IdleRich

IdleRich
How ironic....

Refugees living in northern France say Brexit has made it easier for them to reach the UK in small boats, as it emerged that record numbers of people crossed the Channel in one day.

Despite the worsening weather conditions and the UK government’s attempts to deter them, 1,185 people made the crossing on Thursday, according to the Home Office.

 

shakahislop

Well-known member
I find myself wondering how bad things have to get before the hypothetical damage of a Labour government no longer justifies the actual damage of a Tory one.

This tactic of telling people to "imagine if Labour were in charge though... " is like someone pointing out your house is on fire and just letting it burn whilst muttering something about how an earthquake would be worse.

its one of the things i think about often. now that it's been ten years or whatever of the tories. its one of the best examples of how language shapes reality that i can think of. i mean if you think of it as an art project or something. the way that our observed reality and our own experiences are mediated by the words and concepts they use to describe it. its not like the people who buy into it are any stupider than i am either. it's just an aspect of where that cluster of humanity that is england is at at the moment. for whatever reason we are super engaged with concepts and narratives and so forth rather than our own eyes
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
i think about this with the austerity thing quite a lot. i was in england then and hadn't lived anywhere else. when it started it was all over the guardian and it felt fundamentally true to me that it was happening and that things were getting worse as a result. but at moments where i managed to be honest with myself i had to admit it was hard to actually see. it was a bit of an effort to find things going on in everyday life to use as examples of the consequences. i wonder if i would have even noticed anything at all was happening or if any of my friends would without the guardian bringing up this word 'austerity' which i had genuinely never heard before, and which the government itself wasn't using. all the stuff that happened to people i know, people losing jobs, people no longer getting sick pay, some of the libraries closing, my own experience of the jobcenter getting harsher, would just have seemed like random individual events without it.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
i can go off on one on dissensus can't I? in that spirit: i don't think it's a coincidence that the johnson-era of the brexit (etc) narrative feels so weird and fractured, so impressionistic, given that so much of the electoral constituency they need on board is 60+. the gradual decline in cognitive ability as you move into your 70s suits this kind of communications. shards of vague ideas like abstract expressionist paintings. not the cameron era businessman's elevator-pitch clearcut common-sense narrative.

i do think the political weight of the elderly (and like 50 year olds) is a demographic quirk which explains some part of what england feels like these days, that general sense of possibilities being shut down.
 

luka

Well-known member
England is great. i love it. you should travel more and see how every other country in the world is the absolute pits. imagine having to live in Frankfurt. or Vienna. or Dallas. or Dubai. or when you sit down to actually think about it, even somewhere comparatively civilized like France. Woops, the biggest Francophile in the country, spent 6 months living in France and got so depressed he very nearly topped himself. and thats someone well disposed to the place. i've been to a few countries and a lot of the time as soon as i get there i change my flights so i can leave the next day cos i hate it so much. ive done that in barcelona, berlin, all over the place. absolutely cant stand other countries.
 

catalog

Well-known member
i think about this with the austerity thing quite a lot. i was in england then and hadn't lived anywhere else. when it started it was all over the guardian and it felt fundamentally true to me that it was happening and that things were getting worse as a result. but at moments where i managed to be honest with myself i had to admit it was hard to actually see. it was a bit of an effort to find things going on in everyday life to use as examples of the consequences. i wonder if i would have even noticed anything at all was happening or if any of my friends would without the guardian bringing up this word 'austerity' which i had genuinely never heard before, and which the government itself wasn't using. all the stuff that happened to people i know, people losing jobs, people no longer getting sick pay, some of the libraries closing, my own experience of the jobcenter getting harsher, would just have seemed like random individual events without it.
How did you go from being in a job centre 10 years ago to James bond now, jetsetting around kabul, marseille, new York? If yoh don't mind me asking.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
How did you go from being in a job centre 10 years ago to James bond now, jetsetting around kabul, marseille, new York? If yoh don't mind me asking.
Obviously they forced him into it, I imagine it went something like this;

Hislop, Shaka Hislop? You've been claiming benefits for a long time, you can't keep holding out for another premiership goalkeeping job I'm afraid, you need to start lowering your expectations and being more realistic. If you don't turn up for the following then we WILL cut your benefits.

First up there is a vacancy at MI6, you need to report to the location written on this bit of paper (memorise it immediately as it will self-destruct in 10 seconds) where you will be attacked by a sinister man with metal teeth, kill him with your bare hands and after that search the building to find a glamorous Russian agent whom you must bring to orgasm six times - if you manage that she will divulge the time and location of the second interview which I understand is a team building exercise involving Excel and PowerPoint competencies.

Alternatively there is a street-cleaning role offering £7.50 an hour but with some fairly good benefits.

Looking at 00 Hislop's file I can see he applied for both jobs but he got a bit flustered during the interview for the second one and they were afraid that he wouldn't be able to handle the pressure so they gave it to someone else.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
Obviously they forced him into it, I imagine it went something like this;

Hislop, Shaka Hislop? You've been claiming benefits for a long time, you can't keep holding out for another premiership goalkeeping job I'm afraid, you need to start lowering your expectations and being more realistic. If you don't turn up for the following then we WILL cut your benefits.

First up there is a vacancy at MI6, you need to report to the location written on this bit of paper (memorise it immediately as it will self-destruct in 10 seconds) where you will be attacked by a sinister man with metal teeth, kill him with your bare hands and after that search the building to find a glamorous Russian agent whom you must bring to orgasm six times - if you manage that she will divulge the time and location of the second interview which I understand is a team building exercise involving Excel and PowerPoint competencies.

Alternatively there is a street-cleaning role offering £7.50 an hour but with some fairly good benefits.

Looking at 00 Hislop's file I can see he applied for both jobs but he got a bit flustered during the interview for the second one and they were afraid that he wouldn't be able to handle the pressure so they gave it to someone else.
I feel that I need to clear this up. I know that you guys have been convinced by blaggers in the past that they are eg the real Simon Reynolds, the real K Punk. I get the impression some of you even still believe this. So I can see why you're wary. But I am the real Shaka Hislop.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
How did you go from being in a job centre 10 years ago to James bond now, jetsetting around kabul, marseille, new York? If yoh don't mind me asking.
i'll have a crack at answering this at some point, but i'm not totally sure how to do it without it being pretty easy to figure out who i am in real life. i guess one way of explaining it is that there are some kinds of jobs, particularly international type jobs where you spend a lot of time in places that generally people don't like, that effectively let you class jump. oil rigs are a bit like that, being a security contractor in dangerous places is a bit like that, and weirdly international aid can be a bit like that as well (if you can get into it in the first place), which isn't exactly the public image but its true.

i don't know if i'd particularly recommend it, all things considered
 

shakahislop

Well-known member
i'll have a crack at answering this at some point, but i'm not totally sure how to do it without it being pretty easy to figure out who i am in real life. i guess one way of explaining it is that there are some kinds of jobs, particularly international type jobs where you spend a lot of time in places that generally people don't like, that effectively let you class jump. oil rigs are a bit like that, being a security contractor in dangerous places is a bit like that, and weirdly international aid can be a bit like that as well (if you can get into it in the first place), which isn't exactly the public image but its true.

i don't know if i'd particularly recommend it, all things considered
also if it hadn't been 2008, i don't think i would have ended up signing on for a year or however long it was
 
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Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Inflation has just hit a ten-year high, so those truckers had better enjoy the high life while they can.
 
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