The UK thread

[Hotarubi]

[Hotarubi]

Ab, you will srsly impress me if you got the pop culture reference.

Be honest if you googled it.

[Hotarubi]

I didn't google anything, and I'm not sure what pop culture reference you mean (other that Star Trek).

Merely that it reflects my own impression of British "humour".
So very very different from humor.

Or did you mean the "whistle while you work" thing? That's 100% American and I heard it as a kid.

Excuse me while I...

To be fair (which I am) I doubt many of our US bretheren would get it - even Doctor X who is versed in all things poppy culturally in Blighty.

[Witness]

Hate crime bill: Hate talk in homes ‘must be prosecuted’

Conversations over the dinner table that incite hatred must be prosecuted under Scotland’s hate crime law, the justice secretary has said.

Journalists and theatre directors should also face the courts if their work is deemed to deliberately stoke up prejudice, Humza Yousaf said.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill has been condemned by critics including the Scottish Catholic Church, police representatives, academics and artists. It will introduce an offence of stirring-up of hatred against people with protected characteristics, including disability, sexual orientation and age.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hate ... -6bcthrjdc

Always set up a platter for the Political Commissar, he could show up…

[Witness]

First half is enough:

[Hotarubi]

First half is enough:

Just the words "Danny Dyer" is enough.

[Hotarubi]

Hate crime bill: Hate talk in homes ‘must be prosecuted’

Conversations over the dinner table that incite hatred must be prosecuted under Scotland’s hate crime law, the justice secretary has said.

Journalists and theatre directors should also face the courts if their work is deemed to deliberately stoke up prejudice, Humza Yousaf said.

The Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill has been condemned by critics including the Scottish Catholic Church, police representatives, academics and artists. It will introduce an offence of stirring-up of hatred against people with protected characteristics, including disability, sexual orientation and age.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hate ... -6bcthrjdc

Always set up a platter for the Political Commissar, he could show up…

What about religious institutions then, Hummer?

Hmm?

[Doctor X]

Ah Dad's Army.

Much preferred his Bless Me Father for the doc who could drink whisky and smoke at the same time, literally.

– J.D.

[Hotarubi]

Oh NOES!!!!!


https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ur-do-next

Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension: what will Labour do next?
Party’s process for dealing with former leader over antisemitism case could take many weeks


Sorry....but...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[Doctor X]

Now there is a shock.

– J.D.

[Hotarubi]

Now there is a shock.

– J.D.

Indeed.

For the uninitiated.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45030552

[Giz]

Cor, binned!

[Doctor X]

He could not measure up to Boris' johnson.







Hello, is this thing on?

– J.D.

[Giz]

Dominic’s cumming, Jeremy’s going!

[asthmatic camel]

The world may be going to Hell in a handcart but we Brits may rest assured that we shall do so in a dignified manner, with our arseholes clean...

[Witness]

[Witness]

Dominic Cummings: PM's top adviser leaves No 10 to 'clear the air'

Dominic Cummings has left Downing Street after internal battles over his role as Boris Johnson's chief adviser.

The BBC understands he will continue to work from home, on issues such as mass coronavirus testing, until the middle of December.

The prime minister is said to want to "clear the air and move on".

Mr Cummings has been at the heart of a No 10 power struggle, which has also seen communications director Lee Cain leave.

Several Tory MPs have welcomed the pair's departure as a chance for Mr Johnson to make a fresh start.

BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said Mr Cummings' departure from No 10 had been brought forward given the "upset in the team" in Downing Street, for which she said it had been a "difficult week".

She said there had been long-running tensions between different factions in No 10 but this "slow burning fuse exploded fast when it finally happened".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-54938050

[Hotarubi]

[Hotarubi]

"Yeah."

[Anaxagoras]

"Yeah."

Is a "caution" the British version of a Miranda warning? I couldn't make out what he actually said. If it's incomprehensible, it probably could be dismissed as invalid if it ever becomes an issue at trial.

[Hotarubi]

If you listen very, very carefully it is the mandatory arrest caution. And he does nail it.

“You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence.”

The suspect should think.himself lucky he's not Black and living in Trump's America where he would have been shot in the head 67,875 times for whistling on a Tuesday.

[Anaxagoras]

I'll have to take your word for it, because it's just incomprehensible to me. Perhaps because I'm not British.

[Doctor X]

Part of the "joke" of Life on Mars is the detective keeps using the modern warning which, as you see, basically forces you to give testimony against yourself.

– J.D.

[Witness]

‘My Little Crony’ map shows web of deals between Government, MPs and Tory donors

An MP has called for a public inquiry after a web of connections between Tory politicians and companies being awarded Government contracts was uncovered.

The ‘My Little Crony’ map shows how large numbers of contracts have been handed out to Conservative Party political donors, family members and employers during the coronavirus pandemic. It uses reporting from the Byline Times, openDemocracy and other outlets to visually reveal what it calls the ‘scale of cronyism’ in Number 10. For example, it was reported in September that Globus (Shetland) Limited, which has donated more than £400,000 to the Conservatives since 2016, won a £93.8 million Government contract for the supply of respirator face masks.

Shadow Commons leader and Walsall South Labour MP, Valerie Vaz, called on the Government to publicly investigate the contracts awarded and their connections to the Tories. Ms Vaz said: ‘I don’t know if [Mr Rees-Mogg] is aware of the interactive map “My Little Crony”, which has been created by Sophie Hill. ‘I raised all of the contracts that have been handed out to those connected to the Tory party last week and I didn’t get an answer – but it is well worth a look. ‘Because [Mr Rees-Mogg] will know that I think it might be time for a public inquiry, particularly on the £670,000 that has been allocated by the vaccine tsar for public relations.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/13/my-littl ... -13587900/

MyLittle Crony

[Anaxagoras]

Pooh sticks bridge is in a spot of bother

It was in The House at Pooh Corner that the game of Pooh sticks was invented.

“When he went home for tea, he had won 36 and lost 28,” AA Milne wrote. “Which meant that he was — that he had — well, you take 28 from 36, and that’s what he was. Instead of the other way round.”

The bridge near Milne’s old house in East Sussex where every year thousands race sticks on the current from one side to the other was out of action yesterday after it was damaged by a tree that came down in strong winds.

[Doctor X]

As Your Mom would say, "that's a big Pooh stick!"

In the rain.

– J.D.

[Hotarubi]

‘My Little Crony’ map shows web of deals between Government, MPs and Tory donors

An MP has called for a public inquiry after a web of connections between Tory politicians and companies being awarded Government contracts was uncovered.

The ‘My Little Crony’ map shows how large numbers of contracts have been handed out to Conservative Party political donors, family members and employers during the coronavirus pandemic. It uses reporting from the Byline Times, openDemocracy and other outlets to visually reveal what it calls the ‘scale of cronyism’ in Number 10. For example, it was reported in September that Globus (Shetland) Limited, which has donated more than £400,000 to the Conservatives since 2016, won a £93.8 million Government contract for the supply of respirator face masks.

Shadow Commons leader and Walsall South Labour MP, Valerie Vaz, called on the Government to publicly investigate the contracts awarded and their connections to the Tories. Ms Vaz said: ‘I don’t know if [Mr Rees-Mogg] is aware of the interactive map “My Little Crony”, which has been created by Sophie Hill. ‘I raised all of the contracts that have been handed out to those connected to the Tory party last week and I didn’t get an answer – but it is well worth a look. ‘Because [Mr Rees-Mogg] will know that I think it might be time for a public inquiry, particularly on the £670,000 that has been allocated by the vaccine tsar for public relations.

https://metro.co.uk/2020/11/13/my-littl ... -13587900/

MyLittle Crony

Ironic considering the source.

[Hotarubi]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-54999375

Fairytale of New York: BBC Radio 1 will not play original version

BBC Radio 1 will not play the original version of Fairytale of New York by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl this Christmas, because its audience may be offended by some of the lyrics.

Thanks to all the scumbags and maggots and cheap lousy faggots at the Beeb.

However Radio 2 will play the original version.

Madness.

In light of this I demand that "Santa Baby" be banned for obviously sexual overtones inc. Pube shaving and its assumption that rampant consumerist greed is a good thing to teach kids.

[Doctor X]

Ironically, they are called "The Pogues" because the BBC refused to play their music under their Japanese Original name.

– J.D.

[Witness]

Government to close private Muslim school that segregated pupils and teachers by sex

The Government has issued an enforcement order to de-register a private Muslim school following repeated failures to comply with the Independent School Standards (ISS) and the launch of a second investigation into mismanagement and misconduct by the Charity Commission.

According to the Charity Commission, the Rabia School in Luton – which has previously segregated pupils and staff by sex through the use of dividing screens in the middle of classrooms – has ‘persistently failed’ to meet the ISS, including with relation to safeguarding and pupil welfare. As a result, it was banned from admitting any new pupils. In May 2020, the Rabia Educational Trust, which is responsible for running the school, was also convicted of breaching charity law after the schools inspectorate Ofsted found it was defying this ban.
...
The school’s most recent Ofsted report notes an array of serious failings at the Rabia school, including an overly narrow curriculum that did not adequately include ‘aesthetic and creative’ subjects, poor quality teaching, an out of date safeguarding policy, and an incomplete register of pupils (with names left off in order to hide the fact the school had been admitting more pupils).

https://humanism.org.uk/2020/11/19/gove ... -launched/


On the other hand:

Up to £1.1 Billion in Government PPE Contracts Awarded to Firms Linked to Religious Sect

Byline Times and The Citizens have discovered dozens of deals awarded to firms with apparent ties to a little-known Christian group

More than 20 companies with links to an evangelical Christian sect have been awarded central and local government contracts for the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) worth up to £1.1 billion since March, an investigation by Byline Times and The Citizens has found.

One of the largest recipients, a global commercial interior design firm called Unispace, has accumulated deals worth some £670 million for the supply of PPE. Byline Times and The Citizens research suggests this is one of the largest hauls amassed by any company from PPE contracts.

Two people have significant control of Unispace Global: Anthony Hazell and Gareth Hales. The former is Unispace Global Director and the latter is CEO. Australian Gareth Hales has a religious background, as the son of Exclusive [Plymouth] Brethren world leader Bruce Hales. Unispace admits that the founders of the company met through the church in 2008, although denies that the company is owned or run by the Brethren directly.

The Plymouth Brethren is an evangelical Christian movement that believes and practices a fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. The name of the group stems from the idea of separation: that Brethren members should avoid contact with non-Brethren as much as possible, because the outside world is morally corrupting. Members are generally expected not to socialise, eat or drink with outsiders.

“We have to get a hatred, an utter hatred of the world,” world leader Bruce Hales said in 2006. “Unless you’ve come to a hatred of the world you’re likely to be sucked in by it, and seduced by it.” The Church says these comments were taken out of context.

https://bylinetimes.com/2020/11/18/plym ... overnment/

[Hotarubi]

Ironically, they are called "The Pogues" because the BBC refused to play their music under their Japanese Original name.

– J.D.

John Peel *did* play their music, but them over-sensitive jocks started whining about their old name being rude in gaylick.

[Hotarubi]

Oh NOES!!!!!


https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... ur-do-next

Jeremy Corbyn’s suspension: what will Labour do next?
Party’s process for dealing with former leader over antisemitism case could take many weeks


Sorry....but...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Yes!!!
https://news.sky.com/story/amp/jeremy-c ... t-12134951

Hes back.

19 days. That's it.

This is how seriously the Labour party takes anti-semitism.

The week the tories are trying their best to self destruct - in a move to gain as much popularity as possible the Labour party let the racist turd who cost them the last election back in.

Genius.

[Witness]

Boris has big projects:

Boris Johnson: Wind farms could power every home by 2030

Offshore wind farms will generate enough electricity to power every home in the UK within a decade, Boris Johnson has pledged.

Speaking to the Conservative party conference, the PM announced £160m to upgrade ports and factories for building turbines to help the country "build back greener".

The plan aims to create 2,000 jobs in construction and support 60,000 more.

He said the UK would become "the world leader in clean wind energy".

"Your kettle, your washing machine, your cooker, your heating, your plug-in electric vehicle - the whole lot of them will get their juice cleanly and without guilt from the breezes that blow around these islands," he said.

Mr Johnson's speech comes after he made a pledge at a UN biodiversity summit in New York to protect 30% of UK land for nature as a "boost for biodiversity".

The scheme will see the money invested into manufacturing in Teesside and Humber in northern England, as well as sites in Scotland and Wales.

Mr Johnson said the government was raising its target for offshore wind power capacity by 2030 from 30 gigawatts to 40 gigawatts.

The commitments are the first stage of a 10-point plan for a "green industrial revolution" from the government, with No 10 promising the rest of the details later this year to "accelerate our progress towards net zero emissions by 2050".

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-54421489

Boris Johnson vows to make UK 'foremost naval power in Europe' with boost to defence budget

The PM warns the "international situation is now more perilous and intensely competitive than at any time since the Cold War".

The prime minister, speaking as he set out a new multi-year funding package to the House of Commons, warned the "international situation is now more perilous and intensely competitive than at any time since the Cold War".

Mr Johnson has promised to invest an extra £16.5bn in defence spending over the next four years.

This is on top of the Conservatives' manifesto commitment to increase the defence budget by at least 0.5% above inflation every year.

The prime minister said, in total, this would add up to a £24.1bn increase in defence spending over the next four years.

Downing Street has hailed the biggest programme of investment in British defence since the end of the Cold War, which it said will also see the creation of 40,000 jobs.

Mr Johnson told MPs that the UK's defence budget had been "trimmed and cheese-pared" for decades and that he had "decided that the era of cutting our defence budget must end, and it ends now".

https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnso ... t-12136302

I have some trouble associating him with such a "green" mindset. Am I wrong? As for the second part, we'll see how military spending fares with the Brexit impact (to your wallets!)…

[Hotarubi]

No idea wtf Boris is talking about. Even after Labour reducing the RN to something larger than a coastal defence force it would still wreck anything in Europe. And everywhere else outside of USA, Russia and China.

[Giz]

“vows to make UK 'foremost naval power in Europe'”

Well, not much of a challenge.

Of course, it’s possible he meant “navel-gazing”

[Witness]

↑ & ↑↑: A pity the UK hasn't an empire anymore.

But important measures are taken:

Boris Johnson to launch ‘Union task force’ to ’emblazon a Union Jack’ on every policy

The Prime Minister Boris Johnson will launch a new ‘Union task force’ to make the ’emotional’ case for the UK.

The new task force will consist of Conservative MPs from England, Wales and Scotland, according to the Financial Times.

One senior Scottish Tory MP told the newspaper: “We have to make sure the union is at the heart of everything we do, every policy needs to have a Union Jack emblazoned on it.”

While the main ail will be to encourage Scotland to stay in the union – where recent polls show a majority for independence – it will also focus on Wales too.

The plan will include new No 10 press secretary Allegra Stratton broadcasting from the devolved nations.

https://nation.cymru/news/boris-johnson ... ry-policy/

[Hotarubi]

↑ & ↑↑: A pity the UK hasn't an empire anymore.

Actually it does. It's just not called "Empire" which is too non-PC.

"British Overseas Territories" my boy. Which consists of small, pointless insignificant rocks miles from anywhere in the middle of oceans e.g. Tristan da Cuhna, Falklands, Pitcairn Island and New Zealand.


.

[Witness]

↑

[Witness]

Windrush victim refused British citizenship despite wrongful passport confiscation

Former teacher Ken Morgan’s passport was confiscated as he travelled back from funeral in Jamaica in 1994

A former English teacher who was blocked for 25 years from returning to his home in Britain after his passport was wrongly confiscated has been ruled ineligible for British citizenship due to the length of his absence from the UK.

Ken Morgan, 70, described the decision as a “ridiculous catch-22”, and said the sole reason he was absent for such a protracted period was because he was barred by British officials from travelling to the UK. He has requested a review.

Morgan moved aged 10 from Jamaica to the UK in 1960, before Jamaican independence, travelling on a British passport. He attended school in London and lived and worked in the UK for more than 30 years until 1994 when he travelled to a relative’s funeral in Jamaica. On his way back to London he was stopped at check-in and his passport confiscated.

He was unable to persuade officials at the British high commission that they had made a mistake, and he remained stuck in Jamaica for a quarter of a century until the Windrush scandal broke, when British diplomats called him out of the blue to offer him a temporary visa to allow him to travel back to the UK. He applied for British citizenship in 2018, during his first visit home.

His application was rejected, after a delay of almost two years, on the grounds that he had been out of the country on a date five years before he made the application (at a time when he was barred from being in the UK because of the decision to confiscate his passport), and that he had spent more than 450 days out of the country during the application period (a period when he was not allowed to be in the UK).

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... nfiscation

[Hotarubi]

Windrush victim refused British citizenship despite wrongful passport confiscation

Former teacher Ken Morgan’s passport was confiscated as he travelled back from funeral in Jamaica in 1994

A former English teacher who was blocked for 25 years from returning to his home in Britain after his passport was wrongly confiscated has been ruled ineligible for British citizenship due to the length of his absence from the UK.

Ken Morgan, 70, described the decision as a “ridiculous catch-22”, and said the sole reason he was absent for such a protracted period was because he was barred by British officials from travelling to the UK. He has requested a review.

Morgan moved aged 10 from Jamaica to the UK in 1960, before Jamaican independence, travelling on a British passport. He attended school in London and lived and worked in the UK for more than 30 years until 1994 when he travelled to a relative’s funeral in Jamaica. On his way back to London he was stopped at check-in and his passport confiscated.

He was unable to persuade officials at the British high commission that they had made a mistake, and he remained stuck in Jamaica for a quarter of a century until the Windrush scandal broke, when British diplomats called him out of the blue to offer him a temporary visa to allow him to travel back to the UK. He applied for British citizenship in 2018, during his first visit home.

His application was rejected, after a delay of almost two years, on the grounds that he had been out of the country on a date five years before he made the application (at a time when he was barred from being in the UK because of the decision to confiscate his passport), and that he had spent more than 450 days out of the country during the application period (a period when he was not allowed to be in the UK).

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/202 ... nfiscation

I get the feeling the full story is not contained in this article. The passport would not have been confiscated in 1994 without good reason. Pre 9/11 he would have had to have a picture of a white blonde geriatric dwarf on the ID page to be flagged at customs.

Edit: The passport was confiscated for "not being real." Morgan's words in 2018.

If UK Border Control says the the passport isnt real. You bet your goddam life It isnt real. I have Sympathy for Mr Morgan. I'm guessing he wanted a passport in a hurry and it backfired.