MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Fixing it with string, a coat hanger, a pair of tights and a jubilee clip. Not like your ultrasanitised, completely divorced from the experience, sterile modern ‘car’.
Nah. My 71 Beetle was not even remotely as good as my sanitised, boring, modern Renault. Or the Herald. The Maxi was especially crap, as was the Allegro. Do I need to go back another twenty years to find these awesome cars or just visit the tinted spectacle shop?
What would we eat? How would we dress? What would we drive?
Heavily salted overcooked vitamin free stodge
Barbour jacket over tweeds with woolen underwear
Steam trains(ride rather than drive because only one lucky person gets to drive)
I got wondering what an all-British Britain would look like.
Something to do with something called 'woad'?
Life expectancy 30.
Burial mounds and paganism.
Antler axes and worshipping twig dolls.
Someone better want to eat all the bloody fish that seem to be all important to this cluster****.
The french like to eat the fish we catch. Most of the UK catch is exported to France. Some stuff almost all of it goes to France. Ever eaten a squat lobster? Velvet crab? Plenty caught on the west coast of Scotland and straight to France
My 71 Beetle was not even remotely as good as my sanitised, boring, modern Renault. Or the Herald. The Maxi was especially crap, as was the Allegro. Do I need to go back another twenty years
I'd take a skateboard over a Beetle, Herald Maxi or Allegro. They aren't remotely like any of the cars I named, partly in jest. Partly to point out at one time the UK actually designed and built some stuff people actually wanted.
Let’s not forget the little people ( us lot by the way ) have been dragged into wars not of our making, been pushed into coal mines / asbestos factories and more lately on zero hour contracts in Mataland (sic) while the big red bus with made up numbers regarding NHS spend and “getting our country back” was served up to us.
His whole game (and a game it is for those who are and will continue to make vast sums of money on this process) is designed to steer the mind away from the real game that is next year as part of the EU, those with vast amounts of wealth have to declare where it is stashed.
So when your paying 10% more post Brexit for everything whilst on your minimum wage, take heart that our betters are not a penny out of pocket.
This from a third generation Irish with a bit of French and Cumbria ( with a bit of Norse in there of course)
Was going to mention Mongrel Nation, but it's been done.
Basically, take away everything not truly native we have nothing, nada, zilch (including the end of this sentence).
Sad, but true of most modern nations though I guess.
HANG ON! I've thought of something. We'll always have the genuinely British ability to cling on to tiny fragments of a half-remembered, half-imagined glorious past that is strangely alluring yet fundamentally meaningless and worthless in the modern world.
Inherited from the Germans that glorious past is.
They suffered from it through WW1 and all but appear to be over it now for some reason.
I hope we don’t need to go there too, but looking at some of the current crop of government ministers in worry a little.
I blame Call The Midwife
As for Mongrel Nation, Britain being a bunch of mongrels with a loosely held belief in looking after those less fortunate (and yes in the EU that meant less fortunate countries) was our best hope of making a claim for greatness.
Made a bit of a mess of that didn’t we.
Made a bit of a mess of that didn’t we.
Yup.
I totally believe our mongrelness has always been our greatest attribute. We need to embrace it.
MONGREL AND PROUD. Now that's a decent three word slogan to get behind...
genuinely British ability to cling on to tiny fragments of a half-remembered, half-imagined glorious past that is strangely alluring yet fundamentally meaningless and worthless in the modern world.
The ability to activate that ‘Dunkirk Spirit’ when punching oneself and compatriots in the face. Or when weeing in one’s own shoes. ‘We’ll weather it, and come out of it better than ever!’ (chainsaws own arm off and salutes the St George)
Brexit
mogrim
Full MemberSome people really do think that things were better in the 50s and 60s.
There are loads of Spanish who think life was better under Franco, too. Must be an old-age thing. When I’m 80 I plan to tell my grandkids how much better life was when I was off my tits somewhere in a field in Hampshire.
👏👏
I blame Call The Midwife
Hmm. I've long believed that the constant production of "period dramas" has been a form of brainwashing.
Basically, take away everything not truly native we have nothing, nada, zilch (including the end of this sentence).
You're forgetting 'woad'.
What even is woad?
But I'm pretty sure it is quintessentially British, so I reckon that's the answer.
Nope, woad originated in central Asia according to interwebz, back to the drawing board.
I think the influrnce of "period dramas" is dwarfed by the war films. On a this year's best films thread on this very forum three of the first eight recommendations were for Jo Jo Rabbit.
Whenever a Lancaster flies there's a thread about it.
I hope that's an ironic comment. JoJo Rabbit is many things, but a war film it's really, REALLY not (other than obviously being set against the background of WW2).
Jo Jo Rabbit isn’t a film about the British in the war though. Doesn’t really class as a war film in that regard. Have you actually seen it?
To be truly British means you be a pale, miserable bastard who harps on about a past that didn’t ever really exist. Don’t know what food or clothing will be involved.
If you don't see a problem with films like Inglorious Basterds and Jo Jo Rabbit you're part of the problem.
Not really the thread for it, but guessing you're hinting at dehumanising the 'other' or even just perpetuating the glorious past narrative? Not just an issue with 'war films' though. Censorship better?
Making films that entertain, challenge and inform people rather than pandering to their animal, xenophobic, sexist, tribal instincts would be progress. No, censorship isn't better, but don't support those values by paying to watch. You'll note my pseudo is the title of a film which challenges the divisions in society, sexism, liberal economics... .
At least we'd have to get rid of the parasitic ****ing royal family.
@ OP The mini was not too bad but being Scottish I'd rather have a Hillman Imp.
Actually I'd rather just bale out of the whole thing.
I blame Call The Midwife
Hmm. I’ve long believed that the constant production of “period dramas” has been a form of brainwashing.
As has the relentless churning out of rose tinted bollox masquerading as historical documentaries. Jolly patriotic Pathe period propaganda uncritically spliced into modern programming commemorating Dunkirk, Battle of Britain, Arctic Convoys, Spitfires, D Day VE Day, VJ Day and deities such as Vera Lynn, Churchill etc etc. WW11 has been shamelessly thrust down our throats by the entire Brexit machine because they knew it would work. We now have 'two world wars and one world cup' sung by little englanders born long after the events occurred. Of course, many who actually served never spoke of their involvement, such was the desperation, cruelty and horror of war. Historical accuracy doesn't matter a jot, votes do, and they've played a blinder.
It's a glorious but ultimately hollow victory for working class brexiteers, like winning a speedboat on Bullseye when you live up a tower block in Coventry.
Whenever a Lancaster flies there’s a thread about it.
Nope, that is letting them off too easy.
Now I'm going to whisper this, but I actually can get a bit misty eyed at a Spitfire or a Lancaster. I grew up reading preposterous Commando comics. I still like Pomp & Circumstance 1&4 - magnificent examples of their type and touch all the right emotions. I like the last night of the Proms and all that stuff. I also like to behave in what I feel is a British way abroad. Namely being courteous, queuing, not creating a fuss etc.
663 Squadron was on a few weeks back and I really enjoyed watching it.
But here's the thing. I take a step back and consider things for a few moments.
Our involvement in WW2 was a necessity and a moral obligation. Some of the Bomber Harris stuff pushed the boundaries. However, I don't view it as a triumph of England over Germany, but relative good over historic evil. A triumph of freedom over a poisonous ideology that parasitised a country (which brings a few alarm bells re Brexit).
Even as a ten year old enjoying Last Night of the Proms I felt a sense of fun, of self deprecation and a desire not to take pomp and circumstance too literally. Like a village fete. A bit of fun.
Reading Commando comics at that age I could appreciate how every heroic Tommy had a lantern jaw and biceps the size of Bournemouth whilst all the Germans had hard eyes and the Japanese all had buck teeth. You can enjoy the story whilst not being conned by the bullshit.
I had a young-ish German language teacher at school. I think her family hailed from the east, so she would have had a lot of context on what out of control nationalism can do. Don't forget what the Russians got up to on their rampage through Poland and Eastern Germany. No war crimes tribunals for the victors. I also saw the effect on her when some little shit from the year above daubed a load of swastikas in tippex across the desks when she had given him a detention. I'd not heard sobbing like that very often before.
War films and reenactments don't cause people to become gammony english nationalists. Being dickheads in the first place does.
Making films that entertain, challenge and inform people rather than pandering to their animal, xenophobic, sexist, tribal instincts would be progress
Absolutely, but (and here's the beauty of art in that it's pretty much entirely subjective) I don't think either of the two examples you mentioned do the latter. Granted, they don't inform much but I'd argue they do entertain and challenge (maybe just not the things you think they ought to, but then you're not the writer or director of either). Maybe it's like light, strong, cheap - pick any two.
<mostly tongue in cheek> Glibly dismissing those who don't share your views on popular culture ("you're part of the problem") could be seen as a form of cultural fascism (with that word clearly used for effect and with very much a small f)?
If you don’t see a problem with films like Inglorious Basterds and Jo Jo Rabbit you’re part of the problem.
Complete derailment, but what the hell are you talking about? Both films are comedies, you do understand that don’t you? You make some good points and posts, but by Christ you can’t half come across as someone with a huge superiority complex at times.
Both films purposefully make caricatures out of Nazis. That’s pretty much the basis of both films. You might not like it and that’s fine, you don’t need to watch them. Harping on about others being ‘part of the problem’ just makes you look a bit silly.
Both films purposefully make caricatures out of Nazis. That’s pretty much the basis of both films.
And there are really no other subjects worthy of comedy or re-writing history. It's a bad obsession (nothing to do with those guys who race a Yaris and tinker with a Mini). It's a destructive obsession, it poisons relationships 70 years after events. “Your country needs you: Vote Leave Today.” read the headline a hundred years after the Great War.
It's as if French, German, Italian, Spanish... viewers were never going to see these films. It's destructive and shows no sign of diminishing.
The Edinburgh excuse, "they're comedies", doesn't really cut it. It's a mentality based around xenophobia and jingoistic nationalism. It's not funny, it's sinister.
It’s a mentality based around xenophobia and jingoistic nationalism.
This.
In conversation with a French pharmacist, in France, the day after the Brexit vote he said 'The problem with the English? They never stopped fighting the second World War...'
My children have grown up without all the same stuff I got, the Xmas war films, the Commando comics, the endless drip of a paranoid fearful 'superiority'.
Just in time for this stupidity.
What a load of bollocks
Allo Allo was a war comedy. Popular in Germany too.
Quite how they managed the cheesey accents, I'll never know.
Might be pointing out the obvious here too, but neither of those two films were made by a brit...
(and Downfall was a German film, although admittedly not very funny - are they allowed to fuel the jingoism?)
Weirdly, on leaving the cinema after watching both IG and JJR, at no point did I feel like grabbing a camel coat, having a pint of mild, and running around the streets shouting "they don't like it up 'em".
BTW, loving the fact we have someone who is a self-proclaimed progressive complaining about colonials making fun of Nazism!
And there are really no other subjects worthy of comedy or re-writing history. It’s a bad obsession
Yes there are and that’d be why there are literally thousands of comedy films and series made every year. Sorry, but you are talking utter shite and I think you know you are to be honest.
One of the directors of the films you mention is from New Zealand, the other a director who’s films are popular in lots of countries. In point of fact the one you mention was co-produced by a German company, filmed in France and Germany, based on a film made by an Italian and the directors highest grossing film worldwide.
Straight from Wikipedia:
Inglourious Basterds opened internationally at number one in 22 markets on 2,650 screens, making $27.49 million. First place openings included France, taking in $6.09 million on 500 screens. The United Kingdom was not far behind making $5.92 million (£3.8 m) on 444 screens. Germany took in $4.20 million on 439 screens and Australia with $2.56 million (A$2.8 m) on 266 screens
Edinburgh what now? You best move away from France as judging by your logic they’ll be the next to leave the union.
My children have grown up without all the same stuff I got, the Xmas war films, the Commando comics, the endless drip of a paranoid fearful ‘superiority’.
I was born in the seventies and weirdly grew up without all that too. Where the hell did you live that you suffered an endless drip of paranoid fearful superiority?
This place is brilliant for unintentional comedy at tones.
In point of fact the one you mention was co-produced by a German company, filmed in France and Germany, based on a film made by an Italian and the directors highest grossing film worldwide
Farage's Brexit ad photograph was taken in the Balkans, that doesn't mean the people in the image were complicit or approved the message.
Germans have already protested against anglo-saxon anti-Islam propaganda films:
And Polish partisans have protested about a German film:
https://www.dw.com/de/polnische-partisanen-verklagen-zdf/a-17258983
And that is relevant to the films mentioned exactly how? Aren’t you supposed to be a reformed troll and not a straw man?
Ah the troll accusation, nothing better to come up with.
I've observed that a significant number of Stwers have an obsession with WWII and that's representative of the British polualation I have any contact with. That obsession is fueled by the media, film industry authors, model kit makers, politicains... . Whilst it's easy money/sales/votes it's unhealthy, toxic for internatinal relations and destructive in terms of national interests.
Keep laughing at the Germans if you wish but don't expect any favours in return.
Some people really do think that things were better in the 50s and 60s.
What do you remember of your childhood, and this is the period that matters in this discussion? I think most people have a very skewed view. Do you remember the hardships of the sunny holidays. How many of these people remember the rationing that happened for example.
Most parents protect there children from hardship, if food is short the child gets it etc.
Read Hesiod, he was writing the past was better 3000 years ago, which means today must be really crap.
Ah the troll accusation, nothing better to come up with.
If the cap fits. You’ve not come back in any way, shape or form against the evidence I’ve provided for the films mentioned. Instead you posted a couple of links that had nothing to do with it and then called people part of a problem that doesn’t actually exist. Furthermore I don’t think you’ve actually watched Jo Jo Rabbit. Plus they are both making fun of Nazis not Germans and both films did well in Germany, in fact Inglorious Basterds had its premiere (outside of Cannes) in Germany and received critical acclaim there too. What is your point exactly? What have films made by an American and a Newzealander got to do with Brexit and favours from Germany?
What is talking bollocks if not trolling? I don’t know a single person from my generation who is obsessed with war movies, models or anything else you’ve mentioned. Funny how I live here and don’t come across it at work, out and about or within friendship circles yet you do. I’ve also not come across it on here after about ten years of posting. You must be going looking for these people and opinions or you mix in some bloody weird circles.
The pseudo of an STWer user is "Panzerjäger" a modeling fan sufficiently into WWII military equipment to chose the name of a armed vehicle used in action that included atrocites againt civilians.
Did you miss that? And this thread last week:
https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/psa-the-dambusters-a-daring-plan/
Google "dam busters singletrackworld" and you'll get pages of relevant results.
But I'll dip out of the thread now, I'm the target, not veracity of my posting.
Like I said I haven’t come across it. I didn’t say it doesn’t exist. Why would I want to google STW and Dambusters. I could combine STW with a lot of other words and get a shit tonne of results. There aren’t many subjects not covered in here. Unlike you, it seems, I don’t actively look for the ones I have no interest in as that would just be odd behaviour wouldn’t it?
Back to before, have you seen Jo Jo Rabbit? Can you explain how a film such as Inglorious Basterds did well in Germany both critically and commercially if it is so offensive to the German people? Can you tell me what either of the two films mentioned have to do with Brexit in any way, shape or form?
You’re correct in that, yes, you are the target. This would be because you are posting bollocks and unable to back it up with anything credible at all. You attempted to belittle others and state that they are part of a problem. Not particularly nice behaviour and when you’re called out for it you either change the subject, post some random shite or back out of the thread. Answer my questions, they aren’t difficult t answer.
Can’t even begin to imagine, the brexit voters have caused us nothing but problems.....
Harder to get into Europe, probably more expensive too, more expensive to buy things in and I could continue..... my fiancée and I both sat down yesterday and said..... what we want to know are the benefits!
List those....
Her folks have a place in France and we were regularly going on Europe breaks before COVID, no doubt we’ll still be able to, it’ll just be different.
Just can’t think of the positives.... if there are more Cornish pasties about I suppose that’s a good thing!
Like I said I haven’t come across it.
You were born a decade after me. My grandparents had served, lived through and survived WWII. My generation was bathed in it, infused with it, soaked in it. It seeped into football rivalries, pro cycling, politics, toys and games for children, comedy; anywhere in the world that 2 Englishmen of my age encounter a German, the phrase 'Don't mention the War' will be uttered.
That plus years of stupid right wing dullardery from the Express, the Mail, the Sun, the telly all contributed and still do to this current situation.
I had grandparents that served and a neighbour as a child. None of then spoke about it. Do you think inglorious Basterds and Jo Jo Rabbit contribute? Do you think me watching said films and others of their ilk makes me part of a problem? Does me being born a decade later mean it’s okay for me to watch these films because I haven’t been indoctrinated in to this WW2 worshipping culture?
That plus years of stupid right wing dullardery from the Express, the Mail, the Sun, the telly all contributed and still do to this current situation.
People with right wing view points will have those views regardless. The Daily Express and the like just help to validate their opinions. Maybe we just live in a country that has a lot of people with right wing views. Possibly some of them hide it. Perhaps they’re more likely to vote and that’s why we’ve ended up in the shit heap we’re currently looking at come January.
I don't have much interest in you, to be honest.
My point relates to attitudes in England with regard to Europe.
Fair enough. They might be the views of your generation, in my experience they aren’t the views of mine. Your post reflects the views of the older generations in England by the sound of it. Maybe when they’re all dead we can rejoin the EU.
It would look like my uncle's house.
It hasn't really been updated since the 70s. The only regular change is the TV, which now takes up half the living room.
They don't go on holiday in general, rarely would they go abroad.
Food is sliced ham, grated cheese, white bread, and pickled onions.
He is retired now and has become more closed-minded and hateful with more spare time on his hands. I've avoided the house for the last four years, but now England is becoming a bigger version of his house, I'm thinking of finally getting my Irish passport via my mum's family and moving to Croatia.
The funny thing is, I didn't realise how "out there" they were until I went to university and met people who weren't so closed minded. The truth is the reason they are closed minded is because deep down they are fearful people - they fear change, so have created a cocoon where the outside world cannot harm them.
I’m the target, not veracity of my posting.
Okay, let's start with...
I’ve observed that a significant number of Stwers have an obsession with WWII and that’s representative of the British polualation I have any contact with.
Opinion dressed up as fact (the contemporary malaise du jour). What's a "significant number"? What proportion of the total forum membership is that? How do you know that the small sample of the British population you "have any contact with" is truly representative? Doesn't match my own experience in any way and in this context that would appear to be an equally valid 'fact'.
Talking "veracity", that statement might be true from your PoV but that doesn't make it a fact. It might be, but it might also equally just be your own confirmation bias.
Even if there is a disproportionate number of STWers obsessed with the Dambusters, that again might be correlation rather than causation (Nicholas Cage films and pool drownings is a good one). On a forum full of predominantly middle aged male geeks I suspect a prime reason for any interest is more likely to be the story and the tech (you've already mentioned Project Blinky) than any nationalist bias.
Fair enough. They might be the views of your generation, in my experience they aren’t the views of mine. Your post reflects the views of the older generations in England by the sound of it.
It does and I am thankful that your generation (and me) don't think the same way.
My kids see/saw Europe as an extension of their er...country?/playground?/opportunity? and that has been taken away by an insidious nationalism that still thinks of WWII as the defining event.
Terry Pratchett wrote that people are much better at looking backwards in time and forwards to an imagined future than they are at looking at now...
still thinks of WWII as the defining event.
I think this is the crux. Your generation's 'defining event' often shapes your view of the world as much as your family, friends, etc. I think.
For me, and I think many of my generation (X FWIW) that defining event would have been living through the 1980s and Thatcher's Britain. So much of what I still think politically and socially was shaped by being a working class kid/teen during that time. Kicking back against that seems to create a very different, more outward looking mindset than the boomers and older often have.
Couldn’t agree more Crikey. A bunch of selfish, scared people have possibly taken opportunities away from my kids and have likely made my life harder too. I always saw us as part of Europe and find it quite sad that people can have such narrow views of the world.
Apologies for derailing the thread over the last two pages. I just can’t fathom WTF Hollywood has to do with the current situation we’re dealing with.
For me, and I think many of my generation (X FWIW) that defining event would have been living through the 1980s and Thatcher’s Britain. So much of what I still think politically and socially was shaped by being a working class kid/teen during that time. Kicking back against that seems to create a very different, more outward looking mindset than the boomers and older often have.
Pretty much sums up my viewpoint too although I believe I’m on the cusp of X and the dreaded millennial.
TBF the thread is about things that are truly British, so it's all fair game here I think.
A bit more wide-ranging than just the B word, and we already have a few threads for those conversations.
After reading the Brexshit thread and looking towards an all British Britain, I am now going to collect and freeze roadkill,look up lots of lobster and venison recipes and find the best ways to filter pond water. Gruel Britania.
TBF the thread is about things that are truly British, so it’s all fair game here I think.
The sad part is that to be truly British should mean to embrace all the other cultures that have helped to shape and define this country throughout the years. What’s actually happening is the polar opposite. Someone somewhere has decided at some point that being British means living in a surreal combination of the 1950’s, The Darling Buds of May and scenes from Zulu whilst sticking it to those damn foreigners.
In short we’re utterly ****ed
The sad part is that to be truly British should mean to embrace all the other cultures that have helped to shape and define this country throughout the years.
Absolutely and totally agree.
In short we’re utterly ****
Absolutely and totally agree.
And yet...and yet...
I work with the most diverse group of people I've ever worked with for 30 years, Phillipino, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Indian, Spanish, Portuguese, Egyptian, Polish, Romanian, Welsh, Scottish, German,even people from Rochdale. All nice folk, all utterly different yet alike.
It's a mess, but I am hopeful, maybe even optimistic that things will, against the odds, despite the silliness, turn out OK.
The alternative is not a place I want to think about.
I agree with Edukators thesis although not his posting it on here. the constant low level jingoism poisons the english psyche along with such nonsense as "the special relationshipo" and "two world wars and one world cup"
Although 'Anyone but England' could be seen in a similar light, despite us having brought it on ourselves!
😉
"Opinion dressed up as fact (the contemporary malaise du jour). What’s a “significant number”? What proportion of the total forum membership is that? How do you know that the small sample of the British population you “have any contact with” is truly representative? Doesn’t match my own experience in any way and in this context that would appear to be an equally valid ‘fact’.
Talking “veracity”, that statement might be true from your PoV but that doesn’t make it a fact. It might be, but it might also equally just be your own confirmation bias.
Even if there is a disproportionate number of STWers obsessed with the Dambusters, that again might be correlation rather than causation (Nicholas Cage films and pool drownings is a good one). On a forum full of predominantly middle aged male geeks I suspect a prime reason for any interest is more likely to be the story and the tech (you’ve already mentioned Project Blinky) than any nationalist bias."
A very English trait, and especially so on here; Wasted Breath!
And no, I didn't read it all...
I went to a secondary school on a large council estate in the 90s.
I remember doing my GCSE exams, and focusing quite hard as I wanted a future and to get out.
At the end of one exam, one of the boys in the year, who was sat infront of me, and hadn't done a day's work in his life, produced the fruits of his labours. He'd created on the back of his unfilled in exam paper a Union Jack.
Since then, I've been to uni, travelled abroad, had an Italian girlfriend and lived in Italy. All these things made my life richer. I worked hard, and rightly it paid off. Now I feel that my country has been taken from me by the kid with the Union Jack on his exam paper. There is no point working hard here, it is best to start a new life abroad.
I think this thread has been derailed a bit. I do however, struggle to see that the examples given suggest a significant number of STWers being obsessed with WWII. One username and a thread with 9 posts. If that is a significant proportion of users on this site, I am really ****ed off that I've not won a prize in the Christmas giveaways!
Also, Taika Waititi has only made one film about WWII AFAIAA. He's a pretty talented human being. His films are pretty socially aware. Hunt for the Wilderpeople is a thing of beauty.
An all-British Britain would be awful. With the exception that if nobody traveled globally in the way we currently do, we'd likely be better off environmentally. Maybe.
The pseudo of an STWer user is “Panzerjäger” a modeling fan sufficiently into WWII military equipment to chose the name of a armed vehicle used in action that included atrocites againt civilians.
Odd, I’ve been following the modelling thread for ages, and that username doesn’t ring any bells at all! In any case, the German army still uses panzers, it is, after all, a name for a tank, a weapon used by most nations involved in warfare since WW1.
And you’re talking about armoured vehicles being used by the Nazi army against civilians, on a thread where you’re complaining about a perceived British obsession with the Second World War, so I’m not entirely sure what point you’re trying to make. Are you?
I was born in 1954, so brought up during a period where I’m supposed, by your reckoning, to have been indoctrinated with some idea of a glorious British Empire subjugating a huge part of the globe, and still having a rose-tinted idea of a New Victorianism.
Sorry to disappoint you, son, but it’s not a notion I subscribe to, partly because I never heard any stories of action against the Germans from my dad, (who sadly died when I was thirteen anyway), because he suffered at the hands of the Japanese after Singapore fell and he was incarcerated in Changi Gaol, not an experience to talk about to a youngster. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate the development of weaponry due to conflict, it does force technological advancements, both good and bad, and the Germans had outstanding examples of both!
Wasted Breath!
I guess the love of hopeless causes is quite British too...
But to leave questionable things unchallenged is (a) against my learned behaviour as a teacher, and (b) partially how we got into this mess in the first place...
Every day will be Red Poppy Day and anyone who doesn’t wear one will be pointed at like Donald Sutherland at the end of Invasion of the body snatchers.
Seriously, we need to forget WWI (it’s been a hundred years!) and move on from WWII.
This incorporation of anti-European nationalism into our annual appreciation of those who were killed or injured in war is a terrible development.
A personal family view, 5 uncles 2 grandfathers served in WW2 from the Atlantic Convoys to Arnhem to D Day to the liberation of Dachau. They all came back although 2 were badly wounded and i am sure my Grandfather who was a sergeant in the Durham Light Infantry has PTSD.
There were no medals on show, no Regimental Ties, no blazers and berets on Rememberance Sunday, no stories other than "never join up son"
Their experience was never visible, never held up as giving them "rights" never a bad word about the Germans and never a racist word uttered,
I have no doubt they would have given this bunch of ****s short shift who gladly refer to the "Dunkirk spirit"
My grandfather served in the navy, he never sold to me about it, but I know that both his ships sank, he was pretty jingoistic, very sexist, racist, I didn't see it at the time as a child but in reflection, as much as I loved him then I'm not sure I'd like him if I met him now.
My mum has pretty similar views to his notes, even though he was not the best father too her.
There was a lot of idolising the military & sectarianism rangers nonsense
My parents have become far more bigoted as theyve aged, racist homophobic, DM readers & obviously leavers (bizarrely obsessed with gypsies too)
My brother joined the navy (since left) & is an ardent brexiter
Meanwhile my wifes grandad was a bomber on a Lancaster (dam busters squadron, no-less-- it was mentioned so many times in his eulogy!)
He brought back a lot of baggage, and put my mum in law & her family through a tough time, Interestingly he was the opposite to my grandad: open & tolerant, and very anti-war
My wife's brother now captains a t45 destroyer, he is anti-brexit fwiw!
Not sure what my point is, but people are different
I want to be drinking water out of my bare hands… none of this foreign beaker nonsense.
It definitely started to go wrong the beaker folk, coming over here with their beakers.
Bastard beakers.
The beaker point is apt because in the minds of the majority of the little people who voted Leave, it was primarily a vote against 'progress' or what we used to call progress when we didn't take the first opportunity to gorge ourselves on populist Kool Aid. With lashings of 'sovrunty'.
An all-British Britain would be awful. With the exception that if nobody traveled globally in the way we currently do, we’d likely be better off environmentally. Maybe.
Maybe? English river quality is currently the worst in The EU. So if we leave the EU then it will no longer be the worst in the EU! We’ll be a nation of industrious industrial farmers and big landowners. Which will stop create flooding, destroy and open up new wetlands downstream. Maybe.
https://www.fwi.co.uk/news/environment/farmer-hits-back-over-flood-work-on-protected-river
We would have to lose St George as well - ruddy greek
And Santa, and christmas trees, and turkeys.
I was born in 1954, so brought up during a period where I’m supposed, by your reckoning, to have been indoctrinated with some idea of a glorious British Empire subjugating a huge part of the globe, and still having a rose-tinted idea of a New Victorianism.
Sorry to disappoint you, son, but it’s not a notion I subscribe to
It's not by my reckoning, you're putting words in my mouth there. That's entirely your own appraisal of yourself that you've atributed to me.
If it's a notion you don't subscribe to why did you vote leave?
Spam fritters with all the nites, twizzled turkey, cream soda, Mother's Pride, Cyril Lord carpets (depending on border arrangements) and sherbet lemons.
Yes people are different. My grandfather served throughout WW2 and was second in line at the DDay landings. I didn't really know him but I've been told he wasn't at all closed-minded, however his wife was. My dad thinks my grandfather was intelligent and their marriage was a mismatch from day 1.
My parents are quite similar however, my dad is open-minded but my mother has got worse with age. The word I would use to describe it is "surly". There is always a perceived injustice going on somewhere which they won't let go of. I recently fell for a woman but then I reflected on her character, and thought it would be a miserable relationship over the longer term, so didn't pursue it any further. My biggest regret is that I didn't pursue a relationship with someone at uni as she was from a higher social class, she is now a senior lecturer at a top university and would have been just right for me. Oh well, live and learn.
I think it comes down to one's attitude to change, most people naturally fear it, whereas some people - who tend to be more intelligent - see that is it an inevitable part of life and you may as well roll with it and adapt. Otherwise the only guarantee is that you will have a boring life.
Purely by coincidence, I watched this video this morning:
It was part of the opening ceremony from the 2012 London Olympics. Bearing in mind that the Olympics are attended by people from all over the world, was the theme tune from "The Dam Busters" entirely appropriate?
It does highlight how stirring and evocative, in a nationalist sort of way, a piece of music can be.
It does highlight how stirring and evocative, in a nationalist sort of way, a piece of music can be.
But you don't have to take it seriously.
I'm not sure whether it's feasible to feed everyone on UK veg, but for the last few years I've been a member of a community supported agriculture scheme. All of my (and 360 other people's) veg is grown organically within sight of work. It's genuinely amazing what they can grow us all through the year just with some mypex, crop covers and 7 polytunnels. Even now in December we're getting more salad than we can eat!
Tomorrow is quite a small haul but I'm collecting Carrots, Hamburg parsley, leeks, kale, salad, rocket, potatoes, squash and that will see me and my partner through to next Tuesday without a visit to the shops.
twizzled turkey
South American import.
Turnip twizzlers for you sunshine.
Hamburg parsley
Kraut parsley!?!
Not in MY Britain!