SybilVimes posted:

Looks like farage has gotten too close to actually being relevant and the push back to ensure that the UKIP is kept as a distraction only has started:

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/20/marine-le-pen-nigel-farage-slander-antisemitism-claims

(Not only does Le Pen essentially say that Farage is a liar trying to bolster his public image, but the founder of UKIP has stated that Farage is a alcoholic, dim, racist, who once described black people as n*****s)

Pissflaps posted:

Wasn't this what caused a riot in British ruled India?

Kassad posted:

It was a mutiny by Indian soldiers that led to a rebellion which lasted for a year and forced the British government to dissolve the East India Company and take charge openly. Calling that a riot is one hell of an understatement.

Trickjaw posted:

The Gurkhas objected to ammunition that you had to bit the end off to load because it was sealed with pig fat, IIRC. This was british made ammunition.

IceAgeComing posted:

I remember when I was in the Scottish Youth Parliament; the first sitting we had after we launched our marriage equality campaign was held in a catholic schools in Saltcoats that not only had some really creepy displays about the pope's visit of Scotland, but had a bunch of stickers from Scotland for Marriage stuck to random windows around the school. I know that religious schools on the west coast of Scotland is a little controversial; but I didn't think that they would be allowed to do that sort of poo poo.

Abolish the lot of them; religions have no place in running schools; although they should be involved in religious education; since knowing about religion is sort of an important thing. One school trip that I remember from being a kid was a trip to the local Islamic Centre, which was quite an interesting experience for a kid brought up by a Church of Scotland mother and a dad that didn't give a poo poo and would rather play golf...

kapparomeo posted:

This is a common misconception - while sepoys' willingness to believe the rumours of greased ammunition indicate that the Company government was still alien and not well-liked, the Company was well aware of caste problems with using greased ammunition and the ammunition used by soldiers in the Indian Army was sealed with wax, not fat. It was sadly an example of a malignant rumour snowballing into tragedy, and local measures to try and calm the disquiet (orders were made by India's Military Secretary for cartridges to be supplied unwaxed and soldiers to wax them themselves, or to adjust drills so cartridges were torn by hand rather than bitten) actually only exacerbated it by making soldiers suspicious that there was something wrong with the cartridges in the first place, "no smoke without fire" and so on.

Zero Gravitas posted:

Not Istanbul?

Iohannes posted:

Except many cartridges were, initially, greased with tallow or lard. In reality, the mutiny was about pay, promotions and proselyting. The regiments that hadn't recruited from high caste Hindus or wealthy Muslims didn't revolt, nor did the Sikhs. Once the mutiny started, however, there were many other tensions involved in Company rule that led to a general revolt.

TinTower posted:

Yeah, why did Constantinople get the works?

kingturnip posted:

It's quite interesting, as someone who's known a few Muslim people, to see who will happily go to a pub and who won't.* I'd say it's almost the same proportion as will cover their head (outside a mosque) compared to those who don't.
Which, by itself, tells me it's more of a cultural than a religious issue. (Although, if you were to argue that there's no point in going to a pub if you're not going to drink alcohol, I doubt I'd disagree with you.)

Fluo posted:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-20/disability-pensioners-may-be-reassessed-kevin-andrews/5400598 posted:

The Federal Government is considering using independent doctors to examine disability pensioners and assess whether they should continue to receive payments.

Currently family doctors provide reports supporting claims for the Disability Support Pension (DSP). But Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews is considering a measure that would see independent doctors reassess eligibility. "We are concerned that where people can work, the best form of welfare is work," Mr Andrews said at a press conference. "We want to help people to be able to stay in work wherever possible."

About 830,000 Australians currently receive the DSP - every week 1,000 more join that tally. A single person over the age of 21 can claim a maximum of $766 per fortnight on the DSP. Mr Andrews says the cost of funding the DSP will rise from $15 billion each year to $18 billion by 2016-17.

He says reassessing everyone would not be cost-effective but a more targeted program to return people to the workforce could help. "We are not aimed at the great bulk of people on the DSP," he said. "It's really looking at whether or not particularly younger people - say under the age of 30 or 35 - who prospectively might go on to the DSP, if we can keep them in work," he said. "We know that's a better outcome for them and, overall, a saving for the taxpayer."

The Government has received an interim discussion paper by Patrick McClure as part of a review into the welfare system. Mr Andrews says he plans to release the paper in the next few weeks and begin consultations with the community. His office says nothing has been decided yet and the Government would have to choose an appropriate timeframe for the reassessments.

Disabilities group slams proposed changes

But a group representing people with disabilities has labelled the proposed changes cruel. People With Disabilities president Craig Wallace says the timing is inappropriate. "This is a time when people are meant to be spending time with their families," he said.

Opposition employment spokesman Brendan O'Connor agrees. "People would have woken up very concerned that their very modest income is under attack," he said. "I mean what a way to engage with hundreds of thousands of Australians, to have to wake up to news that their incomes may be cut."

Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes says the move would punish people who are already disadvantaged. "If you look at the level of Centrelink fraud, it's very small in this area," he said. "I wouldn't like to say that there'd be no cases, but I think that there would be very few, if there are any."

Zero Gravitas posted:

Not Istanbul?

Spangly A posted:

What's changed then, that both Islam and Christianity have slowly started to go a bit strange about how everything actually literally happened?

Oh dear me posted:

Especially if the modern world is dominated by invading foreigners, while the book feels like part of your own culture.

Spangly A posted:

One day I shall find a societal problem that doesn't somehow involve the human response of "gently caress foreigners" and I'll feel a bit better.

At least the daily mail article has caused a surge of donations to charity. We shouldn't need them, but at least enough people can see through the bullshit to and realise something has to be done for it to be noticable.

quote:

A Tory planning minister has admitted that the coalition's new wave of garden cities would not have to contain a single affordable home, despite Nick Clegg's claims that they would offer low-cost accommodation and help solve the UK's housing crisis.

As the government unveiled plans for new garden cities containing 15,000 homes each, it emerged that developers would not need to reserve a certain proportion of the properties for those struggling most with the cost of living.

Asked by Labour whether the first garden city in Ebbsfleet would contain low-cost homes, Nick Boles, a Conservative minister, said the government would "not impose a particular level of affordable housing for housing schemes".

"Unrealistic Section 106 agreements [which specify how many affordable homes should be built] result in no development, no regeneration and no community benefits," he added.

Under changes brought in by the coalition, developers can challenge requirements for affordable housing imposed by councils, with some firms arguing that they depress the prices they can get for properties in the rest of the development.

Clegg said a new wave of garden cities would "provide affordable homes, good schools, and jobs for the next generation, whilst at the same time preserving the countryside" as he invited communities to bid for funding from a £2.4bn pot to host the new developments by 2020.

However, the prospectus launched by the government only said that local areas "may wish to consider" mixed-tenure homes which were "affordable for ordinary people". It added: "The government does not wish to impose any definition of what garden cities are, but instead intends to work with localities to support them in developing and delivering their own vision."

Clegg said he hoped that a new set of cities would help create an "ark of prosperity" in the south-east, where people wanted to live but were currently unable to find houses.

Labour accused the government of failing to tackle the housing crisis early enough and of ignoring the issue of whether any new homes would actually help those struggling to find affordable accommodation.

Roberta Blackman-Woods, a shadow communities and local government minister, said: "The government is failing to tackle the housing crisis and as a result, home ownership remains out of reach for too many low and middle-income earners. It is vital that the government takes affordable housing seriously in any plans for new development, but so far they have avoided such a commitment. We would expect that any proposals brought forward for new garden cities to address the growing need for affordable housing."

A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government confirmed there were no Whitehall targets for the number of affordable homes in garden cities.

goddamnedtwisto posted:

Well it's more "gently caress the other people" than "gently caress foreigners", although of course foreigners are easier to otherise. It was probably the very first demagogic trick and it's worked well ever since. In fact you can pretty much boil all right-wing politics (and yeah I definitely consider the radical wings of any religion as political movements) down to "gently caress other people" with the rest just being footnotes about who the other people are.

EmptyVessel posted:

Just right-wing?
The "All [insert chosen group of others here] Are Bastards" template pretty well covers exactly the same sort of unthinking knee-twitch.

EmptyVessel posted:

Just right-wing?
The "All [insert chosen group of others here] Are Bastards" template pretty well covers exactly the same sort of unthinking knee-twitch.

EmptyVessel posted:

Just right-wing?
The "All [insert chosen group of others here] Are Bastards" template pretty well covers exactly the same sort of unthinking knee-twitch.

Spangly A posted:

ACAB etc certainly uses that same template. The difference being it's factually accurate.

SybilVimes posted:

Because you're born a cop and a cop til the day you die...

EmptyVessel posted:

E: @ baka kaba But people do this all the time? ie. All Blacks/Irish/Gypsies Are Lazy/Thieves/Dirty.

Wolfsbane posted:

How do people fail to understand ACAB? It's really loving simple.

It's not a judgement on the personality of any individual officer. It's about the role of police in society, and the things they are willing to do if so ordered. It's about miners' strikes, and Hillsborough, and suppression of peaceful protest, and infiltration of activist groups, and systemic corruption and racism. The fact that your local bobby is friendly to your rich, white, middle class self has no bearing on this whatsoever.

baka kaba posted:

'the police are systemically corrupt, closing ranks and defending abuses of power while punishing anyone who dissents'. That's because the police actually is a formal institution, one whose members occupy a position of power and authority in society. Sweeping paranoia and prejudice against members of minority groups is a little different

Cerv posted:

it's been hours since the last housing chat
how's this for a catastrophically stupid move:

Spangly A posted:

Wolfsbane you didn't need to make that assumption man, sometimes coppers aren't utter shitheads to everyone.

EmptyVessel posted:

Just right-wing?
The "All [insert chosen group of others here] Are Bastards" template pretty well covers exactly the same sort of unthinking knee-twitch.

EmptyVessel posted:

So an individual's value can be determined by which box or label another group puts them in? And you would be fine with a similar approach being taken towards yourself?

Spangly A posted:

Wolfsbane you didn't need to make that assumption man, sometimes coppers aren't utter shitheads to everyone.

However, EV,

baka kaba posted:
'the police are systemically corrupt, closing ranks and defending abuses of power while punishing anyone who dissents'. That's because the police actually is a formal institution, one whose members occupy a position of power and authority in society. Sweeping paranoia and prejudice against members of minority groups is a little different

ACAB will be an absolute truth until they at least try to sort out the utter bullshit that is "only coppers can investigate coppers". Mark Duggan was lawfully killed for fucks sake. It is an institution of filth.

KKKlean Energy posted:

A fine piece of Tory local election propaganda came in the post today. For context, this is an area in which the Tories have no seats. It's Labour-controlled (34) with the LibDems a close second (23). I believe it has been similar for a long time (though I can't confirm as I'm trying to research it but am having trouble digging up records).

This is the first peep I've heard from the Tories regarding the local council but I'm surprised to hear anything at all, given the gently caress-all chance they have. They seem to be of the opinion the LibDems will go extinct here.





Their paper is the "Haringey Guardian". I don't know why they chose to pretend they were the guardian national newspaper, what with that lower-case g and near-identical font face. Are they trying to trick liberals or something?

The betting shop 'article' is standard rubbish (full of poo poo puns for some reason) but it's the other things that win it for me. I particularly like the "The LibDems can't win here" - and the Tories can? With their zero seats? At least the LibDems exist. If people are going to turn away from the LibDems in droves I doubt it will be to vote Tory instead. On the second page they drive the point again with the two horse race bollocks. I like how the blue horse is ahead of the red horse.

Then there's the "democracy needs opposition!" article in which the Tories decide they will usurp the LibDem's second place and keep an eye on labour, lest Haringey become a one-party state like North Korea (implied, but not exactly subtle)

A random mugshot of Boris on the front even though the council elections have no bearing on the mayoral elections. But then he's a legend so why not. As for the other mug....

Semprini posted:

What can we expect in new week's MoS? "Our reporter called 999 and complained of the symptoms of a heart attack. But he was actually reading the symptoms off the INTERNET and bungling NHS chiefs sent out an ambulance for his MADE-UP claims!"

(page 9: child dies as ambulance doesn't arrive soon enough)