egg

People are talking as if families or communities being pushed into voting the same way is a new thing. Mining families would have told their own to vote labour, and that they'd be out of the door if they voted for Maggie. I've had someone tell me recently that I'm a nonce sympathiser and apparently want his daughter raped because I don't support reform or agree with flags on lamps - impressionable kids will be hearing that message in homes, pubs, building sites, wherever.

Indeed. I don't agree with any organised religions. All are flawed, and divisive. It's staggering though that people refuse to accept that in a world where racism, anti Semitism, and the like, are recognised as a thing, that they refuse to acknowledge the existence of an anti muslim equivalent, and focus on the word attributed to. Odd.

You raised the sectarianism not me! The alleged sectarianism referenced Islamaphobia. Commenting on your previously expressed views on that issue is entirely appropriate. As I've said, I'll engage with you no more, but waste your time having the last word if that makes your morning.

I think the term is poor, but if there's racism, anti-Semitism, etc, it must follow that there's an anti Muslim equivalent. What it's called is irrelevant, but it's a thing, and it exists.

Me pointing out your views is not silliness, and if you find that uncomfortable, that's not my issue. There's a discussion going on, and I'll engage with you no further.

Don't deflect from your ignorance of, and possible support for, Islamaphobia.

Yep. Division with weed and incense is still division.

The Greens want to legalise E's so no drama that some of us throw a random E in.

Because the 'sectarianism' you are complaining about referenced ending 'islamaphobia', something you dispute as being an actual thing. I would have preferred Labour too fwiw. The Greens ain't my cup of herbal tea at all.

It tells us that the lurch to Reform isn't as strong as opinion polls suggest, and it also tells us that when it counts (voting) the public are more sensible than the opinion polls suggest. We were led to believe that this was bloody close, but in the event, it wasn't.

Indeed. A bye election is a great barometer of where the public are at imo. I take comfort that Reform didn't get the popular vote, and that the Greens are seen as the safe option tells me all I need to know about the state we're in.

Your objection to a message to stop Islamaphobia isn't surprising. Sadly, we're becoming racially and religiously divided as a nation, but we can't have a system in which people applaud the Reform message but decry the Green message.

Yep, and the Tory retort to the outcome was daft. Sure, highlight that Starmer has lost the room, but don't be saying that the Tories are the only credible vote in town when you've just lost your deposit and received confirmation that Reform have borrowed your shoes. My only other observation is that the voting doesn't suggest a lurch to the right from the masses, although the Greens ffs.

Starmer's right hand man by the sounds of it.

You know full well that a conviction comes from a criminal court, and that adverse findings in a civil court are not convictions. You trying to argue that an apple is a pear because you want them to be the same, doesn't make them the same.

Performance

The BBC article is so bonkers you'd be forgiven for thinking it was an April fool. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy7jnvdzpr7o The Greenland PM: "Talk to us instead of just making more or less random outbursts on social media'. Ha!!

There'd be relevance to that if the monarch made any government decisions. They don't, and there's no need to remove someone who doesn't do anything meaningful. Putting aside a principled stance, what's the detriment of us having a hereditary monarchy?

You won't find much about William in British media, but plenty elsewhere. Interesting.

I think Peaky Blinders went on long enough, and I'm surprised they've done a film. Breaking Bad was amazing, but the film spin off was a bit average. Hopefully the Peaky Blinders spin off is a level up from that.

The salt mine is great. Easy hop on the train.

Another shout for Krakow. So much to see inside and outside the city. Budapest is lovely and a great weekender. Reykjavik is wonderful, as is the area around it.

I get that, but you linked the two separate issues. For me, I don't see the fuss - the royal family don't have a negative impact on anyone, thus the hereditary principle doesn't impact them. It feels that people take a principled objection for the sake of it.

He was, but unusually, I agree with Ralph. The Royal Family has more benefits than negatives for me, and the talk of binning it off because Andy is a wrong un is nonsense.

Ha!! They're the ones I've tried post walk out. I've blocked out the shite I've seen in them over the years. The kit surfing sounds impressive though.