That would be considered far-right. We can’t have that. Much better to listen, understand and educate.
When I was growing up, that was about the worst punishment I could ever get from my parents. If someone did that to me now, I’d consider it an absolute luxury.
Note: This post and replies quoting it were moved from the 'National pride...' thread. ...who let all of this riff-raff into the room? There's one smoking a joint, And another with spots! If I had my way, I'd have all of you shot! In the flesh (The Wall) Those marching claw hammers were a very striking image.
The Conservative Party is accusing Keir Starmer of being weak for saying Diane Abbott is free to stand for Labour at the General Election. Maybe the Tories would prefer it if he shot her instead. Their biggest financial backer certainly would.
Are there any queers in the theatre tonight Get ‘em up against the wall And that one looks Jewish and that one’s a coon…… Whatever happened to the words queer and coon ?
Whereas a lot of black people use the N word themselves but take great offence to non-black people using the same term. The coon word has disappeared altogether, unless you’re talking about a cat. And unless you’re watching Minder you won’t hear the term Schwarze anymore. Younger generations will never say Paki, but anyone in their eighties will quite happily use that phrase in a busy location or Indian restaurant, without the slightest bit of bad intent and be confused when told its not appropriate. It’s a bloody minefield.
Even though the song lyrics were intended as a parody (the same as Peter Gabriel's use of the second word in the original version of 'Games without frontiers' or the full lyrics of Tom Robinson's 'Power in the Darkness') that second word is widely regarded as racially offensive. You ask me what happened to them? I think you are fully aware. I deliberately omitted the second one because it is regarded by most people today as racially offensive. I thought I could make a moderately humorous point, alluding to that word without actually having to use it. Obviously I was wrong. I'm disappointed that you have highlighted that term by using it. Or the derogatory term for people of South Asian descent. If you don't regard those as offensive words that's your choice. But I do, if they is posted here. If I see them used again, along with any other word widely recognised as racially offensive, I will edit them out of any posts. And you know which words I am referring to. Don't make me list them, or pursue this matter further with me. This is not the beginning of a conversation on the matter. Racist words have no part in this thread, or in any other part of this forum. Not on my watch.
He isn't winning the Election. As was pointed out on Radio 4's Any Questions, The Conservative Party has given up on trying to win the General Election. They are only targeting their promises on shoring up their core voters - older folk and pensioners. No other group within the UK electorate (except perhaps the richest 10%, many of whom will be older folk or people of pension age anyway) shows any sign that a sizeable proportion will vote Conservative, or be swayed by any last-minute electioneering. All Rishi Sunak is trying to do now is get something like 200 Tory MP's elected on July 4th. Some polls are suggesting they may win as few as 100.
Agreed. And whether they do well in 2029 will depend on two factors; 1) The quality of Keir Starmer's stewardship over the next five years. 2) Events dear boy, events. There is little doubt that the Pandemic did for Boris Johnson. It may sound harsh to say so, but in my opinion his Political legacy would have been much more reputable had he died from COVID that time he was very ill with it. The exposure of Johnson's total inability to cope in a real National crisis, in the months after he recovered his health, has led the Conservatives to where they are today. By also exposing their collective inability to put matters right since 2022. If the Pandemic had never happened, it might be that other unrelated scandals would have brought Boris down. Or it might be that he would still be Prime Minister, and with a better chance of winning the 2024 GE than Rishi Sunak will ever have.
That’s fair enough and I accept what you say. I hope you don’t feel the need to respond to this post as you’ve made it clear that you don’t wish to further engage in this conversation. It does perhaps though, illustrate what I said, that this is a minefield. I haven’t used any of the words with racist intent and I (like you) thought that I could make a moderately humorous point looking at how time and history change how words are perceived and used, especially their use and acceptance or disapproval, by different generations. A word is a word and it’s only the way that a word is used that can possibly make it offensive (racially or otherwise). However to draw the matter to a close, I would like to apologise if I have upset or offended anyone in this exchange. Feel free to delete any of the posts or words as you see fit. I trust your judgement on this and accept whatever you feel is right.
Thank you. The spirit of your reply is appreciated. Just to clarify - I'm not saying the subject cannot be debated. That can be done though without the words themselves being used. The matter is closed.
I believe Tuesday 4th June is the deadline for the Parties to announce their candidate lists for the General Election. And I assume that - once announced - they cannot be changed. (as is the case with by-elections). Sadly I expect in the days after the deadline we'll see a number of "revelations" in the Press about controversial things some candidates may have said in the past. Things that the newspapers in question may well have known about for a long time, but chose only to release after the candidate in question cannot be replaced. This is what happened in the by-election where George Galloway ended up winning. He was effectively gifted that seat by a newspaper (The Mail or the Express I think) revealing a damaging story about the Labour candidate in the days after it was too late for him to be replaced - even though the paper had been sitting on the story for months. In my opinion that amounts to interference with an election by a newspaper. Whoever it happens to - candidates of any Party - I think it should be called out. If any newspaper has a damaging story about a Parliamentary candidate which it would claim is in the "Public interest" it should not keep that story quiet until there is no way for the Party that candidate stands for to replace them. Especially if the Party was unaware of the story existing. That action deliberately denies voters a choice to vote for that Party, if the candidate has to be withdrawn. Such revelations should be revealed as soon as they are known about. Cynical timing is not a legitimate means of influencing elections in my view. Particularly not from newspapers who are not democratically accountable to anyone.
What a surprise. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ww6vz1l81o Tik Tok is owned and run by the Chinese Communist Party. Not openly of course, but it is an open secret. How many times does this have to be pointed out before it is banned here in the UK? It is no coincidence that adverts promoting Tik Tok have just appeared on British commercial television in the past week or two. In the USA the Government are taking action against it. But here as usual we do nothing, while an Enemy State spreads lies to confuse our young voters and destroy their faith in Democracy. Ban that platform. That would not be an assault on free speech, but the taking down of an insidious propaganda weapon. No better than the Russian TV network RT, which had its licence revoked here after Putin invaded Ukraine.
Another policy from the Tories aimed at older voters & pensioners. They say they'll 'tighten up' definitions of biological gender - which is code for anti-transgender legislation. Younger voters are (generally) rather more liberal minded on transgender issues. Rishi Sunak is well known for being against transgender equality. He mocked Keir Starmer about it during PMQ's, on the same day when Brianna Ghey's grieving mother was in Parliament.
