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is, not if.

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How many more times if Oakenshott going to betray her sources before they never trust her again?

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64 wrote:

The same right wing nutters baying for blood

Failing to support Ukraine means Russia could likely overwhelm them and lead to more death and massacres like Bucha and everywhere else the Russians have gained control. Are the lefties who don’t consider or care about this baying for Ukrainian blood?

In this war Russia has embarrassed themselves, and have suffered greatly. From the start the appeasers, left and right, have said Ukraine should give up and sue for peace. It looks even more ludicrous when Russia failed in their objectives and struggle. Why should Ukraine have to give up their territory to an invader? If Norway or Denmark invaded the east of England and said they’re rightfully reclaiming the Danelaw, would we be happy with ceding York, Norwich, Durham etc? No, yet these people expect the same of Ukraine.

To the ‘anti-imperialist’ left protecting Ukrainians means giving up and allowing Russia to take over against their whim, slaughter them, torture them expel them and hold them hostage. To the ‘anti-imperialist’ left baying for blood means allowing Ukrainians to defend themselves against aggressors, accept subjugation, and more bloodshed. All this talk from the hard left cowards of letting Putin have the Donbass and Crimea for ‘peace’. Are they so stupid to think Putin would be happy to settle with such gains? Are they so dumb to think that Russia would accept a ceasefire? How many more times do Russia have to violate ceasefires, as in Syria, before they think about their reliability and not just gobble up Russian propaganda?

It used to be that there was international solidarity from the left. They came to the aid of the Spanish republic during their civil war. Now an authoritarian right wing and essentially fascist despot launches a war of aggression, while deliberately massacring and targeting civilians and they whine about help. I thought the left was supposed to be about looking after the vulnerable. Now they show the same utter disregard for others, when it suits, like Farage and the other isolationist right wingers. 64 says the left is about caring and that’s it. Ha! Of course some do, but a large chunk (including those who make this claim) could not care less about suffering of those if they’re among western allies.

This war has really exposed them, the mask has slipped. The so called pacifists have every excuse in the book to appease the aggressor and only demand the victim to compromise. If their pacifism was in any way principled we’d see their anger at Russia for this and Syria, but they’re not, despite reminding us of how virtuous and superior they are to us neoliberals, red Tories, actual Tories, Blairites and other impure souls who can’t live up to their self-righteous standards.

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'Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position – unique position in the entire world – in having privileged access not just to the UK market… but also the EU single market'

'Nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys, only here’

Rishi Sunak hails his Brexit deal pic.twitter.com/StDkAV57qm

— ITV News Politics (@ITVNewsPolitics) February 28, 2023

In other words, the UK would be better off if in the single market. If it’s so exciting for NI, why couldn’t we have had a grown up debate about our place in such markets after the vote? Instead we got “people knew what they voted for, and being in the single market betrays that.” Now it’s an exciting opportunity for one part of the UK!

2 users thanked author for this post.

TwoWrights, Heath

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Compromise is alien to the fanatic. Yet they expect the other side to acquiesce to their demands, and they will make out it’s the others not compromising.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Heath

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It’s about voter ID, which we will need for elections.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-64722070

Seeing this, I should probably revise my stance about the BBC somewhat. I do feel it should be talked about more.

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I agree, I would have been fine with Nelson. I just find the moaning about Dean a bit much so early on and with arguments that would count against Nelson too.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Sharp_Shooter24

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Deereyme66 wrote:

When this many new faces arrive, there’s going to be good and bad days at the office. I’m surprised how some people on social media in general seem to be turning on Dean already. Blimey, get things in to perspective!

Some seem determined to not like Dean. We should have got a league manager or one used to this league. Would one have come? Despite this desire for experience of the league, many of those bemoaning Dean wanted Nelson full time, who had a worse record than Dean in NLN at Blyth.

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A great and eloquent article by Kenan Malik, who is one of the finest liberal journalists with balance. There’s a reason he writes for The Observer and not The Guardian

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/26/kate-forbes-politicians-have-right-to-strong-religious-views-but-not-shielded-from-scrutiny

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Looks like they’re not interested in the arguments of McDonnell:

On our way to #TrafalgarSquare to demand #PeaceNow in Ukraine! #EuropeForPeace pic.twitter.com/tTeSMX9imX

— CND (@CNDuk) February 25, 2023

For them peace means Ukraine subjugating to Russian demands and subjecting civilians to Bucha type massacres. Some have even made their support clear:

https://twitter.com/pauloCanning/status/1629485645147037697

Pacifists my backside! They don’t give a damn about peace if an anti-western nation is the aggressor. To them a nation defending itself and calling for support is imperialism, while a nation nakedly invading because Ukraine is a ‘fake country’ and whose independence signalled their loss of power is anti-imperialism.

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Heath, Deereyme66

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In part, yes. Jay Rayner has a good article on this:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/25/you-can-blame-the-weather-and-brexit-but-theres-more-to-the-uks-food-supply-crisis

No doubt it will be dismissed by the usual suspects, because any criticism on Brexit or this government is just like blaming Brexit for Scunthorpe Utd’s demise or something.

Food supply issues exacerbating was project fear, they said. They will now say such didn’t matter, because it was all about sovereignty and we can be self-sufficient on food, but it was still project fear. Well, we haven’t been self-sufficient on food for a century and putting fingers in the ears to concerns, calling it project fear, won’t do anything to solve the issue. I also don’t think full self-sufficiency is even possible.

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Deereyme66, Heath

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1/n Folks, especially British folks, let's talk #tomatoes, seasons, #autarky (national #selfsufficiency), & the British #CornLaws, 1815 to 1846. As y'all know, I'm a huge #FairTrade fan, and also a huge #selfsufficiency fan — but there are very hard limits.
cc.@Ericka14957869

— Tim Skellett (@Gurdur) February 25, 2023

A thread on this.

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I have just seen that Puffin will still sell the classic prints alongside the new. I accept that. Though, part of me wonders if this was all some marketing scheme to generate attention and drive up sales. No evidence, so I am categorically not saying this conspiracy has any validity, but it’s maybe more likely than some of the wacky conspiracies out there.

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I agree with you, NI, and well put. It might not be the biggest issue in the world right now, but it’s worthy of some note. I mostly don’t read the rags, but on BBC the food shortages and Ukraine have eclipsed it by some way, so I don’t see the argument by 64 that it’s distraction. If it is, it’s failing.

I like living in a liberal society, with freedoms. That includes the freedom to enjoy what books we like, within reason. I understand there needs to be limits for explicit racism, misogyny and hate speech, but I don’t think Dahl’s books cross the line. Sanitising his work just seems wrong and against what he’d want, which seems important given he’s the author of already published books. I imagine these newly sanitised edited books wouldn’t sell as well if released in place of the originals.

None of this means I am blind to the faults of Dahl or his views. I think he held some horrible views; he was undoubtedly a racist, sexist and anti-Semite. I disagree with some aspects of his books, but I am uncomfortable with sitting as the almighty judge on what children should consume. There’s another aspect in that if we sanitise all the uncomfortable aspects of the past, we lose focus on why it’s so wrong. If Dahl’s work loses that it is hard to argue that there are problematic aspects, because people will look at it and think there’s nothing bad there, making the past seem rosier than it was.

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The bits where they’re making mother, father, brother and sister gender neutral. Needless; there is nothing offensive about biological sexes. Making it so we can’t use specific language to be ‘inclusive’ just makes language clunkier, as it is in this case. I am not convinced by the idea that Dahl books could make kids bully. It’s too reminiscent of conservative scaremongering about video games and violence.

It shouldn’t matter about the quality of the work. Some faceless bureau editing works without the author’s consent is concerning.

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I couldn’t care less whether it’s public or private. I’m not making a rant against the public sector or government. I am not some right wing libertarian attacking big state interference, not by a long shot. I am against anyone altering the work of someone else like this.

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From a more gracious interpretation it could be because the Russian military are heavily reliant on Iranian and potentially Chinese support for supplies. In which case I would make a pre-emptive apology to some degree; I’d quibble about the definition, but I’d respect the heart being in the right place more. However, I am suspicious about those like 64 who seem more bothered about the west and many on that part of the left do see Ukraine as being like a puppet state of the USA, while disregarding that the armies on the ground are Ukrainians fighting on their own means and not as agents of NATO.

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Deereyme66 wrote:

Agree with that. What’s the problem with a few bits being edited to be more inclusive and stop certain children feeling bad about themselves?

What’s the subject title including the lamentable ‘proxy war’ trope got to do with it though?

It’s part of the lefty conspiracy theorising about how the west are actively trying to distract from its evil interfering, which in this case is apparently helping Ukraine from being invaded (sorry, attacking the poor, provoked state of Russia), with meaningless culture war fluff. Except it’s hardly ahead of Ukraine in the news.

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Some of the edits to Dahl make no sense and we should be wary of works being edited for personal taste.

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I do like some of Harris’s stuff, to be fair, though he can demonstrate his ego. This is the problem with many of these people. I don’t disagree with everything they say, but it’s clear they think highly of themselves, so it’s nice to see a critique when they and their fans just present them as some infallible and balanced thinker. Yet their balance is often skewed.

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Credit where it’s due, McDonnell has always been sound on Ukraine. Not a fan of his persona or some of his domestic stuff and he is to the left of me, but he has more to him than Corbyn and that crowd, who just reflexively oppose the west. He probably would have been a more competent leader than Corbyn, but his terrier like style would have made it harder to present as this kindly old man who just cares about social justice, like with Corbyn.

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This Kate Forbes thing is a fuss over little. She is free to believe what she wants, people are free to withdraw support if they don’t like her beliefs. There is a question over why the SNP members were not bothered about something so obvious before, but it doesn’t detract from the point.

All this talk of how unfair it is that she is being damned fails to get how many SNP members might not subscribe to those views, find them disagreeable and don’t think someone like that should lead their party. Which they are perfectly entitled to do in a free country.

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It’s always amusing to listen to everyone’s favourite pompous and bloviating fool, Gad Saad, get a critique. I have no idea how he can’t listen to himself and not think he’s a walking caricature:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/gad-saad-oh-my-gad-its-the-saadfather/id1531266667?i=1000532608254

I mean, this is the guy who spoke of his testicular fortitude in Canadian parliament. I always feel embarrassed when colleagues give me praise, so to speak so openly about my own greatness like ‘the Gadfather’ does is just foreign to me.

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Who’s the culture secretary now? Sounds like the perfect opportunity for a good old fashioned culture war to get The Gigantic Turnip back onto the school curriculum to promote the use of good old British veg. :-)

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If it’s not miserable and stressful it’s not a proper job. You tell ’em!

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I agree.

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I should also add that I was confused by it and was sceptical of the river claim. There is nothing wrong with that. What I have issue with here is the arrogant talk of doing a better job, when we didn’t know as much as the police, didn’t know the entire focus of their investigation and were certain. Many were talking as if their knowledge was infallible, to the point they were blaming people for murder.

The case was odd, and many things were suspicious, but the evidence wasn’t there for any hypothesis from the amateur. Yet they were speaking as if it was unquestionable for whatever pet theory they had.

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I didn’t say there was, but women attending games doesn’t stop others from attending their desired day out with the lads, does it? If you want male company, you can surround yourself with other men, even if there is a woman a few rows down.

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Sorry for sharing the odious DDN, but here is another reason why proposed unity isn’t always a virtue:

BREAKING: Starmer Tells Left to Leave & Corbyn Won't Stand:

"This reveals Starmer as dishonest because he promised unity, knowing he'd get rid of the left, and personal treachery: he stood alongside Jeremy Corbyn knowing he was going to put a dagger in his back."

– Ken Loach pic.twitter.com/twnLYiZGJw

— Double Down News (@DoubleDownNews) February 15, 2023

Just like with intransigent Republicans the only way to get Loach and co to accept a unity with the rest of Labour is to say that anti-Semitism claims and such are a smear and Saint Jeremy is a great humans rights campaigner we should all follow as an example. Obviously this is impossible for a Labour Party which respects the results of the EHRC. However, it’s what the commentators on this part of the left, who try and present themselves as reasonable in the face of mainstream malice, would only accept for unity. Just as with many Republicans and their demands for unity. Neither Starmer or Biden should go that far to appease the opposition as to lose their intended purpose, alienate their own voter base or accept racism, and if that brings a lack of unity, then maybe it’s not them to blame.

There is an argument here about how Starmer sold himself, but it’s the lesser evil than accepting anti-Semitism or anti-Semites.

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