Worth a look, this is a short and suscinct description of what being British is all about. https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FJdv4oEzS/
My vehicles (I have 2) are a Raleigh Quadra Mk2 and a Holdsworth Professional. Both British made Both Reynolds 531 frames too. Weren't Irish themed pubs a 90s thing? I've always preferred my local community pub or the social club, although I don't go out much anymore. I drink mostly local craft beers but some that are not from "round 'ere." I eat world foods quite often yes but mostly Portuguese or English. Pie chips and beans tonight We actually eat Sushi quite a lot in this council house and sometimes we make it ourselves My SOFA was made in the UK by DFS and Samsung tellys (the most popular in the UK and what I have) while being South Korean (not Japanese) are mostly made in other countries. watching American shows? Don't get me started on that one. Couldn't be further from the truth. The reality is this guy is stuck in the past and trying to makeup a stereotype based on what his middle class chums buy/own. And probably from a generation ago to boot! If he actually got with the times he might know that things have changed since the 80s/90, The most popular car in the UK was a Kia last year, definitely not German and other than the obvious Ford which is American owned and probably not made in Germany (which I doubt he was alluding to when talking of German Cars) is the Nissan Juke which is made in Sunderland only! The Swedish Sofa Comment is obviously alluding to Ikea which is stereotypically middle class. I know no-one who owns an Ikea sofa though. media centres, shelves, yeah. lol. I have 1 because its the only perfect for vinyl box shelf for a half decent price . The Curry comment is obviously pretty close to truth and obviously you can't get digital TV on your old Baird, Ferguson or GEC McMichael TV and they have no plans to make new tellys so you do have to get a foreign telly but he seems to have not noticed that Japan has not been the dominant electronics brands for 2-3 decades now. One of my vintage amps and my turntable are Japanese from the 70s when they did take over dominance but thats a long time ago. So short and succint..........but describing what? his middle class bore friends that he used to know 20-30 years ago?
The most popular shows streamed in UK are US made, this is statistically documented and likely to accelerate as the BBC's future remains uncertain. Korea or Japan, who cares? The cars and TV sets are foreign made. the point being that's what matters for domestic manufacturing and jobs. IKEA has achieved mass-market penetration, rather than middle-class exclusivity. They're beloved by rentiers, care homes and supported living projects for their budget ranges, Laak tables (£12) and Billy bookcases (£25) etc. We don't have that many flags around - if you're in the EU you might see lots of national and regional flags in post offices and train stations for example - but we've privatised everything. You might also see bustling highstreets with "mom and pop" stores, but we've shown little loyally to those chasing bargains via the chain's "loyalty" cards, gone out of town and finally to the web and China. Deregulation and the (neo)liberalization of UK markets facilitated the rise of large multinational corporations, which increasingly dominated various sectors, including retail. This created a retail landscape where large chains could more easily outcompete independent local businesses through economies of scale and aggressive pricing strategies. For example; Italy prohibits the ownership of more than one pharmacy, while France limits chain size to five pharmacies. In Germany, a pharmacist may own one main pharmacy and up to three subsidiaries. In contrast we have a dominating "pharmacy" Bootscorp that is everywhere, sells everything, and has displaced local stores not just pharmacies. But apparently we were being controlled by the EU - when in reality, we systematically hollowed out our own high streets while European neighbours were protecting their local economies.
Are you alright? Take it easy with the cooking sherry. You missed something obviously given your indignant rant see BFB's post below. By the way those British made frames are probably assembled with Shimano gear sets, chinese made tyres ect ect. We have six bikes between the two of us. An ebike, two street bikes, two folding we can take on public transport free and an interesting geometric folder my current restoration project. No cars.
Those British made frames are definitely made with Foreign group sets. Shimano 600 (Ultegra) period correct 1989 on the Raleigh and SRAM red carbon fibre on the Holdsworth So the Raleigh is period correct kept vintage and the Holdsworth is frame only and the rest is top drawer carbon stuffs. I have no idea where Continental get their flagship GP5000 tyres made Indignant. lol. My point was more that the bloke trying to make his stereotype of some "racist" was actually more describing the purchasing habits of the middle classes with ideas he has been carrying around for 20-30 years. lol
It is kind of misleading to equate buying power with multiculturalism. We were buying exotic objects at the height of empire, too. However, what is undeniably true is that the multicultural world has given us access to affordable products and an easier lifestyle than we ever had in the past. Our wealth - which means what? That our money is better than other money? What impact has the ordinary Brit had on that? - gives us a better life than almost anywhere on Earth. Consequently, people from all over the planet have us as one of their top destinations. There is a prevailing myth that you can have all the wealth in the world but also keep all your own supply chains and manufacturing. You can’t. Countries have to have areas they specialise in. We are actually world leading in many areas of the media, medical research and aerospace tech. We are less world leading in finance since Brexit. We will never be a power of any kind manufacturing. And in fact even China will find it hard to maintain its position as it grows wealthier. It is already struggling with unemployment.
Which aren't middle class - but mass market. If you really think cheaply made flat packed furniture is the domain of the "middle class" there is a further problem. Part of which I laid out
Cheaply made flat packed furniture t may be but if you've missed that its been a fav of the middle classes for a long time then maybe you are one of the new middle class. lol. I was saying this off the cuff with no need for any research when I first said it above but looks like the internet backs it up. They even tailor their marketing in the UK aiming at the middle class market.
I remember the buy British campaign which meant those that did bought an expensive leaky device, motorbike, car, whatever it may be that was prone to breakdown with parts and service hard to find.
Did you just ask... hey, google please tell me Ikea is middle class If your best selling items are available for the prices I quoted for you, £20 "Lack" coffee tables & £25-30 "Billy" bookcases (one sold every 5 seconds globally*) regardless of your perception, the business is demonstrably selling extremely cheap widely affordable furniture. But... hey Google, please tell me Ikea is mass market "If there is one thing that IKEA does well, it’s understanding its market and leveraging that understanding to better position itself. From the start, IKEA has had the goal of becoming a company that sold low-priced products that would appeal to mass-market consumers. Today, IKEA has become practically the world leader in budget furniture — it is the first place that the average Joe will go when searching for new furnishings. It is particularly popular amongst young people furnishing their first apartments and houses. " https://www.cascade.app/studies/how-ikea-became-a-household-name “As the largest furniture retailer in the world, IKEA has economies of scale and volumes that allow it to offer value that few others can match. https://www.firstinsight.com/greg-p...ea-stores-are-popping-up-all-over.-what-gives *Developed in 1979 IKEA estimates that on average one Billy bookcase is sold every five seconds.In 2009, IKEA stated that they had sold 41 million of the bookcases. In 2017, the BBC reported that sales had exceeded 60 million units. By 2023, IKEA had sold over 140 million units. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA_Billy
These are marketing analysis pages not some google confirmation bias answer. If you don't have a perception that its a middle class love in (in this country) for Ikea stuffs then you're missing the obvious. They are clearly targeting that demographic in the uk. Its pretty obvious without even needing to look at business insider stuffs or marketing analysis that demographic is the most receptive to their product and thus all their marketing is tailored to that demographic, cheap tat that it is or not. They tailor their marketing very differently dependent on the region they are in! Anyways I'm not gonna argue forever about you being unable to see that.....or that you think everybody asks google to give them an answer they want.
Labour ****ing up again I see. Starmer surely has to realise that Rayner's position is now untenable. Genuine error or not, for the housing secretary (plus the deputy PM!) to not pay enough stamp duty is embarassing. Now I do sympathise to an extent as it was clearly a complicated situation but really, it's just such a bad look.
If she's working class She can kiss my arse I've got the foreman's* job at last. * If Starmer is reciting replace with PM's
She can have working class roots but no MP is working class. I don’t care about the stamp duty. Mistakes happen. But it bothers me that the stamp duty is clearly part of a larger tax avoidance effort using their son as some kind of token. You can’t get much more middle class than a crappy tax dodge.
