Might be because of where I am now. Similar age, 15 year old son (close to 17 in the book?) I'll take it on holiday and give it a bash.
More worryingly, the wife took "Us" off the shelf yesterday to pack for holiday... I'm going to get so much stick when she's reading that!!!
Exactly. People don't like him because he writes in Prose and a lot of it is describing all of us in one way or another. What they don't ever consider is that he is describing everyone INCLUDING himself. Society. and yes people will then argue "No he isn;t describing me because I don't.......when of course he is desscribing many aspects of people today which obviously won't be applicable to everybody but everyone can identify with certain aspects of what he says. I'm half way through his book Selfish Whining Monkeys at the moment and it is a good read and again written in prose. It describes much of the same and is so true and yes, some of it describes what I moan about and think but when you think about it, a lot of what I moan about I am actually part of or have been part of. i.e. the credit lifestyle and stuff. I may have paid all my credit off these days and won't go that avenue again but I still buy stuff. Lots of rarely used stuff. Maybe people like me can be blamed for the economy not growing as fast as it should. After all we need people to spend to keep it going and to spend (enough) then we need to take on credit.
I can't stand Katie Hopkins, her articles are pure clickbait. How much she actually believes and how much is her exaggerated attempt to adopt a controversial opinion to make money from I'm not sure. As to the article there are parts that are true but written in a way she knows will offend. There are other parts that are quite obviously there for the reaction and an attempt to deliberately inflame. There is no need for anyone to write articles the way she does especially on the subject matter she writes about and the incenduary opinions she "decides" to express. There are a lot of people like these around these days. Some of the things she says could be written in a much less offensive way and would then be quite acceptable views. Most of it though is pure trash and I think intentionally so.
That's the whole point in Rod Liddle's writing FLT. He is complaining about the world but intentionally putting the hypocrisy in there to say "I am included, I am one of those who I am complaining about." I think a lot of people do not get that bit. That he is not complaining about other people. He is complaining about his world and the people in it including himself.
I remember reading it and beating myself up If no one hears from me after the 1st August, I'll either be dead or travelling across Europe chasing my son!
Kyle Edmond playing well in Davis Cup. Won his first singles and now 2 sets up in his 2nd singles. If he holds on, GB will go into semis against Argentina.
I don't think he cares as much about not being able to smoke personally. It's that complaining about prohibitions on smoking is his favorite troll. He takes a serious issue, then inserts an "I can't smoke!" comment in the same piece. Examples include: Who cares about the Iraq war? I can't smoke! Who cares about Jews getting gassed at Auschwitz? I went on the tour and they wouldn't let me smoke! Gays are horrible perverted people, and can be banned... after all I can't smoke! When it is pointed out that these remarks are in rather poor taste, then he can respond "You couldn't possibly think I would seriously compare something like that to smoking prohibitions?!? You all have no sense of humor and this is PC run amok, etc. etc. It's all a bit of satire." There's some underlying reason in his arguments, but it's the standard Libertarian argument against nanny states that I think most people get. Not wrong, but not particularly insightful either. Obviously, the question is when a particular government policy is reasonable or when it goes too far. But that would involve using facts and numbers and long arguments and counter debate and no one would read it. In this way, he simultaneously avoids having to deal with the inconvenience of backing up his position, while generating a ton of controversy and thus attention to himself. Which is the most generous way of looking at it. The more cynical way of looking at it is that he is a racist, sexist douchebag of the highest order, and the whole thing is a setup so he can post the vilest things imaginable and get away with it so long as he adds "But I can't smoke!" after it. Here is a classic Liddle troll and response: "It's ****ing outrageous that you can't smoke in Auschwitz. I had to sneak round the back of the gas chambers for a crafty snout. Also, I wasn't convinced by the newish Auschwitz Burger Bar and Grill." *later* "My point … was that I felt it had been stripped of its awfulness and bleakness … festooned with no smoking signs and disabled access ramps."
Erdogan has ordered the arrest of the general of the 1st Turkey army division. The same general supported Erdogan when the coup happened. He is getting rid of everyone. Also loads of reports of coup soldiers being beheaded by crowds in the streets. The whole thing was a fake coup so Erdogan could clean house and become a new Hitler.
