Nobody Cares about Britain

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

And Zarah Sultana does not disappoint

Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana refuses to enter group's conference hall

Your Party's "historic" founding conference has descended into chaos on day one as one of its co-founders stages a boycott over claims of a "purge".

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/me does the thing:

Splitters!

 

[detrius]

And Zarah Sultana does not disappoint

Your Party co-founder Zarah Sultana refuses to enter group's conference hall

Your Party's "historic" founding conference has descended into chaos on day one as one of its co-founders stages a boycott over claims of a "purge".

share.google

"Your party!"
"My party!"
"Mine?"

 

[Innula Zenovka]

"Your party!"
"My party!"
"Mine?"

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

 

[Free]

Maglink

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The Guardian: ‘A mini Battle of Cable Street’: the English neighbourhoods still grappling with the meaning of the flags

Flag-flying has faded from the political agenda in England since the febrile summer months, when tensions over migration and an emboldening of the far right were accompanied by a wave of flags being erected in streets across the country, with the vocal approval of some residents and despite the often silenced objections of others.

But in many communities, including some where flags are no longer so visible, this has remained a fraught and highly divisive issue, even if strikingly few politicians are willing to speak about it. In the absence of political leadership, some neighbourhood groups say it has been left to them to push back against an organised and well funded movement that, while certainly galvanising support among many individuals, has been driven and encouraged by figures with links to the far right.

 

[Soen Eber]

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Nigel Farage’s schooldays

We've all been there, haven't we? Well, haven't we?

davidaaronovitch.substack.com

 

[Free]

These country and conflict-specific threads keep forcing me to cross the streams.

Arwa Elrayess elected Oxford Union President for Trinity 2026 - Cherwell

Arwa Elrayes running for the #ENGAGE slate has been elected Union President for Trinity Term 2026 with 757 first preferences, by a margin of around 155 votes over Liza Barkova.

cherwell.org

 

[detrius]

Nigel Farage’s schooldays

We've all been there, haven't we? Well, haven't we?

davidaaronovitch.substack.com

It's Farage's word vs. the words of another person, and another person, and another person...

 

[Innula Zenovka]

It's Farage's word vs. the words of another person, and another person, and another person...

Farage's latest diversion is that the 1970s and 1980s were a very different time, and that some of the most very popular shows and comedians on British TV during that era would nowadays be considered grossly racist, sexist and homophobic, so it's unfair to judge his actions then by the standards of today.

I'm older than Farage, and can confirm he's right about the way attitudes have changed over the last 40 or 50 years. It's generally unfair, too, to judge someone by their actions as a teenager some 40 or 50 years ago.

However, I can also confirm that, no matter what offensive jokes I or my friends may have laughed at or repeated as teenagers, we'd also have considered behaviour like that reported of the young Farage as grossly racist and antisemitic bullying. He can't shrug it off that way.

And, of course, he's gone on to make a political career out of xenophobia and, if not actually running a racist party, running one in which racists feel very much at home and consistently get into trouble for saying the quiet bits out loud.

 

[detrius]

Farage's latest diversion is that the 1970s and 1980s were a very different time, and that some of the most very popular shows and comedians on British TV during that era would nowadays be considered grossly racist, sexist and homophobic, so it's unfair to judge his actions then by the standards of today.

I'm older than Farage, and can confirm he's right about the way attitudes have changed over the last 40 or 50 years. It's generally unfair, too, to judge someone by their actions as a teenager some 40 or 50 years ago.

However, I can also confirm that, no matter what offensive jokes I or my friends may have laughed at or repeated as teenagers, we'd also have considered behaviour like that reported of the young Farage as grossly racist and antisemitic bullying. He can't shrug it off that way.

And, of course, he's gone on to make a political career out of xenophobia and, if not actually running a racist party, running one in which racists feel very much at home and consistently get into trouble for saying the quiet bits out loud.

When asked if he had said these racist things, he also claimed that he had never "directly racially abused anybody".

My immediate response to that was "so he said that stuff indirectly, behind the backs of those people, because he's too much of a coward to say it into their faces".

 

[Free]

When asked if he had said these racist things, he also claimed that he had never "directly racially abused anybody".

Oh joy, we now have to deal with the concept of indirect racial abuse. Thanks, 2025.

 

[detrius]

Oh joy, we now have to deal with the concept of indirect racial abuse. Thanks, 2025.

To be fair, I felt a twinge of cultural appropriation when I saw this post.

 

[Tigger]

I too spent my playground years in the late 70s and early 80s (fun fact: I went to the same school as Ricky Gervais, just a few years behind him) It was certainly racially diverse and racism would have been called out, Which isn't to say there was no racism ever, just it wasn't really acceptable even then.

Can't say I recall any pro-nazi or anti-semitic sentiments, the opposite was far more common with anti-german sentiment being relatively strong in that era (see british comedians of that time, like Stan Boardman)

 

[CronoCloud Creeggan]

I too spent my playground years in the late 70s and early 80s (fun fact: I went to the same school as Ricky Gervais, just a few years behind him) It was certainly racially diverse and racism would have been called out, Which isn't to say there was no racism ever, just it wasn't really acceptable even then.

Can't say I recall any pro-nazi or anti-semitic sentiments, the opposite was far more common with anti-german sentiment being relatively strong in that era (see british comedians of that time, like Stan Boardman)

"Keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down" --Lord Ismay, first Secretary General of NATO/OTAN

 

[Innula Zenovka]

And, of course, he's gone on to make a political career out of xenophobia and, if not actually running a racist party, running one in which racists feel very much at home and consistently get into trouble for saying the quiet bits out loud.

For example (this kind of thing seems to happen every week or so)

Financial Times (Evernote) Reform UK strips council leader of membership over undisclosed X account

Fuller details

https://hopenothate.org.uk/2025/12/03/revealed-the-online-activity-of-staffordshire-council-leader-ian-cooper/

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Oh good grief.

Tower of London reopens after food thrown at crown jewels display

 

[Innula Zenovka]

BBC News - Giant purple dinosaur caught fly-tipping on CCTV in Southend - BBC News

Giant purple dinosaur caught fly-tipping on CCTV in Southend

The brightly coloured rogue raptor is spotted looking around before dumping rubbish in a street.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The Guardian: C of E to challenge Tommy Robinson’s ‘put Christ back into Christmas’ message

The Church of England is to launch a poster campaign aimed at challenging the anti-migrant message of Tommy Robinson, whose “Unite the Kingdom” movement has urged its supporters to join a carols event next weekend to “put the Christ back into Christmas”.

The posters, which will go on display at bus stops, say “Christ has always been in Christmas” and “Outsiders welcome”. They will also be available for local churches to download and display over the festive period.

The Rev Arun Arora, bishop of Kirkstall and co-lead bishop on racial justice for the C of E, said: “We must confront and resist the capture of Christian language and symbols by populist forces seeking to exploit the faith for their own political ends.”

He said that Robinson’s conversion to Christianity in prison was welcome but did not give him “the right to subvert the faith so that it serves his purposes rather than the other way round”.

A church that failed to act in response would be diminished, Arora added. “Whether in the warnings of the prophets or the teaching of Jesus, there is an unambiguous call to ensure justice for the weakest and most vulnerable.

“As we approach Christmas and recall the Holy Family’s own flight as refugees, we reaffirm our commitment to stand alongside others in working for an asylum system that is fair, compassionate, and rooted in the dignity of being human.”

 

[Innula Zenovka]

This is interesting -- a former US animal rights activist, wanted for two pipe bombings carried out in 2003, is fighting extradition from the UK to the US on the grounds, among other things, that he can't expect a fair trial in Trump's America

An animal rights activist was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list for 15 years. Will he be returned to the US?

During extradition proceedings earlier this year in London, San Diego’s lawyers argued that the United States is no longer a country where the former activist can receive a fair trial.

“The issue of political interference in the trial process, or prison designation process, is a significant issue in this case,” barrister Mark Summers said at San Diego’s 8 September hearing, also noting the Trump administration’s systemic attacks on judges.

The charges against San Diego, his attorneys allege, are “stacked” in a manner that is designed to elicit plea agreements, in contravention of a 2018 federal law meant to decrease prison terms.

They also argue that if convicted, he faces serious risks of harm from other incarcerated people because he’s designated a “high-risk” prisoner by the Bureau of Prisons. The legal arguments against his extradition are structured around European court of human rights rulings about disproportionate sentencing, political prosecutions, conditions of detention and the possibility of receiving a fair trial, all of which they claim San Diego will not receive should he be returned to the United States.