The state of the UK

[Svartalf]

So, JimC is proven correct.

The weirdness, to me, is that it is all about the visuals/special effects, done as OTT as possible, rather than the quality of the music.

When does pop music have quality? Just by its name it says it all.

The beetles were the very embodiment of pop music, and i hear they were actually good at it.
Not that I like their stuff, but I have to bow to the common opinoion in the matter.

[Scot Dutchy]

That is it exactly Svarty. Pop music is of this time. We all have nostalgia regarding old times but that was then. Plenty of kids today have no idea who the Beatles were. You always remember your generation's pop music. Who remembers Bobby Darren?

[Scot Dutchy]

One little light is still burning:

Integration in Northern Ireland is making progress, despite gloomy headlines

Cross-community action on culture, sport and schools shows that historical divisions are slowly eroding

Considering recent headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking Northern Ireland was hurtling back towards much darker days. The unrest witnessed in Belfast remains a legitimate concern, with deep-set socioeconomic roots. And we’ve been given a stark reminder of the Troubles with the inquest into the Ballymurphy massacre. However, despite the hurdles, there is much to suggest a populace who are intent on making a healthier, genuinely integrated society work.

You can trace that commitment back to changes that are unshackling the country from its cyclical history of ethnic conflict and mutual mistrust. In the 23 years since the Good Friday agreement, people in Northern Ireland have repeatedly expressed that there can be no return to bloodshed and brutality in the name of national identity. This is reflected by younger people rejecting the idea of being either British or Irish, in favour of a fluid, fully inclusive Northern Irish identity. A recent poll suggested that while 51% of over-65s here consider themselves British, only 17% of those aged 18-24 identify the same way.

Positive impacts can be seen on the ground, in seemingly mundane ways. Take the launch of East Belfast GAA in a historically loyalist area of the city last year. Formed by former GAA players David McGreevy and Richard Maguire, its motto of “Together” rendered in English, Irish and Ulster Scots doubled as a request for members from both Roman Catholic and Protestant backgrounds. A sport that is traditionally associated with the Catholic church and nationalism taking root in a staunch bastion of Protestantism: it would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Now, its success in having competitive, cross-community teams in football, hurling and camogie feels like a tangible victory for cross-cultural relations in the city.


Separation has created a long outdated obstacle to societal healing and progress. Vague notions of religious and cultural supremacy, fed from generation to generation, are now truly at odds with where most people in Northern Ireland are really heading. However, with available integrated schools currently oversubscribed, it’s clear that the promise of our shared future must now meet the demands of our shared present.

True reconciliation starts with understanding, which often comes from compromise. Let’s celebrate, rather than simply accommodate, each other’s culture.

[Hermit]

When does pop music have quality? Just by its name it says it all.

Pop is short for popular. In the late 18th and early 19th century everyone was whistling Mozart's tunes. That proves his music lacked quality.

[Scot Dutchy]

Mozart was "pop" music of his time and it is a question of taste and not everyone accepts it is good quality. Bob Dylan was given the Nobel prize so one presumes he must have some quality. Maybe he might turn into a classical genre.

[Svartalf]

That is it exactly Svarty. Pop music is of this time. We all have nostalgia regarding old times but that was then. Plenty of kids today have no idea who the Beatles were. You always remember your generation's pop music. Who remembers Bobby Darren?

Errr, who?

[Svartalf]

One little light is still burning:

Integration in Northern Ireland is making progress, despite gloomy headlines

Cross-community action on culture, sport and schools shows that historical divisions are slowly eroding

Considering recent headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking Northern Ireland was hurtling back towards much darker days. The unrest witnessed in Belfast remains a legitimate concern, with deep-set socioeconomic roots. And we’ve been given a stark reminder of the Troubles with the inquest into the Ballymurphy massacre. However, despite the hurdles, there is much to suggest a populace who are intent on making a healthier, genuinely integrated society work.

You can trace that commitment back to changes that are unshackling the country from its cyclical history of ethnic conflict and mutual mistrust. In the 23 years since the Good Friday agreement, people in Northern Ireland have repeatedly expressed that there can be no return to bloodshed and brutality in the name of national identity. This is reflected by younger people rejecting the idea of being either British or Irish, in favour of a fluid, fully inclusive Northern Irish identity. A recent poll suggested that while 51% of over-65s here consider themselves British, only 17% of those aged 18-24 identify the same way.

Positive impacts can be seen on the ground, in seemingly mundane ways. Take the launch of East Belfast GAA in a historically loyalist area of the city last year. Formed by former GAA players David McGreevy and Richard Maguire, its motto of “Together” rendered in English, Irish and Ulster Scots doubled as a request for members from both Roman Catholic and Protestant backgrounds. A sport that is traditionally associated with the Catholic church and nationalism taking root in a staunch bastion of Protestantism: it would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. Now, its success in having competitive, cross-community teams in football, hurling and camogie feels like a tangible victory for cross-cultural relations in the city.


Separation has created a long outdated obstacle to societal healing and progress. Vague notions of religious and cultural supremacy, fed from generation to generation, are now truly at odds with where most people in Northern Ireland are really heading. However, with available integrated schools currently oversubscribed, it’s clear that the promise of our shared future must now meet the demands of our shared present.

True reconciliation starts with understanding, which often comes from compromise. Let’s celebrate, rather than simply accommodate, each other’s culture.

All this is very nice, but you do know that, fairly recently, DUP loving morons have let it be known that if westminster did not bow to whatever they demand as proof positive that they are an integral part of the UK, and are NOT going to be sold off to the dubling based pope kissers, they were going to take a leaf from the IRA"s book and start a wave of Troubles of their own...

[Svartalf]

When does pop music have quality? Just by its name it says it all.

Pop is short for popular. In the late 18th and early 19th century everyone was whistling Mozart's tunes. That proves his music lacked quality.

As it did, Mozart was an unsystematic Wunderkind who put too many notes everywhere and could never compete with the well built spendor of Bach and Beethoven.

[Hermit]

Well, you did miss something, as soon as the Italian lead knew he had won, he took a dive for a line of coke, France magnanimously announced we wouldn't try to get the results annulled on that ground, and the talk on the news channels was only of that until somehow, it became proved that the video had been deceitful and ha had not stuffed his nose.

I missed that indeed.

[Hermit]

When does pop music have quality? Just by its name it says it all.

Pop is short for popular. In the late 18th and early 19th century everyone was whistling Mozart's tunes. That proves his music lacked quality.

As it did, Mozart was an unsystematic Wunderkind who put too many notes everywhere and could never compete with the well built spendor of Bach and Beethoven.

Too many notes, huh?

[Cunt]

Ella Hill complained to the 'Home Office' about her experience being a grooming gang victim.

The Lotus Eaters are reviewing her efforts in todays podcast. I'm going to give it a listen while running and working around the yard.

https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH ... HQAAAAAQGA

Callum and Beau discuss the Hate Crime Unit obfuscation of anti-white hate crimes, how the National Trust went woke and nearly broke, and the Tory Islamophobia report

I bet it is awkward as hell to say anything too clear about it. In the UK, honesty around the subject is probably illegal, with the slightest misstep.

[Scot Dutchy]

Another "great" deal. I wonder how big was Boris's back hander in this one:

This Australian trade deal shows how ‘Global Britain’ has already lost its way

Just like the prime minister’s promises on Brexit, Boris Johnson’s pledges of support to UK farmers will ring hollow

You can tell that British farmers will be betrayed by Boris Johnson by the way he promises to look after them. The prime minister has pledged support equivalent to forfeited European subsidies. He says the sector will be safe from cut-price competition when new free trade deals are signed. He has told Minette Batters, president of the National Farmers’ Union, that he would “rather die” than hurt her members. Really? Death before cheap beef? Maybe Johnson can honour those pledges, but it would be out of character.

It would also defeat the purpose of Brexit for many Tory MPs. “Take back control” signalled many things to voters, but to Eurosceptic ideologues it meant liberation from the EU’s common external tariff. Having trade policy run from Brussels was proof of Britain’s colonisation by continental bureaucrats. Deals with non-Europeans are the prize for emancipation.

That is why Liz Truss, the trade secretary, is determined to secure a zero-tariff agreement with Australia in time for next month’s G7 summit in Cornwall. The economic benefits would be marginal – shifting the growth dial by 0.02% over 15 years. But as a trophy for the “Global Britain” chest it is priceless. Other ministers – Michael Gove at the cabinet office and the environment secretary, George Eustice – fret about the impact on domestic producers who cannot compete with Australian mega-farms. Welsh and Scottish rural communities are especially vulnerable. Ministers who worry about the future of the union fear a fresh pot of nationalist grievance brewing.

[Scot Dutchy]

So long as the offshore accounts are ok:

Repair bill for schools in England doubles to over £11bn, finds survey

Report by Department for Education took four years to produce and finds widespread problems

Analysis: school repair bill goes back to Michael Gove cuts


Schools in England face a repair bill of more than £11bn, nearly double some previous estimates, according to a long-awaited national survey completed by the government.

The survey confirmed years of complaints by teachers and parents of crumbling buildings and leaking facilities, in some cases riddled with asbestos, and of “temporary” cabins that remain in use despite exceeding their lifespan.

The DfE also opened a consultation on fire safety in school buildings but was criticised for recommending that sprinklers should only be installed in any newbuilds over 11 metres tall, effectively four storeys or higher.

The repairs survey, which involved visits to 22,000 state schools starting in 2017, has been repeatedly delayed. Its final publication may be part of an effort by the DfE to wring more funding for repairs from the Treasury in the comprehensive spending review later this year.

The report stated that “remedial work to repair or replace all defective elements” will cost £11.4bn, while a report by the National Audit Office in 2017 estimated that it would cost £6.7bn to return all school buildings to satisfactory condition.

“While this was calculated on a slightly different basis, this does demonstrate that the overall condition need in the estate has grown over the last six years,” the report said in comparing the NAO’s results with its own findings.

I wonder if Eton has problems. Slowly slipping into third world status.

[Scot Dutchy]

We all know which school Gove went to.

England’s £11bn school repair bill goes back to Michael Gove cuts

Analysis: bill is a result of austerity cuts and decisions made by the coalition education secretary

The £11bn worth of repairs for England’s schools, identified by the Department for Education’s own report, is the accumulated bill that goes back to the decision by Michael Gove to axe an ambitious programme of rebuilding.

The Blair government’s £55bn Building Schools for the Future plan – the biggest programme of its kind since the Victorian era – was a victim of the austerity budgets introduced by the coalition government after 2010, with Gove’s contribution being the abrupt cancellation of building works that were already approved and about to break ground. Some did eventually go ahead, mainly for Gove’s new academies.

While the programme had been expensive, many of the schools were desperately in need of replacement or repair. Visiting state secondary schools in the Midlands is to see portable cabins still standing in for classrooms 20 years later, and primary schools where the playground is so uneven that competitive netball games are banned.

While the average secondary school now faces a £1.6m bill for repairs, schools in the east and West Midlands have the highest bills of any part of the country, running close to £200 a square metre. One reason for the high cost is that many of the buildings are old: 31% of teaching blocks were built between 1900 and 1970, with those built in the 1960s requiring the most costly repairs.

[Scot Dutchy]

Just what are thinking about?

‘Dig coal to save the climate’: the folly of Cumbria’s plans for a new coalmine

Supporters of a new coalmine have argued that it will reduce global warming and create green jobs. How could such absurd claims have gained any credibility?

It was in early 2019 that I first heard about the proposals for a new coalmine in Cumbria. It happened almost by chance. I was speaking with a local government officer who was developing the county’s economic strategy. As someone who has worked with governments on climate issues for many years, I had been asked to offer advice on how to make Cumbria a climate leader. We talked through the opportunities – investing in renewables, helping businesses reduce waste, developing Cumbria’s tourist industry.

And then the government officer mentioned, almost in passing, that they had been helping a company with plans for a new coalmine, to produce coking coal for steel production. I didn’t know what to say. This would be the first new deep coal mine in the UK for 30 years, and the only active one: the last of the old ones closed in 2015. After a long silence I pointed out that digging up coal – the most polluting of all fossil fuels – is no definition of climate leadership. Yet just a couple of weeks later, Cumbria county council’s planning committee voted unanimously in favour of the mine.

Two years later, the fate of the mine hangs in the balance. In March, after mounting controversy, the local government secretary Robert Jenrick took the decision out of Cumbria’s hands and ordered a public inquiry. It is now Jenrick, not Cumbria, who will decide. But behind the row over the mine lies a complex story about the politics of post-industrial communities, and about the UK’s deeply ambiguous climate strategy.

To many, Cumbria may seem a vision of rural perfection. Each year, 18 million visitors come to admire the breathtaking scenery of the Lake District. The proposed mine site sits in the north-west corner of the county, sandwiched between the sandstone cliffs of St Bees Head to the west and the fells to the east. But Cumbria’s natural beauty masks a difficult economic situation. Jobs in tourism are badly paid and insecure, and farming faces an uncertain future. Decades ago, Cumbria’s west coast was a vibrant industrial centre, with coal mining, chemical plants, steelworks, shipbuilding and nuclear power. Today, all these industries are in decline, or have disappeared entirely. The Sellafield nuclear complex, which used to reprocess nuclear fuel, is now being decommissioned, with the loss of 3,000 jobs. Young people are leaving to find work elsewhere.

I am gobsmacked. BTW it is a long read for the younger members.