Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
mrpwase
Apr 21, 2010

I HAVE GREAT AVATAR IDEAS
For the Many, Not the Few


StarkingBarfish posted:

I had a lot of fun with those yorkshire puds mind you. Fajitas using them instead of tortillas were great.

NotJustANumber99 posted:

you start to think putin's in the right dont you

Well, that escalated quickly.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

WhatEvil
Jun 6, 2004

Can't get no luck.

WhatEvil posted:

LMFAO I just got an Apple News notification on my phone from the Telegraph:

"Tube Chaos: How 'Putin Apologists' brought London to a standstill"

Just looked it up on the website and it has the subheading:

I've gotta be honest I thought there would be some discussion about this.



quote:

Workers trudging miles through the rain because of Tuesday's Tube strike in London would have felt that their troubles were as nothing compared with the horrors unfolding in Ukraine.

Nor would they have been searching for any connection between the industrial action called by the RMT union and Vladimir Putin’s blood-soaked invasion of a sovereign country.

Yet the RMT, and particularly its assistant general secretary Eddie Dempsey, have long-standing sympathies for the pro-Putin separatists who have been fighting government forces in the east of the country for almost a decade.

Dempsey is one of the most high-profile signatories to a Stop the War Coalition statement last week that criticised Nato for showing “disdain for Russian concerns” in Ukraine. It caused a huge row within the Labour Party because 11 of its MPs had originally signed the statement, all of whom withdrew their support for it on the orders of Sir Keir Starmer.

A Labour frontbencher described the Stop the War Coalition as “fifth columnists” and “Putin apologists”, and there were suggestions that the signatory MPs – who included Diane Abbott and John McDonnell – would lose the party whip if they did not withdraw.

The letter refuted the definition of Nato as “a defensive alliance” and condemned Britain’s “aggressive posturing”. Dempsey remains a signatory, as does the former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who now sits as an independent MP.

It should not have come as a surprise. Dempsey visited the Donbas region of Ukraine in 2015, where he posed for a picture with Aleksey Mozgovoy, leader of the pro-Russian “Ghost Brigade” of rebels in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic.

When Mozgovoy was killed two weeks later, Dempsey wrote a glowing obituary of the “charismatic” insurgent, which was originally published in the Morning Star.

Mozgovoy, who was born in eastern Ukraine when it was part of the Soviet Union, was determined that the pro-Russian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region should become independent of Ukraine in order that they could eventually be re-absorbed by Moscow. After his death, his Ghost Brigade merged with the other Russian separatist forces in Donbas which are designated as terrorist groups by the Kyiv government.

Mozgovoy believed in “people’s courts”, and on one occasion presided over a session that passed a death sentence based on a show of hands from the public gallery.

In 2014, he said he had ordered his patrols to arrest any woman sitting in a pub or cafe, because “a woman must be the guardian of the hearth, a mother. But what kind of mothers are they after going to pubs? If you want to remain an honest person and devoted to your husband, stay at home and do embroidery. All the pubs are full of the female population. Are they all prostitutes, or what?”

In 2020, a court found that Mozgovoy had planned and ordered the ambush and murder of a family in return for cash.

For Dempsey, Mozgovoy was a “charismatic, anti-fascist militia leader”, the description he used in his obituary of him. Dempsey met him when he visited eastern Ukraine as part of what he described as an international humanitarian aid convoy. He described the Ghost Brigade as “volunteers who have been resisting the so-called Anti-Terrorist Operation of the US/EU-backed Kiev junta”, and said Mozgovoy’s comrades would “continue their late commander’s struggle” toward the “precious goal” of “peace and justice for the working people of the Donbas”.

Chris Bryant, the Labour MP and member of Parliament’s foreign affairs committee, last night called on Dempsey to apologise for his support for Mozgovoy.

He said: “Sometimes people who no doubt think they have the best intentions and the warmest hearts can be the most dangerous people in the room. Naivety is one thing, but reckless naivety is another.

“The writing has been on the wall in relation to Putin and his territorial ambitions for more than a decade now, and anybody who has not been able to see that should step aside from the political arena. He should apologise – and be ashamed of himself.”

Nor was Dempsey an outlier in the RMT when he wrote the glowing tribute. In September 2015, Mick Cash, the then general secretary of the RMT, wrote to all branch secretaries urging them to affiliate with the Solidarity with the Anti-fascist Resistance in Ukraine campaign (SARU), which opposed the UK’s backing for the elected government in Kyiv.

The RMT, which was affiliated with SARU at a national level, noted that SARU was “against the UK and Western governments’ backing for the far-Right regime in Kiev” and opposed Nato exercises in the country.

The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, which was founded in 1990 through a merger of railwaymen’s and seamen’s unions, has long had ambitions of turning Britain into a socialist state.

After being expelled from Tony Blair’s Labour Party in 2004, it switched its allegiance to the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, a far-Left political party co-founded by Bob Crow, the RMT’s former general secretary. It did, however, switch back to supporting Labour for the duration of Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Bob Seely, the Conservative MP and former Army captain who lived and worked in Kyiv in the early 1990s as a reporter, said figures on the hard Left have had a long “flirtation” with Putin, because “they think my enemy’s enemy is my friend”.

He said: “Because Putin opposes the UK and the US, they think he is on their side somehow, and because some have a legacy romantic attachment to the Soviet Union, they see Putin as someone who shares their anti-capitalist urge. They may also see in Putin, in some weird and pathetic way, a successor to the Soviet Union.”

All of which seems to have little to do with Tube workers’ pensions, which is what the current strikes are about.

Estimates of how much a one-day Tube strike costs the capital’s economy vary between £10m and £50m

The RMT called its members out on strike because Transport for London, which pays £360 million into its pension fund every year, has commissioned an independent review of its pension scheme, which the Government believes is financially unsustainable. London Underground staff numbers will also be cut by 600 through natural wastage.

While it may have failed to turn Britain into a socialist utopia, the RMT has had remarkable success in inflating the salaries of its members, who include the majority of London Underground staff.

The base salary for Tube drivers is now more than £55,000, though the majority earn £70,000-£80,000, when overtime and benefits are added on.

The salaries of the RMT’s leaders are even more impressive. Mick Lynch, the general secretary, is paid £109,542, plus £38,370 in pension contributions and £14,125 in employers’ NI contributions, while Demsey is paid £85,282, plus £22,175 in pension contributions and £10,993 in NI contributions.

The RMT, then, knows that Tube strikes work. Estimates of how much a one-day Tube strike costs the capital’s economy vary between £10m and £50m, partly through cancelled restaurant and theatre bookings, aborted day trips and loss of revenue in pubs and cafes.

There is also a direct hit to TfL, which stands to lose £20m in fares income through the current series of strikes at a time when Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, has had to make £400m in savings as a condition of the multi-billion pound bailouts TfL has received from the taxpayer.

Dempsey did not express regret for his association with Mozgovoy when the Telegraph contacted the RMT yesterday.

The Telegraph asked the RMT whether Dempsey regretted meeting Mozgovoy and writing the favourable obituary; whether any other RMT employees had visited separatists in Ukraine; whether the RMT was still affiliated with SARU; whether the RMT has ever sent funds to Ukrainian separatists or helped them in any other way, and whether the RMT unconditionally supports the current Ukrainian government and its president Volodymyr Zelensky.

An RMT spokesman replied: “The union does not support either Vladamir Putin or his actions in Ukraine, and we are backing global union pressure for a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”

Dempsey’s only comment was: “I fully agree with the union’s position.”

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

OwlFancier posted:

That specific one looks like bisto instant yes.

American biscuits and gravy for contrast looks like coleslaw on a scone.

why is your coleslaw chunky???

Guavanaut posted:

Their gravy looks like stew that has been sieved. Except the mushroom gravy, but that is also claimed by Ukraine.

Pelmeni is good though.


this is specifically southern sausage gravy, which is mostly just used on biscuits for breakfast. "gravy" generally speaking, is just normal chicken or beef gravy.

Bobby Deluxe
May 9, 2004

What the hell is in American gravy anyway? Specifically the stuff they dump on scones.

At least it's not a loving jus, anyone offering me that can do one.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Bobby Deluxe posted:

What the hell is in American gravy anyway? Specifically the stuff they dump on scones.

At least it's not a loving jus, anyone offering me that can do one.

southern style biscuits aren't really scones since they have a higher proportion of butter, are generally fluffier, and don't usually have sugar in them

but specifically the sausage gravy is just: fry up loose sausage in a skillet (most american breakfast sausage is a patty or loose sausage, and not the link style), when the fat is rendered out, toss in a few tablespoons of flour, make the roux in the sausage fat, and then stir in milk to add the liquid instead of using a broth.

most gravy eaten in america isn't sausage gravy, though, it's just drippings, roux, and chicken or beef broth like any other gravy

NotJustANumber99
Feb 15, 2012

somehow that last av was even worse than your posting
there is a cat walking across your keyboard and it is drunk

keep punching joe
Jan 22, 2006

Die Satan!
Didn't Turkey shoot down a Russian jet a years ago and absolutely nothing came of it. It had maybe strayed into their airspace from Syria.

NotJustANumber99
Feb 15, 2012

somehow that last av was even worse than your posting
yeah well russia shot down a passenger airliner


but then so did america

goddamnedtwisto
Dec 31, 2004

If you ask me about the mole people in the London Underground, I WILL be forced to kill you
Fun Shoe

WhatEvil posted:

I've gotta be honest I thought there would be some discussion about this.



Goons are Having Opinions about food, you've got no chance mate.

Jaeluni Asjil
Apr 18, 2018

Sorry I thought you were a landlord when I gave you your old avatar!



mediaphage posted:

why is your coleslaw chunky???



British coleslaw:



What does American coleslaw look like?

Jaeluni Asjil fucked around with this message at 00:50 on Mar 2, 2022

Brendan Rodgers
Jun 11, 2014




JeremoudCorbynejad posted:

I'd go so far as to say that even if several nuclear detonations happened somewhere, people would hold back and see it was an accident before going full strangelove

There's a novel where the USA accidentally nukes Moscow and the POTUS manages to stop the USSR launching a retaliation by nuking New York himself.

Jaeluni Asjil
Apr 18, 2018

Sorry I thought you were a landlord when I gave you your old avatar!

WhatEvil posted:

I've gotta be honest I thought there would be some discussion about this.



Which rag was that from?
It's patently bollox. Not sure what more there is to say! Don't 'they' always try to smear strikers?

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Jaeluni Asjil posted:



British coleslaw:



What does American coleslaw look like?

okay, pretty much the same, i just expected it to look like sausage gravy after the above post haha

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Jaeluni Asjil posted:

Which rag was that from?
It's patently bollox. Not sure what more there is to say! Don't 'they' always try to smear strikers?

idk who wrote it up but it seems like thats from some dude on twitter who got piled in the replies with lol no; maybe he wrote it up in that article

Jaeluni Asjil
Apr 18, 2018

Sorry I thought you were a landlord when I gave you your old avatar!

Brendan Rodgers posted:

There's a novel where the USA accidentally nukes Moscow and the POTUS manages to stop the USSR launching a retaliation by nuking New York himself.

Novel: Failsafe by Burdick & Wheeler 1962

Film:
Failsafe 1964

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail_Safe_(1964_film)

forkboy84
Jun 13, 2012

Corgis love bread. And Puro


WhatEvil posted:

I've gotta be honest I thought there would be some discussion about this.



I dunno, it's not really worth discussing is it? Telegraph publish a nonsensical anti-union screed, sun rises in the east.

It sucks but I dunno, I'm just immune to it, it's not daft enough to make me chuckle so can't get worked up

DaWolfey
Oct 25, 2003

College Slice

mediaphage posted:

this is one of my favourite examples of us/uk english divergence; in the us, this is a toad in the hole



This isn't true, so sayeth an American who doesn't know any other American who calls it something other than eggs in a basket

Gonzo McFee
Jun 19, 2010
You should be allowed to get into a fist fight with anybody advocating war.

Guavanaut
Nov 27, 2009

Looking At Them Tittys
1969 - 1998



Toilet Rascal

forkboy84 posted:

I dunno, it's not really worth discussing is it? Telegraph publish a nonsensical anti-union screed, sun rises in the east.

It sucks but I dunno, I'm just immune to it, it's not daft enough to make me chuckle so can't get worked up
Telegraph publishes a nonsensical paranoid screed on unions, Sun on races in the east.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

DaWolfey posted:

This isn't true, so sayeth an American who doesn't know any other American who calls it something other than eggs in a basket

:rolleyes:

i've literally never in my life heard this although there are a limited number of google results suggesting some do

it doesn't even make sense since they aren't covered by anything. pigs in a blanket (aka a sausage roll) at least makes sense conceptually

Kin
Nov 4, 2003

Sometimes, in a city this dirty, you need a real hero.
So, I just took the plunge and grabbed the "loyal customer" fixed price with Octopus.

£212 a loving month.

Thing is, the way I see it is that the further rises are going to be inevitable. There's now enough convenient excuses that can be made for the country to just begrudgingly accept it.

I've never been good at cutting through the bullshit for energy but that's still just an estimate anyway.

My actual usage for gas is gonna go way down over spring/summer/autumn, so if the price miraculously falls again I can make the 0 fee exit and stick with them at the lower price cap. Then I'll just have a load of credit on my account to eat through right?

DaWolfey
Oct 25, 2003

College Slice

mediaphage posted:

:rolleyes:

i've literally never in my life heard this although there are a limited number of google results suggesting some do

it doesn't even make sense since they aren't covered by anything. pigs in a blanket (aka a sausage roll) at least makes sense conceptually

Perhaps a regional thing! America is a big place after all.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

DaWolfey posted:

Perhaps a regional thing! America is a big place after all.

yes, obv

a lot of foods tend to get called by different names in different regions

escapegoat
Aug 18, 2013

mediaphage posted:

this is one of my favourite examples of us/uk english divergence; in the us, this is a toad in the hole



Egg and strawberries, the classic combo.

Unkempt
May 24, 2003

...perfect spiral, scientists are still figuring it out...
It's actually called 'Jonathan's Unicycle'. Put two eggs in and it's a 'Jonnybike' (all one word).

Guavanaut
Nov 27, 2009

Looking At Them Tittys
1969 - 1998



Toilet Rascal
I said 'steamed ham'. That's what I call keirstarmers.

Jaeluni Asjil
Apr 18, 2018

Sorry I thought you were a landlord when I gave you your old avatar!

Kin posted:

So, I just took the plunge and grabbed the "loyal customer" fixed price with Octopus.

£212 a loving month.

Thing is, the way I see it is that the further rises are going to be inevitable. There's now enough convenient excuses that can be made for the country to just begrudgingly accept it.

I've never been good at cutting through the bullshit for energy but that's still just an estimate anyway.

My actual usage for gas is gonna go way down over spring/summer/autumn, so if the price miraculously falls again I can make the 0 fee exit and stick with them at the lower price cap. Then I'll just have a load of credit on my account to eat through right?

Chuffin' eck. I'm on £68 a month with them fixed 2 years (literally a week before it all went pear shaped).
Based on annual use of approx 2300 'High' and 660 'low' p.a.

I'm all electric and live in a tiny flat. All my lights are low watt LED. So apart from the fridge/freezer, computers, fan (most nights), kettle 3-4 times a day, microwave 1-2 times a day, electric 1x pd, it's heating that gets me - normally if outside temp is under 3C. I've very limited scope for using the economy 7 as we use a small communal laundry rather than having our own washing machine / dryer (not that I've space for those!).
About the only thing I could do different is turn off all the things on standby overnight which I'm not convinced would save much. Guess I need to observe when I'm away for a few days so fridge is on 24/7 but standbys are all off. If I go away for a week or more, I clear out the freezer and absolutely everything is off. I'm not (at the moment!) prepared to cut back on heating because I don't overuse it and around 4pm in the afternoon when I'm normally very tired, I feel extremely cold.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

escapegoat posted:

Egg and strawberries, the classic combo.

lol i thought it was weird too but fruit is nice for breakfast

Guavanaut posted:

I said 'steamed ham'. That's what I call keirstarmers.

keith starmer is just a rearrangement of marketer poo poo

Trin Tragula
Apr 22, 2005

forkboy84 posted:

I dunno, it's not really worth discussing is it? Telegraph publish a nonsensical anti-union screed, sun rises in the east.

It sucks but I dunno, I'm just immune to it, it's not daft enough to make me chuckle so can't get worked up

Eddie Dempsey did sign on to the spectacularly badly judged Stop the War letter, the content of which does not appear to have been misrepresented.

Eddie Dempsey also definitely wrote that Morning Star obituary of a leading Donbas separatist commander. This has now mysteriously disappeared from their website, but the Wayback Machine comes through for us. In it, Dempsey is enthusiastically on the side of the Russian-backed separatists (denying any Russian backing, of course) and against Euromaidan, describing the Kyiv government as a junta. The quotes in the Telegraph have been faithfully reproduced from the obituary. The man he was eulogising definitely ran kangaroo courts in Luhansk.

Mick Cash also did write a circular in 2015 urging support for "Solidarity with the Antifascist Resistance in Ukraine" and also described the Ukrainian government as "far right". Again this is now unavailable on the RMT website, but doesn't escape the Wayback Machine. Describing the post-Euromaidan governments of Ukraine as fascists is the exact rhetoric that Vladimir Putin has been deploying during the current invasion.

But sure, let's just handwave these extremely uncomfortable things away. A total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through!

Bobby Deluxe
May 9, 2004

mediaphage posted:

but specifically the sausage gravy is just: fry up loose sausage in a skillet (most american breakfast sausage is a patty or loose sausage, and not the link style), when the fat is rendered out, toss in a few tablespoons of flour, make the roux in the sausage fat, and then stir in milk to add the liquid instead of using a broth.
Fair do's, that sounds amazing. Heart attack inducing, but amazing.

mediaphage
Mar 22, 2007

Excuse me, pardon me, sheer perfection coming through

Bobby Deluxe posted:

Fair do's, that sounds amazing. Heart attack inducing, but amazing.

yeah it's pretty great. not too much worse than normal gravy, but honestly amazing for breakfast on a cold day. if you ever make it (you can just use ground pork and add sausage spices if getting loose sausage is a pain), add a lot of black pepper.

Gorn Myson
Aug 8, 2007






Trin Tragula posted:

Eddie Dempsey did sign on to the spectacularly badly judged Stop the War letter, the content of which does not appear to have been misrepresented.

Eddie Dempsey also definitely wrote that Morning Star obituary of a leading Donbas separatist commander. This has now mysteriously disappeared from their website, but the Wayback Machine comes through for us. In it, Dempsey is enthusiastically on the side of the Russian-backed separatists (denying any Russian backing, of course) and against Euromaidan, describing the Kyiv government as a junta. The quotes in the Telegraph have been faithfully reproduced from the obituary. The man he was eulogising definitely ran kangaroo courts in Luhansk.

Mick Cash also did write a circular in 2015 urging support for "Solidarity with the Antifascist Resistance in Ukraine" and also described the Ukrainian government as "far right". Again this is now unavailable on the RMT website, but doesn't escape the Wayback Machine. Describing the post-Euromaidan governments of Ukraine as fascists is the exact rhetoric that Vladimir Putin has been deploying during the current invasion.

But sure, let's just handwave these extremely uncomfortable things away. A total pig-headed unwillingness to look facts in the face will see us through!

You've convinced me; the RMT strikes are Neo-Soviet plot. Do you reckon Putin is behind the Coventry bin strike as well? That's the sort of thing that crafty man would do. Anyone that's done intelligence work in the UK knows how angry Brits get when their bins aren't collected.

therattle
Jul 24, 2007
Soiled Meat
I saw an interesting tweet yesterday about how many UK laws are stronger than US’s but our enforcement is much, much weaker. This morning I read this:

https://www.theguardian.com/environ...re_iOSApp_Other

Just Another Lurker
May 1, 2009

mediaphage posted:

i got the biscuits but honestly it looks like someone just poured a bunch of maple syrup on it

Also thought maple syrup, too much diabetes on a plate. :canada:

Lungboy
Aug 23, 2002

NEED SQUAT FORM HELP
https://twitter.com/michaeljswalker/status/1498804522327715846

He's a special kind of oval office, Starmer.

Bacon Terrorist
May 7, 2010

to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022
The RMT is a union of contrasts. Being widely supportive of CND whilst their Barrow branch having a nuclear submarine on their banner, for instance.

I know someone with additional needs who is adamant they are going to Ukraine to volunteer, trying to dissuade them not just because of the obvious but because their issues really don't lend themselves to military discipline and following orders. I take it there won't be any screening people out on this when they enquire at the embassy? Their additonal needs mean when recently in trouble with the police they had to have an appropriate adult present for the interview, despite being in their 20's.

namesake
Jun 19, 2006

"When I was a girl, around 12 or 13, I had a fantasy that I'd grow up to marry Captain Scarlet, but he'd be busy fighting the Mysterons so I'd cuckold him with the sexiest people I could think of - Nigel Mansell, Pat Sharp and Mr. Blobby."

Despite Truss saying it was A Okay to go join the Ukrainian militias it is not okay so if they start talking about it on the applications or border crossing then they might find themselves stopped.

That said I imagine the ukraines are happy to take literally anyone who can walk and carry a rifle and potentially eastern european border guards just looking the other way so theres a risk.

Bobstar
Feb 8, 2006

KartooshFace, you are not responding efficiently!

Guavanaut posted:

I said 'steamed ham'. That's what I call keirstarmers.

Oh not in Uttoxeter, no, it's a St Albans expression

Bacon Terrorist
May 7, 2010

to ride eternal, shiny and chrome

THUNDERDOME LOSER 2022

namesake posted:

Despite Truss saying it was A Okay to go join the Ukrainian militias it is not okay so if they start talking about it on the applications or border crossing then they might find themselves stopped.

That said I imagine the ukraines are happy to take literally anyone who can walk and carry a rifle and potentially eastern european border guards just looking the other way so theres a risk.

Fingers crossed then, they are fit and strong but can't follow orders at all due to their additional needs so I would be concerned they are as at risk of catching a Ukrainian bullet as a Russian one.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

goddamnedtwisto
Dec 31, 2004

If you ask me about the mole people in the London Underground, I WILL be forced to kill you
Fun Shoe
I know the football-related jokes will sail over the heads of many posters ITT but push through them for the second-to-last panel in this week's Squires cartoon in the Graun:

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply