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

I mean the National Trust is not really the same as a political party but if a group of members start posting deranged shit on social media, flaunting their membership, then it does quickly become a PR issue for the institution.

I'm not convinced that the above accounts are all real people let alone real National Trust members. The NT has attracted a number of negative news stories in the last couple of weeks - they appear to be heavily strapped for cash - and these have largely been in the right-wing press. Given the membership is likely to skew older and more rural it's probably becoming an unwilling vector for a bit of cultural panic about not very much.

I would have thought in pure attendance terms, National Trust properties that have reopened might have had an OK summer, given the number of people holidaying in this country, the generally good weather, and the fact that most of these places have enormous grounds. They might be attracting a different audience to normal and that's going to throw up opportunities for any malign actor determined to stir up fear and resentment.

if i was the NT i would simply not care about these type of idiots or the bots that impersonate them.

i guess last night i was having a brainstorm more about how a society ought to deal with people who will continue to insist on their "right to hate" and specifically to hate in public

They are doing the right thing, they have a membership base that is literally going to die off and they aren't going to improve it by pandering to these people, which means engaging more deeply with young people and being more honest about the history of these places and where the money to build them came from.

Younger people, perhaps, not just the under 30s.

the irony of the Tweet about "erasing history" was so intense i assumed it had to be a pile-on from somebody with no NT membership who just wanted a culture war skirmish

as an aside there is a neo-nazi dude that lives around the corner from me (he has a Flemish-Nazi flag painted on his front door) who has become an avid cyclist during lockdown who now proudly displays his British Cycling membership poster in his window.

National Trust are definitely doing the right thing and yes, a lot of fake accounts @-ing them, not as big an issue as it looks

I have no problem with the NT's policy. Their statement (that is attacked) looks very mild, moderate and sensible to me.

I quite agree with DC that there are PR issues - at least in theory, potentially - for a membership organization whose members make offensive statements in public. And it is logical to think that this would apply to political parties also.

But political parties are held to exceptionally high standards re: the behaviour of their members, in a way that other membership orgs are not. This goes as far as literally dominating national news, becoming a top headline story for years, etc.

There may of course be Realpolitik reasons for this difference in what is demanded of the two kinds of membership organizations. But I have never seen the reasons explained as a matter of principle.

XP: Calzino's post is an excellent additional example! When will British Cycling TAKE ACTION ??

equal parts amused and unnerved by the continuing protest outside Buckingham palace

Did this happen? https://t.co/toEUw2f7RX

— Jeremy Vine (@theJeremyVine) August 24, 2020

on the above, further evidence that Facebook is melting people's brains

Now that the rallies in the UK are over, I can post this. All of today's "Save Our Children" marches, without exception, were organised in private Facebook groups within four or five weeks. Literally all of them https://t.co/izVsFXv2w6 pic.twitter.com/GuvWm4BmA9

— Shayan Sardarizadeh (@Shayan86) August 22, 2020

are they protesting against this worldwide paed-conspiracy thing or do they just want to give prince andrew a good old fashioned lynch-mob shoeing?

I think a little from column A, a little from column B, insofar as they can said to have a coherent agenda at all

pinefox, I'd say another difference is that very often the "party members" that political parties get into trouble over aren't just randos with a membership - they might be elected officials, important cogs in the party structure, ppl w/ public profiles.

The answer to "did this happen?" might be 'no'?

https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-palace/fact-checka-crest-has-not-gone-missing-from-buckingham-palace-idUSKBN23A369

Daniel RF: yes, I strongly agree that *those* people should be subject to standards, discipline, scrutiny, etc - as appropriate. MPs, MSPs, councillors, even prospective candidates for those roles; party employees, officials -- the same as anyone might be subject to workplace discipline (though there are certainly grey areas even with that - most of us don't want to think that our employer can determine what we publish in our own time - including posts on ILX for instance, for that matter).

My point is that most of the members 'investigated', at least within Labour, are not people like that, but are private citizens who happen to have paid membership fees.

Within the Con party, I have observed that a lot of accused people actually *are* people like that (local councillors posting racist abuse, etc), but whether any of them are disciplined or expelled I am unsure.

lol at the reuters fact check almost makes you suspicious

"The windows have been covered with a protective film while the building is being reserviced."

Within the Con party, I have observed that a lot of accused people actually *are* people like that (local councillors posting racist abuse, etc), but whether any of them are disciplined or expelled I am unsure.

SOP is to suspend for an internal investigation then quietly reverse 3-6 months later when the dust settles and no-one is looking.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/aug/25/mercy-baguma-woman-in-extreme-poverty-found-dead-next-to-crying-baby-in-glasgow

The Home Office said: “This is a tragic situation and our condolences go to Ms Baguma’s family. The Home Office takes the wellbeing of all those in the asylum system extremely seriously, and we will be conducting a full investigation into Ms Baguma’s case.”

No you don't, fuck you.

humiliating stuff from Labour pic.twitter.com/6WpRNJbuK8

— black lives matter (@jrc1921) August 25, 2020

should have stuck with RLB, she didn't agree with Tories on bad policies until they u-turned

this would be the same Labour whose leader decided to weigh in on a racist dogwhistle story *made up* by the Times and he still sided with the fucking racists

far be it from me to suggest that Kieth Starmer would say literally anything if he thought it might get him elected Prime Minister

even after the exams debacle (and everything else) he's still behind 3+ points behind! safe to say if he ever is PM it will just be because the cunt kept turning up for work on time!

it'll be because he crosses the House and the 300-odd Tories in the queue in front of him have all died

it will take some catastrophic tory collapse for him to be pm, and they can literally get away with murderous policies and even if he was next PM it would feel like another horrible defeat - in some ways he seems more implacably right wing than the tories, just a horrible fucking piece of shit.

Have you guys run so low on narrow minded evil resist, misogynist, homophobic, transphobic, friends of pederast archbishops, that you had to send out for fresh ones?

https://www.google.co.jp/amp/s/www.thesun.co.uk/news/12498386/tony-abbott-britain-trade-deal-supremo/amp/

You’re welcome (and welcome to him)

Oh jesus it gets worse and worse and worse

jesus fucking christ

ffs

just get Shane Warne in next, who the fuck cares any more!

Next up: Steve Bannon.

that’s unbelievable

destroy this fucking country

If Britannia had not ruled the waves there would never have been a Royal Navy strong enough to abolish the slave trade, intercepting 1,600 ships and freeing 150,000 Africans while sustaining major casualties. Guess it’s too late to delete your tweet ... https://t.co/UEt12KkSfC

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) August 25, 2020

death to britain and europe

Far-right groups targeting hotels housing asylum seekers during coronavirus pandemic

Anger over rising English Channel crossings ‘uniting different strands’ of extremistshttps://t.co/g4ThPZ1eh9

— Anti-Fascism & Far Right 🥤 (@FFRAFAction) August 25, 2020

Remember #Greencore, the M&S sandwich supplier that had 300 staff go down with COVID at its Northampton site, & sent everyone home a few days ago to self-isolate for 14 days?

It’s calling staff back in and re-opening its production lines from *today*.https://t.co/vbqLQJiLv6

— CarolineJMolloy (@carolinejmolloy) August 26, 2020

Is it bothering to test them all again first? Surely the capacity to do that exists in a town with a significant outbreak happening right now?

Greencore says that only workers who have finished the 14 day self-isolation have been called back into work but staff tell a different story.

"It's crazy, we have received numerous calls from our members to say they are just four or five days into their self-isolation period and they are already returning to work,"

I mean I know the demand for pre-packaged M&S sandwiches must be crazy right now with so many people in the office but this might be considered just a little short sighted, delusional and idiotic.

https://media.apnarm.net.au/media/images/2014/10/03/abbott_togs-g15qlmcd30rnpzifxi2_t1880.JPG

Keep him or we send Clive Palmer in budgie smugglers.

In the past few days, I’ve had multiple broadcast producers ask me to come and debate whether Rule Britannia should be dropped.

And I said sure - as long as I can say that this whole thing is a media confection, designed to wind up apoplectic baby boomers and delegitimise BLM.

— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) August 26, 2020

Sir Keir Starmer weighed into the row defending the “pomp and pageantry” as “a staple of British summer.”

Asked if he backed the move to censor the words to Rule Britannia, a Labour spokesman said “enjoying patriotic songs does not - and should not - present a barrier to examining our past and learning lessons from it."

But they stopped short if demanding a uturn, insisting the running order was a matter for the organisers.

The spokesperson said: "The running order is a matter for organisers & the BBC, but enjoying patriotic songs does not... present a barrier to examining our past."

Labour's Lord Adonis said today: “It’s part of being English, I don’t understand what the problem is.

"It seems almost laughable to think we are going to start censoring some of these great national songs.

"What are they going to next, the national anthem? It’s ridiculous this whole thing."

Keir Starmer 'weighs in'.

Latest Westminster voting intention (24-25 Aug)

Con - 43% (+3 from 19 Aug)
Lab - 36% (-2)
Lib Dem - 6% (n/c)
SNP - 6% (+1)
Green - 4% (-2)
Brexit Party - 3% (-1)https://t.co/rtBcHmS3Gh pic.twitter.com/VqIQILDQux

— YouGov (@YouGov) August 26, 2020

I bet Sir Melt regrets that bend the knee photo he did now it's pretty clear that pandering to racists is his priority. At least he's 20 pts ahead tho!

Argh I was hoping we would take the collective decision to ignore this obvious diversionary bollocks, it's the National Trust thing all over again, Ash Sarkar OTM.

That goes for the Labour Party as well... it's almost as if there's a massive government clusterfuck happening right now that they're desperate to deflect attention from?

I'm ignoring the bollocks, just not ignoring the bollocks that felt he had to weigh in on the bollocks

Maybe pointing out that performed singing is off for the rest of the year because of COVID risk would be a way to dodge this bullshit topic?

I mean these things are almost good for how much they make elite forensic interrogators shit the logics bed time and again.

If Britannia had not ruled the waves there would never have been a Royal Navy strong enough to abolish the slave trade, intercepting 1,600 ships and freeing 150,000 Africans while sustaining major casualties. Guess it’s too late to delete your tweet ... https://t.co/UEt12KkSfC

— Andrew Neil (@afneil) August 25, 2020

what I'd like to see is some performed singeing, as the hapless melt LOTO is slowly lowered into a volcano, because he is no use to anybody but the tories.

he is such a predictable conservative reactionary you don't even need to be a master of the dark arts to lay a trap for this likely lad to walk into. I just wish that during the leadership election he'd declared that he's a complete cock rather than pretending to be a unity candidate who was going to maintain the centre-left direction Corbyn had taken the party in.

Britania rules something

#GDP in @OECD area showed largest fall ever recorded in 2nd Quarter 2020.
Falls in #G7 countries:
🇬🇧 -20.4%
🇫🇷 -13.8%
🇮🇹 -12.4%
🇨🇦 -12%
🇩🇪 -9.7%
🇺🇸 -9.5%
🇯🇵 -7.8%

🇪🇺 -11.7%
👉https://t.co/McMlbAnJYr
For up-to-date analysis on #COVID19 visit
👉https://t.co/l83pRaLPFP pic.twitter.com/yQpV5jtwCj

— Anthony Gooch Gálvez (@pitres) August 26, 2020

the UK media: France and Italy suffer the worst financial crisis since WW2. Nothing to see here get back to your offices and die!