UKMT September 2021 - Galactic Br(it)ain - The Something Awful Forums

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Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Guavanaut posted:

School's back again (but perhaps not food yet), so everyone please take out your AQA Poetry Anthology and turn to page 12.

Incredible.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2021 02:29

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 04:31

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Red Oktober posted:

I take issue with the word 'again' in this tweet.

https://twitter.com/eva_b89/status/1396390447321423874

# ¿ Sep 1, 2021 09:57

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/malaiseforever/status/1434872577831415808

Finally speaking out against wokey graphs.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2021 15:58

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

goddamnedtwisto posted:

My primary school had two Portakabins in the playground which never made any sense because the school was small enough that there were just one class in each year which had a fixed classroom each. I think I once had a couple of classes in one because there was a broken window in my normal room, but apart from that they just sat there enigmatically taking up already extremely limited space. Then they got moved to the nursery school round the corner when it was "discovered"[1] that the original 1950s building was basically lead-enriched asbestos, where they're still somehow in use.

[1] "Discovered" as in literally every parent, teacher, and local official knew about it but pretended not to until the big storm in 1987 slightly damaged it and no builder on the planet would go near it.

My primary school had a bunch of portakabins too, the teachers complained about them all the time. For as poo poo as they were, at least the Blair Labour government fixed that poo poo.

# ¿ Sep 7, 2021 01:52

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

lol at this photo:

https://twitter.com/RuairiWood/status/1435228974486016000

# ¿ Sep 7, 2021 14:42

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Jedit posted:

That was for Comrade Fakename's benefit, not yours. He's the one saying that New Labour got rid of the Portakabin classrooms.

They did, in my school at least, which was all I claimed.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2021 10:19

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/zarahsultana/status/1435564010447982596

# ¿ Sep 8, 2021 13:36

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

It's interesting because I had noticed a definite shift in the Guardian's coverage to being more sympathetic towards trans issues recently - seemed like they were finally realising they were on the wrong side of this. Maybe that was the US office pushing this and then this Judith Butler interview was just Too Much for the freaks in the UK office.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2021 11:07

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Also, good news!

https://twitter.com/meadwaj/status/1435873152589041669

# ¿ Sep 9, 2021 11:25

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

BalloonFish posted:

I always enjoy the way the Telegraph's paywall puts a font fade and ellipsis at the end of the teaser, because it's always at about the point my attention drifts away and it emphasises how it's just another unhinged reactionary rant like the ones from your uncle who spends too much time on Facebook that you try and tune out at family gatherings.

Here's the full text, if you're interested. It's pretty bonkers - he mainly appears to be extremely upset that the government isn't doing the common-sense reforms of turning the NHS into a US-style insurance system, like that would just be a no-brainer.

quote:

Shame on Boris Johnson, and shame on the Conservative Party. They have disgraced themselves, lied to their voters, repudiated their principles and treated millions of their supporters with utter contempt. And for what?

To momentarily wrong-foot Sir Keir Starmer? To steal Labour�s clothes, not for a greater purpose but because it�s easier than actually devising their own conservative policies to improve Britain? To pat themselves on the back, and boast of how brilliant they are at the Machiavellian, unprincipled game of Blair or Osborne-style triangulation politics? To further convince the electorate that every politician is only in it for themselves, for their ministerial cars, for the pathetic pretend power? Is this why all those Cabinet ministers joined the Tory party, and penned all those paeans to free enterprise and low taxes? To be complicit in the moral destruction of the Conservative Party?

This is a seminal moment in British politics, one that could turn out to be as toxic, as poisonous and as destructive as the ERM crisis, the Iraq dossier or the bank bailouts. The damage wreaked by the Government�s juvenile approach to policymaking will be immense and long-lasting, even if it doesn�t immediately register in opinion polls. Promising not to raise or to cut taxes was always the one weapon Labour couldn�t match, the most powerful way to remind voters that the socialists would steal their money; now any such pledge would remind voters that the Tories are utterly untrustworthy.

The scale of Johnson�s shift to the Left is staggering: his tax increases combined are the largest in half a century. The Treasury�s claim that it is hiking National Insurance by 1.25 percentage points is sub-Brownite spin: the tax rate on labour income has actually jumped by 2.5 percentage points. Combined with frozen income and other tax thresholds and the raid on corporation tax, total tax rises will be worth 1.6 per cent of GDP. The tax burden will hit its �highest-ever sustained level�, the Institute for Fiscal Studies calculates.

The NHS will have become the state, and the state will have become the NHS: Clement Attlee�s socialist government couldn�t have imagined just how powerful its Left-wing choice of a health funding and delivery mechanism would turn out to be at destroying conservatism and capitalism. In 2004-05, the NHS and social care accounted for 28 per cent of current public spending; by 2024-25, this will have reached 40 per cent, according to the Resolution Foundation. How long will it take to hit over 50 per cent?

The ratchet is out of control, guaranteeing the gradual socialisation of British society and the need for ever higher taxes. Just when the Left thought they had lost, their assumptions shattered by Brexit, their triumph is about to be near total.

The Tories� have only themselves to blame: why did they never reform the funding and structure of the NHS? Why are they perverting the noble concept of private property by turning it into a taxpayer-guaranteed entitlement? Why are they nodding through Johnson�s decision to pick an absurd, statist plan for social care rather than a more insurance-based option?

Placeholder image for youtube video: KiTC0HRqCwU
In time, Labour will promise to lower the �86,000 cap; eventually, it will be zero, and all care homes will be nationalised. The Tories have learnt nothing from previous extensions of the welfare state in 1906-15 and 1948: a conservative approach is to build on the private sector, to fill in the gaps, to supplement private initiative � not supplant it, which is the way social care will now also eventually go.

In the shorter-term, Johnson�s extra spending will fail to tackle the NHS backlog. The pressure will be on to raise the levy again, but the unfairness of hammering younger generations priced out of the housing market will make calls for even more destructive taxes, this time on capital, hard to resist. Never forget that the Government was considering imposing a wealth or mansion tax shortly after it was elected. What fresh hell will Britain�s beleaguered Tory voters face next?

The present tax rises are a choice, not a necessity. The ongoing additional spending caused by the pandemic could have been met by cutting expenditure in other areas, and the one-off costs of Covid added to national debt. The coronavirus is an excuse for Johnson�s strange urge to adopt full-fat social democracy, although it is likely that the enthusiasm with which so many embraced lockdown encouraged his Government�s collectivist bent.

The National Insurance increase is not merely an unforgivable manifesto broken promise: it symbolises the party�s repudiation of the conservative and classical liberal world view, its rejection of Burke, Locke, Hayek, Friedman and Oakeshott. This Government is no longer Thatcherite, or even conservative: it is Blue Labour. It combines Left-wing economics � more tax and spending on a welfare state in hock to the producer class, ever more regulations, green central planning � with support for Brexit, patriotism and the Armed Forces. It tries (but fails) to be tough on crime, illegal immigration and the woke onslaught.

Old Labour would have loved this combination, but it is not conservatism. Ever since the rise of socialism in the 19th century, and especially during the past 40 years, conservatives have argued that a smaller state, lower taxes, and a greater reliance on markets, civil society and individual responsibility represent a philosophically and economically superior form of social organisation. Lower taxes and lower spending boosts GDP growth, they explained; personal responsibility encourages virtuous behaviour such as saving and hard work. High social costs kill jobs, they wrote: just look at France. Big increases in spending just trigger massive waste and inflation, they argued: remember Gordon Brown?

An entire intellectual tradition now lies trashed by a Conservative Party which has, for the sake of convenience, unthinkingly swallowed its opponents� ideology. Either the Tories believe that tax rates no longer impact the economy, or they couldn�t care less, and are embracing a low-growth, stagnant future. For decades, Tories boasted about how better the UK model was than that of the Eurozone; today, they are adopting it out of laziness, despite having fought so hard to leave the EU. Reaganomics is dead in Britain: there are now two Labour parties at one on economics, but divided on culture. How bitterly, heartbreakingly disappointing.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2021 13:50

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/PoliticsForAlI/status/1436312538405351451

# ¿ Sep 10, 2021 16:03

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/banenook/status/1436688069516840965

# ¿ Sep 11, 2021 15:13

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

On September 10 2001 I was visiting my grandparents for their 60th wedding anniversary, at their home just outside Washington DC, in America. In one of the luckiest breaks of my life, we flew out that evening (from Dulles airport, no less than the place the plane that hit the Pentagon took off from) and arrived back at Heathrow the next morning. I had happened to forget my UK passport, so I now own an expired US passport with �September 11 2001� stamped in it.

Once I got home I immediately went to bed due to jet lag. I later got called on my old Nokia 3310 by a friend of mine who had been housesitting for us and she told me to go turn on the TV. Incredibly glad I wasn�t caught up in everything.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2021 21:50

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Failed Imagineer posted:

Appreciate the clarification

Happy to help.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2021 22:21

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/milkgapes/status/1437133306915655690

# ¿ Sep 12, 2021 22:22

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

The Proms are probably the most insufferable thing about Britain. Having a strong opinion on them beyond "they're poo poo" is a perfect signifier of other bad opinions.

# ¿ Sep 13, 2021 12:19

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Gonzo McFee posted:

https://twitter.com/Independent/status/1437430933158825990?s=19

Specifically, this seems to relate to posts made in here a while ago:

https://twitter.com/Independent/status/1437446963759304710

# ¿ Sep 13, 2021 17:16

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Party Boat posted:

Toronto plays NYC in loads of films. It got to play itself in Scott Pilgrim.

I had a bit of this feeling when I watched Detective Pikachu on a bored evening and found that the fantastical and slightly cyberpunk Ryme City was incredibly obviously, and a bit hilariously, Just London.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2021 09:50

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/letshugbro/status/1438110445613760513

# ¿ Sep 15, 2021 13:53

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/10DowningStreet/status/1438169372237959171

Well, that's UK culture dead and buried.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2021 18:00

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

I 100% guarantee Rees-Mogg got the job because he can uniquely connect with the Irish people due to being Catholic.

# ¿ Sep 15, 2021 18:21

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Our secretary of state for culture, everyone:

https://twitter.com/jrc1921/status/1438199663929200650

# ¿ Sep 15, 2021 19:15

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Jakabite posted:

Okay! Weird that you all see my real face and real voice. If you see me in the street please don�t stairs me

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1aJtoJJo6m8&feature=youtu.be

How annoying is it to set up a camera, pretend to walk past it, and then go back to pick the camera up again?

# ¿ Sep 16, 2021 13:29

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1438498911975456774

# ¿ Sep 16, 2021 16:57

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Leon Trotsky 2012 posted:

Is there even a reason (beyond EU spite) to go back to imperial measurements after 30+ years on metric? Has there been some pent-up demand for it or system that desperately needs it?

It is EU spite, but it�s also been something that old people/the tabloids have been complaining about since the early 90s.

Also, this only allowing shops to use imperial measures, not enforcing it. I doubt many places will abandon metric since no one under 50 even understands that poo poo.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2021 20:56

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/politicsforali/status/1438611449258119170

At least some good is coming out of Brexit.

# ¿ Sep 16, 2021 23:04

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Holy poo poo something good actually happened on Question Time:

https://twitter.com/keejayov3/status/1438625845271306243

# ¿ Sep 16, 2021 23:26

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

goddamnedtwisto posted:

I can see the next civil war being triggered by the season cutoff for Bastani's compulsory Simpsons watching. Contrarian that I am I *will* be manning the barricades for the "Season 12 was better than Season 1" falangists.

# ¿ Sep 17, 2021 13:45

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Bobby Deluxe posted:

The guardian have finally got themselves a non-insane columnist.

https://twitter.com/HKesvani/status/1439159220197335041?s=19

Well, they need to replace this crushing loss:

https://twitter.com/aarjanistan/status/1439150379703410692

For reference, behold Corbyn �raging�:

https://twitter.com/bareleft/status/1439163889267134464

# ¿ Sep 18, 2021 15:28

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

serious gaylord posted:

https://twitter.com/OwenJones84/status/1439911810380017669

At this point the party looking the other way on this shite is now obviously approval.

Duffield knows shes gone at the next election so shes also maneuvering herself into the post parliament world too.

Not a single question to her bringing that up either.

Even more of this poo poo:

https://twitter.com/SadSonya4/status/1439911768940322824

Got to get your silver linings where you can: it was refreshing to hear Duffield taken to task on this on the Today Programme of all places.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2021 12:58

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Bobby Deluxe posted:

L. G. B. T. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the transphobic Nation attacked.

I recently watched through Avatar (and Korra, which was surprisingly right-wing), and it is unintentionally hilarious every time they say "bender". My favourite was when a girl went to a fortune-teller to find out about her future husband and was told "you will marry a powerful bender". I think I can already see cracks in that relationship.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2021 13:31

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Strom Cuzewon posted:

I'd call it powerfully centrist rather than right-wing. Yeah, the baddies are socialist revolutionaries and anarchists, but also a theocratic monarchy and fascists (with mechs). Politically I'd say its no better or worse than a dozen other YA properties, but it definitely sticks out because it spends so much effort trying to be deep and serious about it.

The second season guy is framed as an environmentalist (he wants to bring "balance with the spirit world") and the final season woman is a communist in a Maoist or Stalinist style (as opposed to the revolutionary socialists - "equalists" lol - of the first season).

# ¿ Sep 20, 2021 15:56

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

I don't drive, so really don't have much interest in it, but I am a bit interested in green technology stuff, and I've got to say it's pretty bizarre how on SA and left Twitter Teslas are the worst cars ever made and incredibly unsafe and constantly explode, while literally everywhere else I look they're widely considered to be good cars that people like.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2021 17:42

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

Apparently the CO2-pocalypse has been averted. I wonder how much public money Boris threw at that company to make that happen?

# ¿ Sep 21, 2021 15:50

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

ronya posted:

context:

https://institute.global/policy/not-choice-between-power-and-principle

corbynism of course did not disagree in its political strategy - 99%, for the many not the few - translating concretely to mcdonnell insisting on no new taxes on "ordinary" workers, endorsing most of the austerity cuts, and being harsher on the budget than the labour left would traditionally have liked - but where corbynism succeeded as a genuine revolution was doing all that and maintaining a consciously "left" branding.

This is just embarrassing, Ronya.

# ¿ Sep 21, 2021 16:08

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

If you're a GMB or Unison member Momentum has set up a tool to lobby the union's leadership to oppose the electoral college in Labour: https://socialistfuture.com/lobby/

# ¿ Sep 22, 2021 12:16

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

I hate to defend Starmer but that Independent headline is extremely misrepresentative.

https://twitter.com/ryanjohnbutcher/status/1440661102807773192

# ¿ Sep 22, 2021 14:11

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

https://twitter.com/paulwaugh/status/1440681526224572429

# ¿ Sep 22, 2021 16:00

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

GMB don�t like Ed because he said on TV last week that Starmer was still committed to the Green New Deal as laid out in the 10 pledges. Makes it more awkward for Keith to ditch it, which is probably why he said that.

# ¿ Sep 22, 2021 22:49

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# ¿ May 13, 2024 04:31

Comrade Fakename: Feb 13, 2012

JeremoudCorbynejad posted:

one of my neighbours is building a summerhouse and it is an absolute abomination

Grover's pied-�-terre.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2021 14:43

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