[Gurnelista]

Truss lacks any sense of the ridiculous. She and those like her are full of their own sense of entitlement, and seek constant admiration to bolster their egos. They have 0% self-awareness, but 100% self-confidence and 100% self-delusion, so they just blunder on arrogantly.

There are lots in public life, Trump, Johnson, Farage… and to some extent it has got them where they are today.

But another thing is the way the religious extremists on here align themselves with the far-right. This is odd, but digging into it, it’s quite logical.

For them, social divisions are part of a wider battle for Britain; one of Christianity v Islamism.

You can see the fear of Islam in their posts. Remember all the Brexit propaganda from Les and the jonnies about an impending Turkish invasion? And the links to far-right websites? JI telling us ‘we’re at war’, as well as the lunacy of BPG’s videos.

For the extremists on here and elsewhere, their religion is a symbol of identity, allegiance, and insurance for an imaginary afterlife. It’s a passcard to paradise. It’s an intense, cultish subscription which is almost impossible to drop or change. They didn’t choose it, it chose them, and giving up would be like giving up football for tiddlywinks, or worse, like an Iron fan becoming a Mariner!

Despite the ridiculousness of all this, rational argument, evidence and facts have no effect, so all the political extremism of the far-right seems justified in order to ‘save’ Christianity.

It’s reinforced and made worse by right-wing politicians and news sources which play up division and lay it on thick in the cosplay of culture wars, to distract the public from calamitous state of everything at present. It worked with Brexit, just, but it won’t again, as the next election will show.

But the oddest thing seems to be the tendency now to talk about Europe v Islam, when a few years back we were being told about the ‘evil empire’, and how those nasty foreigners were responsible for all our ills! Now it seems the great nations of Europe are our allies! Rank hypocrisy or what? What would Jesus say?

[Gurnelista]

Race and ethnicity are quite different. Race has to do with physical differences, ethnicity has to do with language, culture, heritage and so on.

Ethnicity frequently includes religion, but not always. So, some of the same ethnic group might be Christian, others Jewish or Muslim, etc. For example, Nigeria has various ethnic groups, often with different religions. Syria does, too.

As for the right to say ‘I don’t like’ someone’s beliefs’, that’s fine. But the problem is that it’s frequently exploited by the political right to criticise and denigrate others. For example, the conflation of Islam with violence, radicalism and terrorism, Isis, ‘river to the sea’, etc. As a result, Muslims get denigrated and smeared, as if they’re all on the same spectrum.

It’s the same when others deny the holocaust, or claim the Jews are to blame for the evils of western society.

This sort of casual conflation of a particular faith with violence and subversion is as mad as saying ‘all Brexiters are bad and dangerous, like the guy who killed Joe Cox’.

Point is, they’re just opinions. There’s no facts, reason or respect, but opinions are popular, because they free you from the responsibility of thinking critically.

And this is the crux of the problem – that opinions like these appeal to unthinking, base instincts. They criticise those who have much less power. They distract and encourage people to ‘look down’ and blame those below, rather than ‘look up’ and blame those with power; those who brought the country to its knees after 14 years.

Millions accept this invitation to look down every day in papers like the Daily Mail, or tuning to Gbeebies and others, attracted by their respect for opinion over fact, and their swill of conspiracy theories.

Stupid but popular views are also highly profitable – they sell copy and get viewers. But it’s led to the decline of serious journalism, the decline of the Tory party, and the rise of Trump, Johnson, Braverman, Truss, Farage… the ‘underpants on head, the pencil up nose’ brigade even in some sections of the church, as well as a coarsening of political debate, and a growth in political violence.

In sum, it’s led to the undermining of social cohesion. That is the real problem when mainstream media gives predominance to opinion which masquerades as free speech, over fact.

There really are only two types who should be following opinions over facts; billionaires and stupid people. And if you’re not sure which you are, check your bank account.

[Gurnelista]

Somewhere On High

https://www.ochaopt.org/

There’s a queue at the pearly gates of heaven. St Paul is still rigorously inspecting everyone’s credentials. Supplicants’ life stories pass swiftly before his eyes, as he survey’s their suitability for eternal membership. It’s been busy recently, and behind some 30000 despondent figures from the Middle-East, an expectant “Jihadi” humbly waits his turn, as his application is reviewed.

“So, is this the best you have to offer?” Paul asks him, sternly. “You’re one of those keyboard warrior jonnies, criticising human rights, immigrants, asylum seekers, trade unionists, doctors, nurses, teachers, women seeking abortions, even Afro-Caribbean lesbians from the comfort of your sitting room.

And you’re a fanboy of those vile American sites, those telling you to get angry, and support the depraved Farage, Johnson, Trump and even the despicable Netinyahu. It’s quite a CV.

Oh, and what’s this? Once upon a time, you thought the advent of conspiracy tv stations and websites served to “balance progressive establishment power”, despite 80% of mainstream media already supporting the Tories. Odd, when elsewhere you plead for ‘facts’ and ‘reality’! And, it seems you believed in free speech at all costs – presumably this includes speech which is harmful to others, like your ‘right’ to be publicly racist, or the ‘right’ of others to deny the holocaust!

Even the ABC does not escape your bile – a pious virtue signaller, in your eyes! But don’t you realise it’s his job to signal virtue, you fool!” thunders Paul, enraged.

“Jihadi… it seems you have an affinity with the thick, selfish, angry people who have dominated the Tory party and its client media for a decade or more. Do you seriously think there’s a place in here for folk like that? Do you think Jesus would have turned away the so-called “small boats”. Do you seriously think in His world, the meek shall inherit bugger-all? It’s a perversion of the Christian ethic. Your politics have usurped your religion.

And finally, all the above expressed through your self-regard on the website ‘Iron-Burp’ means that, all considered, there’s no paradise for you Jihadi, we’re full up!” Paul says firmly.

“But where can I go, he pleads, who will have me?”

“Well you can try Old Nic, downstairs in the boiler room – he often takes your sort. You’ll like it, they are your kind of people – ex-Kippers, a few freemasons, Daily Wail editors… the Tory front bench. It’s hard work down there, but very warm.”

“But I only tried to interpret…” mumbles Jihadi, forlornly. “And freemasons, what do they have to do with it?”

“Because their so-called ‘grand architect of the universe’ isn’t one of us, he isn’t Christian! Now, be gone,” bellows Paul, “for I must go back to assessing other applicants.”

Jihadi hangs his head and turns away, as the gentle, pitter-patter sound of Sounds Like Rain echoes over the tannoy, and from the celestial stadium somewhere in the sky, the ghost of William Punton looks benignly on.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Iron-awe

[Gurnelista]

Iron-awe wrote:

Peace is something that will not happen IMO, very sad but totally understandable, the difference between the Arab and Israeli states is huge in terms of culture and tolerance. I believe the inhabitants of Gaza have been treated no better then the Indians in the USA when they were herded onto reservations after having their natural home taken from them. The human race has a lot to answer for throughout history which beggars the question are we even fit to be on the planet at all, as the superior intellect race we are not far removed from the animals we descended from.

Good post IA, such a contrast to the usual ‘Imemy’ above.

When all that’s been achieved in a scientific understanding of the world and of man himself, it’s desperate that so many countries are still riven by superstition and all its political and cultural baggage. There they are, with their holy books preaching peace and brotherly love, while their leaders whip up support for some of the bloodiest crimes and most barbaric mass atrocities against children, civilians, the sick and elderly… It’s bad, mad, monstrous, evil… words fail.

[Gurnelista]

Ferrite wrote:

Gurnelista wrote:

As for assisted dying, it is indeed legal in many enlightened countries. But not here, yet. Again, it’s a victimless crime. There are loads of ‘em.

It is but there need to be safeguards against coercion and exploitation of potential victims. Don’t want to end up with a Monty Python “not dead yet” scenario!

<iframe title=”Monty Python – "Not Dead Yet" Scene (HD)” src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jdf5EXo6I68?feature=oembed&#8221; allow=”accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share” allowfullscreen=”” id=”fitvid0″ frameborder=”0″></iframe>

True, and that’s what happens in other countries.
I’ll see you on the other side (non-football)!

Oh, and as for jonnie’s film, ‘Trading Places’ was made at the height of 80s Reaganomics, when creating comedy about a fake, disabled, black beggar suited the zeitgeist. Here too, with Bernard Manning, Bobby Davro and others. It’s no longer popular tho’ except amongst a small, elderly, right-wing demographic.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Ferrite

[Gurnelista]

Rene Artois wrote:

Gurnelista wrote:

Rene Artois wrote:

Let’s remember that there is no such thing as a victimless crime.

Let’s not. Many crimes are victimless, from begging to assisted suicide. If Sainsbury’s sells me a case of San Miguel at 09.55 on a Sunday, they’re breaking the law. And the victim is????

Many laws which make harmless behaviour illegal are simply based on opinions about morality, and petty, small-minded, religiously informed opinions at that.

Some on here are so quick to moralise about a footballer’s past and question his present, while cheerleading for some of the biggest political criminals around.

Do you remember the Eddie Murphy film; Trading Places.
Many ‘beggars’ have homes and indeed cars that they own!

Assisted Suicide is legal in some countries – we’ve all heard of Dignitas?

“including Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, parts of the United States and all six states of Australia.

The constitutional courts of Colombia, Germany and Italy legalized assisted suicide, but their governments have not legislated or regulated the practice yet.”

It’ll be legal in the UK in the not so distant future.

UTI

‘Many beggars have homes and cars’

Well, yes, I saw one near the station recently, there he was, bent double on his knees, with his plastic cup in supplication and with a small scribbled notepaper, pleading for a cup of coffee. I was immediately suspicious. I watched and waited, and soon he sprang to his feet and walked sprightly to his new Ferrari parked nearby. I flagged down a taxi, and followed him to his Georgian mansion in Scotter. He jumped out, carefully carrying the plastic cup, half full of brown shrapnel, and pulled out his top of the range mobile phone to de-activate his burglar alarm. Through the window, I could see a vast flat-screen tv, and numerous consumer durables of the highest standard, with another car – a capacious tourer – parked in the driveway! For that is the truth of how beggars in Scunthorpe live today.

(As seen in the Daily Mail)

The secretly wealthy beggar has been a trope put about by the authorities since the middle-ages, created to restrain the Samaritan’s hand and encourage victims to hide their poverty and shame.

Point is, that in many places begging is illegal but victimless.

As for assisted dying, it is indeed legal in many enlightened countries. But not here, yet. Again, it’s a victimless crime. There are loads of ‘em.

You seem to be wavering like Indecisive Dave…

[Gurnelista]

Rene Artois wrote:

Let’s remember that there is no such thing as a victimless crime.

Let’s not. Many crimes are victimless, from begging to assisted suicide. If Sainsbury’s sells me a case of San Miguel at 09.55 on a Sunday, they’re breaking the law. And the victim is????

Many laws which make harmless behaviour illegal are simply based on opinions about morality, and petty, small-minded, religiously informed opinions at that.

Some on here are so quick to moralise about a footballer’s past and question his present, while cheerleading for some of the biggest political criminals around.

2 users thanked author for this post.

Iron-awe, Deereyme66

[Gurnelista]

Not grounded enough.

[Gurnelista]

Ah, leave him IA, it’s like talking to a pigeon.

[Gurnelista]

billpuntonsghost wrote:

The will of the “inferior” Brexit rabble must have really hurt.

Wot?? The grip of Brussels has been broke, the foreigners are goin and we are soverin and free. Im standin proud n loudly declarin Brexit the best thing since WW2.

Les and the jonnies were on the money. You must be so glad you believed their propaganda on ere. I deeply regret bein cynical and warnin of the damage. Just look at us now. Go Britain!

[Gurnelista]

Food standards? Woke nonsens indeed… big govvernment telling uz fans what we can and cant put in our mouthz.
Same with the players – they’ll be told to stop eating propper man-sized British hot dogs n chips next, preferably done til there nearly black (kills the germs, see).
Sportsmen and fans shud be free to eat what they like. I voted Brexit to escape the nanny state and there food hijeen standards from farm to fork!
I know exactly what I voted for.
How can a half time buger hurt? I’ll be the judge of that, thank you very much.

[Gurnelista]

I / me / my – it’s just like BI!
Forever the victim.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Just Iron

[Gurnelista]

Rene Artois wrote:

After watching Jimbob’s pregame ( v Rushall Olympic) thoughts, I think we are in trouble today.

He lacks confidence, is nervous, edgy, unsure of himself. He doesn’t inspire and is monotonal. He lacks belief.

https://www.scunthorpe-united.co.uk/news/2024/february/-player-team-news-and-views-from-jimmy-dean-ahead-of-rushall-olympic-clash/

When we feel stress, the small capillaries on the skin surface tend to fill and cause redness and itchiness on the nose. Thus, we tend to rub the itch. Touching the nose is a pacifying behaviour to relieve stress.

Any sort of neck rubbing, hair playing, face touching, or hand fidgeting is a sign of subconscious nervousness.

Folded arms…
Expressionless face…
Monotonal voice…

Far too general and straight from the pop science books.

So-called ‘body language’ is much more complicated.

Nose touching and fidgeting in general can be caused by any number of things – from lying, to the stress of knowing you’re on air/camera/mike.

It’s the same with a monotonous voice. Interestingly, a lot of sportsmen have this – just listen to some interviews Radio 5, etc. Interestingly, it’s often associated with autism, which in turn is associated with the kind of extreme focus and dedication commonly found among sportsmen and women.

Folded arms? It can just mean the person is comfortable and focussed, although most are too quick to associate it with defensiveness and lack of confidence.

So, just because someone interviews badly, it doesn’t make them a bad manager. Take Marcelo Bielsa – he’s managed and is managing the best, as well as Leeds. Conversely, some talk a good game but fail as managers. We’ve all heard them – up there preaching, full of self-confident BS before the wheels come off. Then again, nearly all managerial careers end in failure, just like political ones really, eh?

[Gurnelista]

CMC wrote:

Gurnelista wrote:

SODIron wrote:

That said, sacking JD when you’re second in the table is probably a little extreme, would be seen by most football pundits as a knee-jerk reaction, and would likely be out-of-character for the new board. We have to remember, Tamworth are on an incredible run of results and are top because they are winning every match they are playing.

Aye, it would bring back memories of Swann and Alexander. ‘Doing a Scunny’ would become a byword for clubs in promotion slots who sack their manager.

Most teams have a bad spell during the season. If we can get over ours and have a storming finish with a day out at Wembley, we’ll be in the dreamland of er… the NL before you can say ‘Tommy Orpington’.

Didn’t we have that tag already when Alexander, Dawson/Daws and McCall were sacked in quick succession?

You could be right, and it’s probably contributed to the freefall of the last few years. Talk of getting to the final and our own ‘Wembley’ might be optimistic, but getting rid of Dean at this stage would be even more folly. Who would want to take over a club that sacks its manager when second?
Here’s the run in, with venues.

https://www.thenationalleague.org.uk/key-dates-confirmed-ahead-of-202324-season-76562

2 users thanked author for this post.

SODIron, Deereyme66

[Gurnelista]

SODIron wrote:

That said, sacking JD when you’re second in the table is probably a little extreme, would be seen by most football pundits as a knee-jerk reaction, and would likely be out-of-character for the new board. We have to remember, Tamworth are on an incredible run of results and are top because they are winning every match they are playing.

Aye, it would bring back memories of Swann and Alexander. ‘Doing a Scunny’ would become a byword for clubs in promotion slots who sack their manager.

Most teams have a bad spell during the season. If we can get over ours and have a storming finish with a day out at Wembley, we’ll be in the dreamland of er… the NL before you can say ‘Tommy Orpington’.

1 user thanked author for this post.

SODIron

[Gurnelista]

Talking as we were of female musicians recently, here’s a rather good young ‘un, the multi-talented Mademoiselle Cox – with a great rendition of All Right Now, or Ça Va if you prefer, as she’s French, see.

[Gurnelista]

I read the extract – pretty gruesome stuff, but Fellstrom puts it down well.
There’s a lot of stories about bloody, violent crime about at present, both fiction and realism, particularly in the freeview channels from Britain and America. Why is this?

[Gurnelista]

What’s the title?
As for organised crime, there should be a chapter on the use of social media for political subterfuge, where screen handles double as balaclavas to disguise all kinds of grifters, from a few on here to Michael Green / Corinne Stockwith.

[Gurnelista]

Is it as good as the reviews say? I might take a look.

Current bed-side reading is John Savage’s ‘Time Travel’, a sort of Tardis trip back to the music scene of 1976-96. He’s a committed, serious witness but communicates the evidence in a passionate way. You can get it for under a fiver online.

A football equivalent might be Eduardo Galeano’s ‘Football in Sun and Shadow’. He’s a great writer and comes out with truths like “Football is a pleasure that hurts”, and elsewhere “No matter how hard you try to silence it, human history refuses to shut up” a line which almost brings a tear!

OK that’s enough of ‘pseud’s corner’. But it’s useful to have these comments – go to any modern bookshop and it overwhelms, with thousands of titles demanding attention, but how many actually live up to the blurb and hype?

[Gurnelista]

She’s asking a Tory which party is more likely to keep the steelworks open by offering incentives to their Chinese owners.

How is the Tory likely to answer? And, would anyone seriously believe them, on their record?

Hang on though… I voted Tory in the last election because I wanted a lean, fit, enterprise economy! I didn’t want my taxes spent on lazy, inefficient, work-shy staff in dirty, smokestack industries that pollute the towns and cities of this great nation!

It’s because of this government that both Mumby and the steelworkers will soon be jobless.

[Gurnelista]

Aye, and the risks are much better understood these days.
Now, laid back, late night jazz rock, anyone? Perhaps when entertaining a lady – nudge, nudge… not necessarily a Barbie or Britney, Monroe or Madonna, but more a Joss Stone or 1970s Stevie Nicks.

[Gurnelista]

She was sassy and could sing, but her beauty was quite generic – in other words, hers were conventional good looks – blue eyes, blonde hair – the Monroe type – but without much individuality or character. A bit manufactured, or plastic you might say, a sort of ‘everyman’s piece’.
Give me Sade, Kate Bush, or Whitney in their prime, any day, or if you like an alt look, Justine Frischmann maybe.
As for “strippers” I guess back in the 70s/80s standards were different and a girl singer couldn’t flaunt herself the way some do now, although Debbie wasn’t shy. I blame Madonna!
Anyway, enough of this silliness…

[Gurnelista]

Rene Artois wrote:

“The EU wasn’t all bad”

Allo Allo…. Ornott and Lesgeo repeatedly told us it was!
They did a lot of “careful research” about the “evil empire”, ordered everyone to post it on Facebook, told us we were “taking back control” and pushed the country into a position of epic and often violent stupidity.
Now, we’re all disadvantaged, not least your deaf friends.
It’s time you trumpeted that from your café soapbox, Rene.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Rene Artois

[Gurnelista]

Deereyme66 wrote:

Did you write this article Rene?

Holy crap! Jonnie Or-not? Surely-not, it’s too factual!
It’s by Ian Thompson, a religious historian who also vanity publishes.
RA, now that UKIP’s gone which is the best bet for a better Britain – Reform or Raving Loony?

[Gurnelista]

Rene, of course some kids prefer solo sports like athletics, tennis, kayaking etc. but most prefer team sports where they can join in and have fund with their friends. At such a young age few are thinking about it in terms of a career and long-term success, so even if it means a 2hr trip for 30 mins it’s not just about the football, it’s a day out in the car, going somewhere new with dad/friends, and having laughs, fun, fish n chips…
Just ask any dad of 6-12 year old lads (and increasingly lasses), many of whom dedicate hours and £££ to this sort of thing, weekends and midweek.
If you haven’t yet been through it, maybe your time will come…

[Gurnelista]

JI-hadi – just give over playing the victim and whining about how we’ll all miss you when you’re gone! You do give the impression you’ve had practice at this.

As for Bucksiron, he got so much stick and then cleared off because he was so obviously wrong and was shown to be wrong on every topic he posted about – Brexit, covid and herd immunity, privatization, the Daily Mail, the Tories in general, and of course global warming. The pomposity and humourlessness didn’t help, either!

If you can’t stand the heat… etc. etc.

[Gurnelista]

A massive duck crashed into my greenhouse. It made a right mess and left me with a big bill.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Siderite

[Gurnelista]

Aye, a quick emotional outburst is far easier than thinking.

BS, what you need to understand is that Brexit – the whole exercise – was just a distraction from failed Tory policies. Briefly, here’s why…

Back then, the elderly, sick, poor, vulnerable, those on universal credit etc. were all suffering, not to mention many in work/business – just like now, in fact.

To stay in power, the Tories needed a scapegoat, a distraction, a way to blame somebody else for failure. They knew immigrants have always been an easy target. They knew they could get people to think the ‘problem’ was immigration and a so-called ‘loss of control’. So the government and their client journalists (80% of which are right-wing and helped Cameron and co. get elected) made people panic about being in the EU, about the ‘evil empire’, about jonny foreigner taking ‘our’ jobs, and so on.’Faceless eurocrats’ were the problem, not the Tories. So, the country went mad, and voted narrowly to leave.

So, who won? And what did they win? Answer: nobody and nothing.

You have to understand BS, that the current Tory party, and their mouthpieces in the right-wing press and TV, do not have your best interests at heart. They pretend they do, because they want your support, rather than making you think critically about complex economic and political issues. They know how to easily press your buttons and get you worked up about something or somebody else, but it’s never them.

Now, have a look at the study mentioned here. It’s a 20′ read, maybe, with some big words. Stick with the abstract if that’s way too much.

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0289312

And here’s a tip. Next time you have to make a difficult decision, ask the least clever person that you know, what they would do. Then, do exactly the opposite.

[Gurnelista]

bartonscorpion wrote:

I wander why Look North didn’t interview a few struggling Brits and ask them if they would accept entering Spain or Portugal illegaly and be put up in nice hotels and get good food and be free to walk freely nd their upkeep be all paid for by these other countries people, yes 100% YES. YES, YES, but they never get the chance do they!!!

No, because we’ve left the EU!

bartonscorpion wrote:

Most British people are struggling to just keep living, even though many are in debt and poverty.

bartonscorpion wrote:

Gas / Elect goes up again in January it was annonced today, companies just charge whatever they like, no control by anyone !!!!!!!

Indeed, yet we were told that leaving EU would mean we could look after our own. No matter, Brexiters knew exactly what they were voting for. Except, they didn’t and now it’s official – see the story in the Times today, reproduced F.O.C. below.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/z3m8wx/less-intelligent-people-more-likely-vote-leave-brexit

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/people-with-lower-cognitive-ability-more-likely-to-vote-for-brexit-6pvprrvm6

[Gurnelista]

Ah, so the ‘we’ refers to your extended family, and the ‘propaganda war’ refers to what’s happening in Gaza and on the BBC (!) and how it affects you personally. You should’ve said.

Like most political and religious obsessives you think you’re the only one possessed of ‘the truth’(!) But, you need to understand that other posters on here may also have family and friends directly affected by this war, and have profound disagreements over what’s taking place. Most of us rightly look with horror, disgust and despair at what’s happening on both sides in Gaza, regardless of any connection.

As for other comments about fear, social justice and ‘righteousness’, you show your conclusions but not your faulty working-out. In fact, your own fear and insecurity probably originate in your upbringing, and your sources of (mis)information, such as inhaling the Mailyexpressograph and GBeebies, gammon maypoles which attempt to keep everyone in a state of fear, particularly fear of change, fear of difference, fear of, say, your personal bugbear of Afro-Caribbean lesbians (gay, black, women – three in one, the trinity made flesh!).

The result is they’ve made you a self-righteous far-righty, a Tommy Ten-Names Robinson in a cassock; a prisoner of your class, generation and faith. But, you’re also your own jailer. Chuck away that key now, for liberation and Truth await!

[Author]

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