Brexit and the waning days of the United Kingdom

[garbon]

Tough for you maybe. 

Once it hits about 30 degrees in this country I become very sympathetic to anything - I don't know, in my head the rules have already been broken, it's too warm, so anything goes

Never thought British sun would be so dangerous. 

This is the country that has big weather warnings about the sun whenever it is a cloudless day.

[Sheilbh]

Also I am incredibly dubious of the fact we're relying on the "common sense of the Great British people".

A reminder of who we, the Great British people, are:


This links into one of my big theories that most of the perceptions and images of the "British" are very self-conscious, sort-of self-civilising Victorian myths. It's most an educational perception - if we say it enough, we'll become it. But actually "British" culture is a lot more sort of chaotic and disorderly: it's the hundreds of people getting pissed up on cider and running down a steep hill, breaking bones chasing a giant cheese etc. And because we don't have feast days and local traditions like that regulate the carnival, there's just that constant edge on any day that's too sunny, or at the start of a bank holiday of everything spinning, somewhat violently, out of control.

Whenever I've gone abroad I'm always struck by there being a different atmosphere when people are drinking/celebrating etc than at home. The one exception is Ukraine and Georgia which felt a bit like home.

[garbon]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/jun/26/keir-starmer-faces-backlash-from-leftwing-mps-over-rebecca-long-bailey-sacking

Starmer faces backlash from leftwing MPs over Long-Bailey sacking

Jeremy Corbyn was among a group of leftwing Labour MPs who met Keir Starmer on Friday morning to express their concerns about the sacking of Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Guardian understands.

Starmer is facing a backlash from Labour leftwingers after abruptly removing Long-Bailey from her post as shadow education secretary on Thursday.

According to one person present at Friday's meeting, held via video link, Corbyn urged Starmer to continue to take a tough line on the annexation of Palestinian territory, and to meet the leftwing group Jewish Voice for Labour.

JVL supported Corbyn when he faced claims of failing to tackle antisemitism during his leadership. Part of Corbyn's contribution to Friday's meeting was obscured by a poor internet connection.

Long-Bailey had tweeted a newspaper interview with Maxine Peake, calling the actor an "absolute diamond".

In discussing the Black Lives Matter movement, Peake linked the behaviour of US police with Israel – something Starmer called an "antisemitic conspiracy theory". Peake, a longtime Labour supporter, subsequently apologised.

Corbyn has adopted a relatively low profile since stepping down from the leadership in the wake of December's general election defeat. But Friday's meeting underlines the fact that a well-organised leftwing caucus has been preparing to act as a focal point for dissent against Starmer's leadership.

The former deputy leadership candidate Richard Burgon has been building up the profile and resources of the Socialist Campaign Group, with the backing of Corbyn's close ally and former shadow chancellor John McDonnell. Both were present at Friday's meeting.

Burgon's allies say he wants to make it into a leftwing version of the Fabian Society.

On Thursday evening, after Long-Bailey's sacking, McDonnell shared a petition calling for her reinstatement, which had gathered almost 10,000 signatures by Friday morning.

The general secretary of the Unite union, Len McCluskey, tweeted that Starmer's decision was "an unnecessary over-reaction to a confected row", adding that "unity is too important to be risked like this".

Friday's meeting was described as calm and reasonable, with one MP sympathetic to Long-Bailey contrasting it with past unruly behaviour by backbench MPs hostile to Corbyn's leadership. Starmer was, they said, "his usual self".

Starmer has repeatedly promised to take a more aggressive approach in dealing with antisemitism, but his team is now keen to move on from the row about Long-Bailey, and turn the focus back on to the performance of the government.

Nice of Corbyn to show up to make sure the left wing looks ridiculous.

[The Larch]

Also I am incredibly dubious of the fact we're relying on the "common sense of the Great British people".

A reminder of who we, the Great British people, are:


This links into one of my big theories that most of the perceptions and images of the "British" are very self-conscious, sort-of self-civilising Victorian myths. It's most an educational perception - if we say it enough, we'll become it. But actually "British" culture is a lot more sort of chaotic and disorderly: it's the hundreds of people getting pissed up on cider and running down a steep hill, breaking bones chasing a giant cheese etc. And because we don't have feast days and local traditions like that regulate the carnival, there's just that constant edge on any day that's too sunny, or at the start of a bank holiday of everything spinning, somewhat violently, out of control.

Whenever I've gone abroad I'm always struck by there being a different atmosphere when people are drinking/celebrating etc than at home. The one exception is Ukraine and Georgia which felt a bit like home.

That's only a revelation for anyone who has not seen British tourists abroad. 

[The Minsky Moment]

Well common sense does suggest one should not allow a giant cheese to run amok unhindered; surely a few broken bones is a small price to pay to prevent that..

[Sheilbh]

That's only a revelation for anyone who has not seen British tourists abroad. 

Exactly.

Are there Spanish stereotypes of the different swarms of Northern European lobsters descending on your country or are we all much of a muchness? I assume the Brits are perceived as louder and more offensive, but aside from that

[Gups]

This links into one of my big theories that most of the perceptions and images of the "British" are very self-conscious, sort-of self-civilising Victorian myths. It's most an educational perception - if we say it enough, we'll become it. But actually "British" culture is a lot more sort of chaotic and disorderly: it's the hundreds of people getting pissed up on cider and running down a steep hill, breaking bones chasing a giant cheese etc. And because we don't have feast days and local traditions like that regulate the carnival, there's just that constant edge on any day that's too sunny, or at the start of a bank holiday of everything spinning, somewhat violently, out of control.

Whenever I've gone abroad I'm always struck by there being a different atmosphere when people are drinking/celebrating etc than at home. The one exception is Ukraine and Georgia which felt a bit like home.

It's our cultural schizophrenia, part fun-loving Anglo-Saxon, part stuck up Norman, a dash of rampaging Viking with add ons from the former colonies.

As Julian Rathbone put it

The result of 1066 is the English: two, possibly three conflicting strands which I believe are with us today and make us what we are. On the one side individuality and the rights of the individual are more highly valued here than almost anywhere else in the world. Most of us object to government, do not respect politicians, hate and fear bureaucratic interference. We are hedonistic, pragmatic, empirical, pluralist, hate dogma. We like a good time. We do not understand spirituality because we reject the duality that is a precondition of the concept of spirituality. We are Roger Bacon, William of Occam, John Wycliffe, Jack Cade, Wat Tyler and the Lollards; Langland, Milton and the Levellers; Blake, Tom Paine and the Chartists; Turner and Darwin. We are lager louts and we hate the French. We are adventurers. We believe a change is as good as a rest.

On the other side we are Normans. We are superior, we rule by right, we obey the rules, though we congratulate each other when we get away with breaking them. We are one of us. We are control freaks. We are bossy. We like systems so long as we are in charge of them. We march, we do not amble, we fire as one and not at will, and we take our hands out of our pockets when we speak to me. We tabulate, order, divide. We are deeply prejudiced (God is an Englishman – a Norman actually) and intolerant.

And worst of all, somewhere in between, we are collaborators- In exchange for security, a certain status, we will keep order for the Normans, we fear change, we are tidy, we clip our hedges, we keep off the grass (pun intended), we do as we're told.

With these contradictory strands, no wonder we don't know who we are, but I believe, in spite of 1066, we are at best Vikings with some of the stolidity, reliability, even dullness of the Anglo-Saxons, and, well, pardon my Anglo-Saxon, fuck the Normans and the collaborators. I really do believe that at last, like the House of Lords, they've had their day.

[Tamas]

It has felt to me like British partying/drinking culture is a bit more "on the edge" than, say, Hungarian, although I wouldn't say by a great deal.

I thought, though, that it is more about it being a more reserved/repressed culture. Like how the Japanese are also supposed to drink and party hard.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Low level violence is pretty common here for sure, though it is far less than it was back in the 70s and 80s. What always surprises me is how non-lethal it is (with the obvious exception of drug turf wars). Is there an element of play-acting or ritual in it I wonder  ?

[Josquius]

We probably have to look beyond adults.
I don't think even with kids in other countries there's quite such an emphasis on being 'hard' as there is here.

[Admiral Yi]

I would think antagonism and conflict is always simmering in Britain due to its taking the piss culture.

[The Larch]

That's only a revelation for anyone who has not seen British tourists abroad. 

Exactly.

Are there Spanish stereotypes of the different swarms of Northern European lobsters descending on your country or are we all much of a muchness? I assume the Brits are perceived as louder and more offensive, but aside from that

At some point they all mix together a bit and you can't tell a Swede, a German and a Dutch apart, but yeah, Brits might be the rowdiest, and are famously unable to deal with balconies. 

[Tamas]

Really we should just declare the lockdown over as of tonight.

Insane crowds on beaches, street celebrations of Liverpool finally managing a result after a 30 years temporary drop of form, and today to me it seemed traffic is 100% back to normal. Plus when I entered my car I saw these 4 Karens walking down to the river in a close little group chit-chatting. That's 4 households exchanging germs right there.

Just why bother. At this stage the only thing preventing a second wave is the virus' ability to create one.

[Josquius]

A whole slew of pubs that I like have announced they won't be reopening on Saturday as they're allowed to do and instead will be waiting until Monday or the Monday after that.
I do dread what next Saturday looks like.

[Tamas]

A whole slew of pubs that I like have announced they won't be reopening on Saturday as they're allowed to do and instead will be waiting until Monday or the Monday after that.
I do dread what next Saturday looks like.

That's smart of them let others deal with the initial stampede