david_carnell

?7

To the average punter in the street they probably are and it's not something to really get yourself in a tangle over but the history of the far right is littered with splinter groups each with their own peculiar peversions. See the following: British Democrats; Constitutional Movement; Flag Group; International(?) Third Position; National Democrats; White Democratic Party etc etc etc To most they can be lumped in all together but the more you learn about them the more you realise they are fighting like ferrets in a sack! You're right insofar as the BNP evolved from the NF and therefore took some of that membership with it ergo they have the same genes if you like.

The Big F word? What's that then. KKel is very much correct in her assertion in the differences between the National Front and the British National Party however. Whilst the NF's heyday was in the 70s they continue to have a small but worryingly violent presence in the modern British far-right. The BNP, despite being loathsome, are much more of a political entity. Modern, slick, suited & booted; averse to the type of skin-head, knuckle-draggers that the NF still attracts. Whilst cross-over exists between the two groups the infighting is quite pronounced. The splinter-groups of both far-left and far-right make for hilarious reading. They all hate each other more than their "true" opponents. Wiki groups like the CPGB or SWP for brilliant examples of electoral incompetence.

I always thought it was an interesting paradox that you can be in favour of state intervention when it comes to matters of the economy but get the hell out my life on social matters! It's where I find myself comfortably but the conflict bothers me. If you trust the government to run your economy, i.e. state owned industries, healthy welfare state, NHS etc etc why do we not trust them to govern our lives? I wouldn't let a government tell me what to eat or drink but would trust them to run a multi-billion dollar healthcare system. :-S

I'm afraid I can merely replicate everyone else's school reports: "Could try harder" "Shows flashes of good work but fails to maintain high standards" "Could go far if he applied himself" I like who I am but part of me can't help but feel that they were right. Smart but lazy seems an apt description of many forumites. We like to think of ourselves as too good for our unfulfilling jobs and relieve the boredom online. Never have I met such a wonderful bunch of underachievers!! B)

I did English Language A-Level, including linguistics, and this stuff still confuses the hell out of me! ʢɧʤǂ...eh? Heh...this ɬ is apparently the "unvoiced alveolar lateral fricative"!! That's the silent LL in Welsh. Who writes this gumph?

The International Phonetic Alpahbet - geek time! Not sure whether the forum will even recognise some of the characters if you try and copy them across so we might have to make do with doh-ray-me for now

SeanMacGabhann Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > it's not QUITE 100% right DC - and I'm sure of of > my compatriots on here might do a better phonetic > - but it's close enough > > now.... MacGabhann - how DO you pronounce that ;-) Like the lead singer of the Pogues? McGowan?

I can't beleive it has been ten years since this: Air - Kelly Watch the Stars An all time classic album.

Ooh, no I take it back. OED lists both pronunciations as valid. Yeah!

:-$

I never knew that Sean. I've been going around saying Tee-Show (close to tissue almost). I will bow to you on this. Diocese - Dio-seize.

Hyperbole. Hi-per-bol-ee or hyper-bol? Homogenous - Hom-odj-eh-nous or homo-ge-nous? The one that is making my blood boil at the moment is Paula Abdul on American Idol (don't ask) repeatedly referring to niche as nitch. Argh! (6)

Michael Palaeologus Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Face like a bag of spanners > > Face like a bulldog chewing a wasp > > Well blow me down and stand me up again > > Roberts your Mothers Brother I've always liked: Face like a bulldog licking piss off a stinging nettle or Fell out the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down

bignumber5 Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Oh dear AnnaJ - I am often described as Bubbly - > is it so bad? > > > Not so - it's people who would describe themself > on first meeting as "a bit wacky, kooky, bubbly, > always up for a laugh, me!" Oh god, you couldn't be more right!

How about this: http://www.geofffox.com/MT/images/comic-sans.gif

To answer the original question the biggest BNP presence is the Barking & Dagenham council where they hold 11 of the 50 seats on the council, making them the official opposition to the Labour Party. The Conservatives only have one seat. I agree with Loz, without debate and explanation of why the BNP are both rascists and how their policies are ridiculous we cannot expect the electorate to merely dismiss them out of hand. They are very clever in the way they play up to the disenfranchised white working-class and aggravate their fears and worries. They won't go away just by sticking our heads in the sand but must be confronted head-on. Edit: cross post with Torben. Sorry.

Can anyone recommend a theatre where the seats were designed with normal people's legs in mind and not amputees. At 6'2" I find most theatre going experiences ruined after 30mins when I can no longer feel my feet due to lack of circulation and have my knees near my ears. The Barbican is the only place I found even close to comfy.

Wikipedia tells us: The word "umbrella" has evolved from the Latin "umbella" (and "umbel" is a flat-topped rounded flower) or "umbra," meaning "shaded." Now you know

If you mean Scone Palace in Scotland where the Stone of Destiny used to lay, I think that's pronounced Scoon (rhymes with toon) - just to confuse matters further!

Hehe, this is becoming a right hornets nest. Scones is or course(!) :-S rhyming with cones. Takes the s off of scones and you have cones - therefore s-cones. Back to the whole Pei-ping, Peiking, Bay-zhing, Beijing thing - Mockneys post relates to something called hyperforeignism where we give foreign place names unnecessary exotic pronounciation. They use cache and cachet as the prime example. Are we to pronounce foreign words how the are pronounced in their natural tongue or have an anglacised version? We can of course pronounce Beijing with a hard 'j' (as in Cajun or Fiji) quite easily yet insist on the 'zh' sound as it's a foreign place and therefore must sound romantic with a French sounding 'j'. all very confusing. Hence, let us Brits stick to Bombay, Peiking, Paris etc and not resort to silly foreign accents when trying to say these names ;-)

Oh god Mockney, that site (and ones that it links to) are going to keep me distracted for ages. Sad, I know, but I love this stuff. As for my own embaressment I have a habit of calling an umbrella an um-ber-rella and saying Mon-dee, Tues-dee etc rather than Mon-day, Tues-day etc

True, true, Brendan. But like Bignumber5 says, we had better start referring to Pa-ree and Deutschland if we're following the locals example. I wasn't suggesting the inhabitants of Mumbai or Beijing can't call their cities what they like (of course they can) - but it doesn't mean we have to change our anglicised versions as well does it?

Is this John? Looks like a pillock. All clubs have 'em though. The Wendies have that tango-man chap who's naked from his waist up for all games. Tit.

Keef, anything you particularly want from your holiday? Beach? City break? Culture? Food? I'd second the Budapest idea, it's gorgeous, although after three/four days you'll be bored and the food's terrible unless you have an unnatural fondness for paprika. The Guardian recommended Bucharest as a new hip & happenin' place with a great bar and club scene - personally I thought it was the biggest sh*thole I'd ever been to. SanSebastian is meant to be amazing. Southern Italy might be nice this time of year. Couple of days in say Bari or Lecce and a few on a beach somewhere nearby. Food'll be good if you want that - some Moorish ruins to wander round.