supermarkets.
2) In 1929, on his fiftieth birthday, Stalin was eulogized as the leader of the Soviet Union in a manner surpassed never before, in order to divert attention from the dire state of the economy.
In 2012 in Cameron’s Britain, to mark 60 years of her reign, the Queen will be eulogized in a manner surpassed never before, in order to divert attention from the dire state of the economy.
3) The most successful Communist top level infiltration of the British state was by Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Anthony Blunt, all of whom were educated at those well-known hives of revolutionary Stalinist activism, Eton and Oxbridge.
A little-known fact is that David Cameron himself went to Eton – and you probably didn’t know that most of today’s cabinet were educated at either Oxford or Cambridge too!!!! Are you getting worried???
4) Under Stalin’s government, all power was concentrated in the hands of a select few, for whom all manner of luxuries were allowed while the rest of the citizens faced virtual starvation as a result of his policies.
Under Cameron’s government, all power is concentrated in the hands of a select few, for whom all manner of luxuries are allowed while the rest of the citizens face virtual starvation as a result of his policies.
5) One of Stalin’s main instruments of totalitarian rule was widespread propaganda in the print and the media, praising his party’s actions and blaming economic difficulties on ‘radical counter-revolutionary activists’.
One of Cameron’s main instruments of totalitarian rule is widespread propaganda in the print and the media, praising his party’s actions and blaming economic difficulties on ‘radical revolutionary activists‘.
6) Stalin’s government regularly tried to rewrite history by ‘redacting’ unhelpful facts from history.
Cameron’s government regularly tries to rewrite history by ‘redacting’ unhelpful facts from history.
We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office. – Aesop
Ed Balls @edballsmp · 3h3 hours ago
Labour to look at selling £100m of govt properties to pay down national debt - @ChrisLeslieMP http://bbc.in/1y3zAyx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Ed Balls @edballsmp · 3h3 hours ago
Labour to look at selling £100m of govt properties to pay down national debt - @ChrisLeslieMP http://bbc.in/1y3zAyx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm off to boil my head - makes more sense
"Could be", "may" and "examining" .... It makes sense to look at options, doesn't mean any of them will happen but it suits Lynton's followers at the Beeb to whip it up into something substantial ..... about as substantial as an Italian meringue!
Grant Shapps, the Tory chairman, told Radio 5 Live’s Pienaar’s Politics: “I just don’t think it’s for politicians to go around judging the public.
Said the barsteward who besmirched the sick/disabled as" leaving a benefit because of the new test",including people that had died.I judge you,all multiple personas as a supreme ###k.
Ed Balls @edballsmp · 3h3 hours ago
Labour to look at selling £100m of govt properties to pay down national debt - @ChrisLeslieMP http://bbc.in/1y3zAyx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm off to boil my head - makes more sense
"Could be", "may" and "examining" .... It makes sense to look at options, doesn't mean any of them will happen but it suits Lynton's followers at the Beeb to whip it up into something substantial ..... about as substantial as an Italian meringue!
Ed Ball's posted it, so not a BBC thing. I don't want anymore of this country selling to overseas rich gits - by anyone.
I really don't know. Just when you think they couldn't get more stupid. When we were out door knocking the general consensus in our group was that the parliamentary party appear to be hellbent on self destruction .... totally letting down the local bods and activists. One of us said her son had said to her on the phone in despair - What the hell are they playing at? - he wants to vote Labour because he can't bear the thought of 5 more years of the Tories and Yellow Tories ... but his commitment is being stretched to the absolute limit.
Editing to add: I also find it pretty contemptible that this has come from Reeves ... someone who has damaged Labour's prospects with her own shoddy rhetoric and lack of connection and commitment.
Last edited by rebeccariots2 on Sun 23 Nov, 2014 4:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ed Balls @edballsmp · 3h3 hours ago
Labour to look at selling £100m of govt properties to pay down national debt - @ChrisLeslieMP http://bbc.in/1y3zAyx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm off to boil my head - makes more sense
"Could be", "may" and "examining" .... It makes sense to look at options, doesn't mean any of them will happen but it suits Lynton's followers at the Beeb to whip it up into something substantial ..... about as substantial as an Italian meringue!
Ed Ball's posted it, so not a BBC thing. I don't want anymore of this country selling to overseas rich gits - by anyone.
I have often thought that far too much of our government is located in expensive buildings in central London. Sell the lot and relocate to Birmingham or Manchester.
We can start with ditching the Palace of Westminster.
The UK is "unlikely" to meet its target for reducing immigration, Home Secretary Theresa May has said.
EU migration has "blown us off course" from cutting net migration to the tens of thousands before the general election, Mrs May told the Andrew Marr show.
Mrs May said Britain's strengthening economy had continued to attract people from across Europe.
Labour said the government's net migration target was "in tatters".
David Cameron said in May the target for net migration - the difference between the number of people coming into the UK and those leaving - was "perfectly achievable".
I like that line of May's - turn a negative into a positive.
It'll still be Labour's fault of course...
If I'm not here, then I'll be in the library. Or the other library.
Ed Balls @edballsmp · 3h3 hours ago
Labour to look at selling £100m of govt properties to pay down national debt - @ChrisLeslieMP http://bbc.in/1y3zAyx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I'm off to boil my head - makes more sense
"Could be", "may" and "examining" .... It makes sense to look at options, doesn't mean any of them will happen but it suits Lynton's followers at the Beeb to whip it up into something substantial ..... about as substantial as an Italian meringue!
Ed Ball's posted it, so not a BBC thing. I don't want anymore of this country selling to overseas rich gits - by anyone.
Apologies. I've got to the stage where if the BBC said the sky was blue I'd want a colour chart to confirm it. Guess I'm just looking for any crumb of comfort on this miserable day, and failing abysmally.
So it's now a really really good thing that she hasn't a snowball's chance in a furnace of getting close to the "tens of thousands" and she looks likely to be presiding over a continued increase.......and it's all the fault of those EU people who won't say where they are and come here to take all the millions of fantastic jobs provided by our miraculous longtermeconomicplan(TM).
So now we know. All those EU people aren't here claiming benefits at all, are they? Oh wait......
I am now really really furious. Officlally bonkers with impotent rage.
The useless droning Reeves has now criticised Thornberry's Tweet. Gives her something to do, I suppose. At least it keeps her away from confusing disabilty with illness and failing to say she will stop sanctions for sick people (which Labour brought in with ESA, BTW)
Now we have the Labour front bench supporting Milband, which is all very commendable. Doesn't make what led to it right.
All this shite is giving ammunition to the bloody sodding Tories who are making me crazy too with their lies and every single thing they say.
What used to be nice place to go and have a natter about things (CIF) is now populated by illiterate, ignorant, nasty little UKIP trolls.
They are absolutely everywhere, insisting that the craven little shit Farage will save the nation and actually has policies (which both Douglas Carswell and Mark Reckless might take issue with as they've been made to look even dafter than they are by Nige changing his mind)
Clegg has gone into some sort of purdah and Beaker and Uncle Vince are being trotted out to explain to an electorate they must think are all irredeemably thick that nothing they have done in government has caused any problems at all, no siree, and they have protected the poor.
Am I going insane or has this country turned into some dystopian nightmare? If the latter, will someone wake me up, please?
"Poverty is the worst form of violence" - Mahatma Gandhi
Very similar, also accused TE of being a usual suspect, it wouldn't surprise me a jot.
It is a recent arrival at LDV, and I rather doubt it has anything to do with the Lib Dems.
Probably just looking to cause trouble in a small pond. Of course what will throw him is when I do post on LDV I follow a different behaviour than outside the community. So slagging me off as The Usual Suspects doesn't really make sense there.
I had decided not to post a link to the story on LibDemVoice or the councillor's own blog about this ... but having seen the just published version in the Guardian ... I think I should as the tone and slant varies somewhat between them.
Liberal Democrat councillor fights child-risk allegations
Cornwall council has written to schools warning of risk said to be posed by Alex Folkes, who describes the claims as ‘outrageous’ http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... l-children
James O'Brien @mrjamesob
British politics now almost devoid of 'we will make your life better' and is dominated instead by 'we will make someone else's life worse'.
Telegraph Letters @LettersDesk · 7h 7 hours ago
SIR - The last time I pulled up at the traffic lights next to a white van, the driver was listening to the Allegri Miserere.
There's one of these stories about an awful consumer Christmas rip off experience every year. Why don't people learn the lesson and a) stop trying to put them on and b) stay away from something that's pretty much bound to be a disappointment.
@Ohso ... I'm sure Mr Ohso is a much better Father Christmas role model than this one ... perhaps he could open a reeducation / rehabilitation school for failing Santas - and make a bit of money in the run up to the seasonal festivities.
AngryAsWell wrote:This one cheered me up a bit anyway
Suzie Tubby @SuzieTubby · 8m8 minutes ago
#CameronMustGo has135,000 tweets and is trending UK and worldwide.
#CameronMustStay has 37 tweets << popular then?
34 of those were probably Shapps and his sockpuppets
might be quite funny to get #CameronMustStay trending too
