Sephiroth

aye - people should be free to vote for what they want, but not in the face of, or on the basis of absolutely obvious falsehoods like this

I agree that the job of being an MP is currently undervalued - socially and economically. I think they should be paid more and I think they should attract a wider group of people That said - I think the voters share as much blame as anyone for current state. Since the expenses scandal (ah, were we ever so young) the public appear to prefer abusing MPs than understand what it is they do, coupled with the fact that no matter what they do, as long as they are wearing the correct team colours (of any hue) they can be relatively assured of the vote in most constituencies. The voting system doesn't help in this regard

Suspect there will be quite the long tail on the fallout tho What a clusterf@@@

Annoyingly it's knocked Jose being sacked off the agenda - I always enjoy this time of year But yeah - the whole thing is a massive pile of shite and only underlines why many people I know have been drifting away from the game in recent years anyway. Even if whole thing collapses tomorrow, it leaves a great big cloud and has sucked any joy out of "supporting" a team.

The variant clearly upset plans - but it was known about for weeks (months by end of Dec) and certainly by start of Dec, it was obvious we needed to close. And people were saying so. And had we closed several weeks earlier many more people would be alive and we may well have been out of this lockdown earlier as well Johnson's inability to make unpopular decisions remains unforgivable to me. But polls show I'm in a minority

Fingers crossed we are ahead of the curve this time But should things deteriorate here, it is to be hoped that lessons from pre lockdown 1 and lockdown 2 will have been learned and instead of saying "we know more than Italy" or "it would be inhuman to cancel Christmas" and blaming "Captain Hindsight" when Starmer was calling for lockdowns weeks ahead of time - hopefully THIS time we would close down earlier and for a shorter period while vaccinations catchup, instead of waiting weeks and months too late and ending up in lockdown for another 3 months

How did the government expect to get away with it? What is is this government has done that it has ever suffered a consequence for ? Grenfell? Wind rush? Worst death rate? Cameron dodgy dealings Lying constantly and Bigly about Brexit? Northern Ireland erupting (as forecast) and them doing nothing On and on There are no rules any more. There are no consequences

I'm finding the West Ham season to be one of the few bright spots of last 12 months - good on 'em

Reasons why the report can't bring itself to acknowledge the obvious? 1) It was a report written not to address the problems but to reassure people like... well, like Cat. Job Done 2) I've already said how much the contributors have tried to distance itself from it. Even Johnson himself seems reluctant to embrace it. But then today we find out it was doctored even more than was first suspected https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/apr/11/downing-street-rewrote-independent-report-on-race-experts-claim Why anyone would want to stand by the report in any shape or form is a mystery

BB. no one is denying it?s a major news event. News channels can 24 hour blanket coverage the thing for weeks if need be But trying to listen to any radio station (eh 6 music places you?d expect to get away from this) are badly affected as well. 6 music has dropped all regular shows and is just playing some extremely limited lite music

The overreaction of (say) the bbc in blanket mourning across ALL channels is weird But this is the only practice they will get for The Big One

amazing

2 speccie links one is already withdrawn (or, to be fair, possibly mis-posted by Cat) Second is by Fekking Tombs I'm not PRE judging them - I'm judging them on own merits Do I think Britain is BETTER than many other countries in it's treatment of non-white groups, compared to many countries ? Yes I do - we can agree on something? yay Is that enough? Is that the end of the story? Are we winning 1-0 with 20 minutes to go? Are there problems with this self-congratulatory position? YES! Many problems. And if you can't see what those problems are without reflexively, defensively "yeah butting" I can't help you Britain wants to claim to be world-leading in this and other areas - but if it wants to claim that, it has to be honest with itself about the problems that remain

"But I categorically object to the solution to racism to being to tell 20percent of the population they are perennial victims, and to tell 80percent that they are privileged and oppressors. I mean how farking divisive is that?!!" There really isn't anything to help this man is there? Government commissions a report Not To Investigate racism but To Reassure White People They Aren't Racist and sure enough....White PeopleWho Don't Want To Be Called Racist Lap Dat Shit Up A few people have chimed in today In Way More Polite Terms than I would use to try and advise someone to take a moment of reflection - and this is the best they can come up with. A Screed of alt-right "IM NOT RACIST" tropes "So let's say I agree with the theory (I don't).......what does this achieve? Let's say, I accept that I'm racist, and UK is institutionally racist. I've recognised my privilege. Now what? " seriously. - if the rest of us have figured it out, what is your problem? What do you WANT to do? To take one example, I want companies who deny interviews to (eg) people with obviously Nigerian names only to give exactly same people who use anglicised names an interview to be called out - I mean why wouldn't you? Why are you fighting this? Why? To move away from race issues - you have zero problem taking issue with loads of people on all manner of subjects. You don't read people writing posts you disagree with and think "fair point. even if I disagree with them, no point me posting because NOW WHAT????"

won't be just me, bitch

It might well be greed by individuals Or... https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/04/03/business/brexit-easter-chocolate.amp.html (Which is about exports rather than domestic. But supply chains are interrupted everywhere. Seems unlikely to me that people just suddenly decided to buy way more chocolate eggs this year)

Edited twice and it?s not even 8am yet? Look, I?m not attacking your for daring to have an opinion - it?s the manner in which you constantly take what could charitably be called a ?provocative? position and then very high-handedly and arrogantly dismiss everyone else for even pointing that out I don?t think I directed any ?bile? at you no matter how much you repeat the claim. You can dish out a fair bit as well, you do know that right?

so - back to the topic at hand The govt race report is a massive pile of old hot garbage, not worth the paper it's written on and only Cat is seemingly up for defending it. But he won't say why as ever, the language is careful and considered - see: "The focus of my posts is very, very clearly asking that people who wish to criticise and discuss the report to please bother reading it, to promote a discussion based on more than just what you've read second or third-hand. " And yet no-one who has read the report on this forum or anywhere else is minded to back it. The people quoted in the report are upset with how they are represented and yet - "hey man, just read it - it's cool yeah" the question is not who has read the report and to what extent - the question is why anyone would want to get behind it and for what reason? The jury is in - it's a dogs dinner of a report - it's perfectly ok to align with people who say that. You don't need to twist yourself in knots to try and support it for any reason whatsoever. But true to form, not only will Cat defend the dogs dinner, he will start and resurrect threads doing just that and then get all pearl-clutchy when people call him out for doing so. and then, and THEN STILL actually type the following words when called out "Ask yourself why it is that I care about this issue so much? I'm not going to answer that question publically, becuase it's none of your business. " no-one, literally noone is asking Cat to resurrect/start these threads - but Jesus man - at least have the decency to back up your statements and don't go crying to admin because anyone dares to question you I know its gotta hurt when your April fool thread falls so publicly flat, but that can't be the only reason for the testiness

Ah yes - being scolded by Hamletter. A "recent" addition who themselves have contributed little and yet feel free to wade in like this One wonders who they are "in a previous life" To be fair, clear and honest - I am not pretending to provide inspirational posts - those days of me in previous incarnations are long gone - but in 2021 the populists are running amok and I feel duty-bound to at least call them out I have seen better posters than me make good faith arguments only to be afforded zero time or respect - so please.. spare me the advice

for the record I speak as a pudgy, middle aged white man - so I don't consider any of those things offensive. They are what they are. But I do also realise most of these factors put me (and you) on the "sunny side of the hill" in life's lottery compared with all of the things you decide to protest against

My post was indeed inspired by your posts - but what was it I wrote that upset you so much?

Ah - If I had a penny for every time you claimed to have some respect for me only for it to vanish, I'd be closing in on 6p

But as you took my post to be about you, let's go through your response "on a number of counts you could not be more wrong." specifically, which ones? " Ask yourself why it is that I care about this issue so much? " Which issue exactly? It doesn't appear to be about the plight of people affected by institutional racism. So which issue is it you refer to? "I'm not going to answer that question publically, becuase it's none of your business." Ah - so you will obfuscate and pontificate publicly but when challenged (or perceived to be challenged) you come over all coy? "But you can kindly keep your character assasinations to yourself" I never mentioned you "and I'll be reporting your post to admin." Do let me know how that goes

did I mention you?

Govt issues summary of report and prevents journalists access to full report for 24 hours Initial positive spin from usual suspects gives way to widespread condemnation as people get their hands on report People quoted deny their part in the process Even the govt itself has to issue an ?explainer? Near Everyone concludes it?s a complete fiasco Apart from one lone brave man. A pudgy white, comfortable man with no experience of racism on the receiving end. He might come from a country which near-wiped out an indigenous population just a few generations ago and one might think he would have some self-awareness. But no