love* in the time of plague (and by love* i mean brexit* and other dreary matters of uk politics)

mods ban calzino pls

who is going to take one for the team by reading it

He actually called the character Chun-Li?

john lanchester would be proud

Stevie T, formerly of this parish, has read it:

Mason's own novel, Rare Earth, is quite enjoyable in a sub-Pynchon way. The Pinefox and myself were talking about going to the Mason event - impromptu ILB FAP?

― Stevie T, Thursday, August 14, 2014 11:42 AM (five years ago)

A paunchy middle-aged reporter called Brough – "a has-been hack with a Yorkshire accent" reeking of whisky – washes up in deep northwest China in May 2009, to make a documentary about the state of the Chinese environment. He is accompanied by his producer, Georgina, a ruthless blonde alumna of Cheltenham Ladies College desperate to swing a Chinese television distribution deal; by an even more washed-up cameraman called Carstairs; and by Chun-Li, their enigmatic Chinese interpreter.

that looks amazing

At what point does he discuss Modern Monetary Theory with an Indian mystic named Dhalsim?

An end to sonic boom and bust.

How has nobody done Chun-Li cum to Athens yet?

M Pason: For you, the day Pason graced Athens was the most unimportant day of your life. But for me, the revolution was happening.

in the general direction of her chrysanthemum

no one wants to hear this but can’t overstate how much the labour left- as some of the only prominent voices calling out (some of) the violence of british capitalism, while framing all their criticism in the same reactionary nationalist nostalgia that everyone else deals in- has stood in the way of the kind of serious attack on capital & empire required to actually stop these abuses (which would make their party irrelevant)

BA’s treatment of its workers is a betrayal of everything the company has stood for over the years as the national flag carrier.Using Covid as a cover for its long held aim of cutting jobs,wages & conditions is a disgrace. Just as bad the Government has stood on one side & let it https://t.co/9OufHzUOSx

— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) August 7, 2020

no one wants to hear this

Maybe you should start all your posts like this?

Jesus Christ

SNP MP Alyn Smith calls for black and disabled members to be axed from party body as they hinder independence pushhttps://t.co/KA4w2U1nC8 pic.twitter.com/DqcPHDDSSd

— The Scottish Sun (@ScottishSun) August 7, 2020

In a leaked email, he wrote: “Equalities are close to my heart but not as close as independence.

“Too much of the party’s oxygen has been taken up by discussion of peripheral issues like Gender Recognition Act reform.”

Mr Smith added that wo­men’s, BAME and disabled members’ conveners could be replaced by an advisory “equalities forum”.

But disabled group rep Jamie Szymkowiak blasted Mr Smith’s remarks and accused him of wanting to ditch minorities for “daring to raise their interpretation of what’s important”.

Are we sure he's not in the PLP?

oh come on they were totally taking his racist and disablist comments out of context !

it's interesting for something to come to light with someone baldly saying it but the subtext to so much contemporary nationalism in Scotland is "no politics please, just independence"

‘Big private donations dried up almost completely under Jeremy Corbyn’

Astounded this is written as if it was a negative

A party funded by its members & trade unions operating in the black.
A brilliant, ethical achievement by the former leadership.https://t.co/T6AbWBYsPr

— lan Byrne MP (@IanByrneMP) August 8, 2020

way to go you blotchy faced fraudulent tory cunt, from the biggest member driven party in Europe to a secondary Conservative party well on its way to being owned by billionaires and increasingly more at odds with the non-arsehole unions, all this in a matter of months. Whatever electoral calculation he's made - he's 10 pts behind and the question now is: who actually gives a fuck if he could win an election - which is looking increasingly unlikely at this point.

I know McD doesn't stand up to Left's very stringent standards of opposition party perfection! But ffs look at the state of this fucking garbage. If they brought in a Belgium style mandatory voting system right now I'd be voting for the Greens, anyone but the Tories isn't a meaningful form of opposition and needs to die ASAP. And clearly that wasn't what Corbynism was, despite not being quite perfection and too compromising on classic law and order electorate bait.

I think McDonnell is about as good as Labour or any UK opposition gets or can get that’s my point. I think “Corbynism” represented something different, the problem was its overwhelmingly parliamentary focus & desire to support embattled leadership/party faction constrained its imagination especially after near-win in 17. What really pisses me off is how marginal any anti british / anti authoritarian sentiment is in this country considering how bad it is- not helped by everyone who knew better spending years relatively-uncritically cheering for a party which has never once been unpatriotic or soft on crime. But as long as everyone hates Labour again now I’m beating a dead horse, Starmerism is clearly worse in every respect

With illegal entrants in small dinghies now regularly landing on our beaches, I met with Kingsdown resident Mike to discuss the impact on our coastal villages.

It’s an unacceptable situation and vital that these small boats crossings are brought to an end. pic.twitter.com/lyUrgsNKxA

— Natalie Elphicke MP (@NatalieElphicke) August 6, 2020

She's single now, Dinghy! I mean, Mike! <<<will this do

Anyway as usual the Tories are enacting policies purely for cosmetic voter service

(I mean, needlessly cruel and damaging, but won't achieve anything tangible in any defence-of-the-realm sense)

Just some 'Cosmetic' racism nothing to see here.

That's exactly what it is though. Racist culture-war nonsense to appease the Dacrepilled 'base'

I JUST GOT STOPPED BY THE POLICE DRIVING THROUGH HACKNEY... MORE DETAILS TO FOLLOW...@metpoliceuk

I recorded the whole incident.

— Dawn Butler MP✊🏾 (@DawnButlerBrent) August 9, 2020

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/09/two-thirds-of-uks-furloughed-workers-continued-job-in-covid-19-lockdown?__twitter_impression=true

Starmer should be demanding these employers that are committing benefits fraud are given stiff prison sentences, at least 10 years.

That's exactly what it is though. Racist culture-war nonsense to appease the Dacrepilled 'base'

― imago, Sunday, 9 August 2020 bookmarkflaglink

When the killing of migrants is called a culture war. Clueless.

Notice in the replies to Dawn's tweet how anyone expressing solidarity and concern is immediately hit with someone bemoaning their "overreaction".

This is organised.

We’ve introduced a dating forum at https://t.co/rVJHNl5voI, so singles who feel the same way about the virus can meet and not have to worry about differing attitudes to social distancing. https://t.co/haGHFYuzuy

— Toby Young (@toadmeister) August 9, 2020

i salute that evil cunt's ongoing campaign to rona up the brainwormed community

i'm guessing lockdown sceptics don't believe in safe sex either

Yesterday, three young constituents told me they can no longer express their political views to teachers and have to hide their conservative opinion at school - ie the majority opinion in this country. Why has education become a platform to affirm one moral world view?

— Joy Morrissey MP (@joymorrissey) August 9, 2020

when was it not

these fucking conservatives can't even enjoy their victory. they should be grateful to still have heads

What does Joy propose should be done about this?

I mean obviously it's a lie but in terms of the game as it is being played they want thought-policed "quotas".

But want they really want is to just close down a lot of places of learning. Too many migrants giving kids the libworm.

Hmm Dawn suffering police harassment a day after she's called for Cressida Dick's resignation over her inability to tackle institutional racism in the police.

the cancel culture worriers will be all over this I’m sure

'Sore Winners'.

https://theoutline.com/post/8484/sore-winners-decade?zd=1&zi=cdtwbxya

Trump had a point when he said the Right would get sick of winning

perhaps more literally than he intended rn

There might be good points in that Outline article but opening with a complaint that Taylor Swift's songs aren't about how awesome being successful is is daft that I bailed out there

I mean obviously it's a lie

Maybe...kind of. This is sort of lie that becomes true just by imagination. Conservatives that feel unable to speak because they want to feel unable to speak, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not that they aren't helped out in that regard but it becomes true, and who can disprove it?

Joy Morrissey can't do maths if she thinks it's the majority opinion

Conservatives that feel unable to speak because they want to feel unable to speak

Well it would but they are unclam and never not speaking as they always do. But yes the point holds. They want to war more than they want to win.

There's an internalization process going on somewhere. My cousin definitely believe it to be true, but I've never been able to find out what it is he doesn't feel able to say or what will happen if he says it, just that everyone thinks it (though I'm unclear on this bit because I was under the impression they felt unable to say it to each other)

Sore winners cont'd

Britain is one of the kindest, least racist societies in the world but the way Labour politicians like Dawn Butler rush to think the worst of our institutions, like the police, explains why their Red Wall seats tumbled so spectacularly to Boris Johnson. And why they’ll stay blue.

— Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 (@montie) August 9, 2020