somemoron

Actually, I was wrong about Theodore Roosevelt being against the simplified spellings. He was actually a supporter of them, using them frequently in White House correspondence. My memory sucks.

Anyhoo, I found a link about American spelling reform. Please, enjoy it responsibly.

Driving Without Pants
"As an American who is ignorant of British politics, let me ask: just how much power do these guys have in Britain? Do people actually take them seriously?"

Not much really, a few council seats, which they tend to neglect, and nothing more. but they are very vocal, and the media likes a good scare story. They're losing out to the UKIP who are a bit less racist, but just as stupid.

"In the United States, probably the closest thing we have is the Ku Klux Klan, but their membership/influence is at an all-time low and are basically a national laughingstock."

Maybe they should try and encourage more black members to their ranks :-)

I'd think the KKK is closer to C18 in the UK ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/323366.stm - sorry html banned ).

Britain is a mongrel race, as is America, hence the concept of ethnic purity in either is as ridiculous as it is disgusting. Racists are so stupid and misguided.

Here are some choice Kilroy Silk quotes.

Lovely bloke.

Driving Without Pants

As an American who is ignorant of British politics, let me ask: just how much power do these guys have in Britain? Do people actually take them seriously?

They don't have much power, but they should be taken seriously. While they are a very small party, they have had some success at local council elections,

Where their big danger lies is not so much their policies on race, but on Europe. The UK electorate at the moment is tending to be more and more Euroskeptic. The Euro, the change from Imperial to metric measurements, the European Constitution, and a perceived "loss of sovereignty" to the European Parliament are concerns to many British people (rightly or wrongly). While the 3 main parties (Labour, The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats) ahve internal devisions ofer European issues, they tend to me more pro-European than not over-all (to varying degrees). While the bickering and fence sitting goes on in these parties, Euroskeptic voters are turning to other parties with a more defined anti-European agenda.

The BNP and the UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) are two such parties. The UKIP did quite well at the European Elections recently. On the whole, their platform is based around one issue - get the UK out of the EU. They have had their accusations of racism and Islamophobia too - Leader Robert Kilroy-Slik lost his Job as a TV presenter on BBC after writing an anti-Arab/Islam article in a Sunday newspaper. He also once referred to Ireland as "a country peopled by peasants, priests and pixies".

Anyway, the point is that The BNP could also benefit from this anti-Europe sentiment, the danger being that if they were to get electoral success baced on their Euroskepticism, they would obviously bring their racist baggage with them. This is why it's important to publicise evidence of their racism - they constantly claim that they're not racists (they just want to send all non-whites "home", because they "respect" diversity.)

The UKIP got 13 MEPs at the European election (up from none), so they're a force that has to be taken seriously. The BNP actually see them as their main rival, and would hope to get some UKIP voters to swing to the BNP. But to do that, they'd have to tone down their racism in public. This page (this links to the BNP's website. Some filters/employers in the UK might not like that) is the BNP's analysis of the competition in the recent elections. Despite the fact that the UKIP is closest to them ideologically, they single them out for the harshest criticism.

So, in closing the BNP is more of a threat than a danger. But with the sudden unexpected success of the UKIP, the threat has to be taken seriously.

NSFPWDLYBTW

(Not safe for people who don't like yellow, by the way)

Would you believe me is I said that I spell checked my last post??? Man...

Would you believe me is I said that I spell checked my last post?

Do I wasn't ;-)

jay_vee

Holy fark. What an absolute bollix, and a dangerous one.

Ireland full of Pixies? What the hell happened since I left?

Yaweh

Thanks for the feedback.

By the way, does anyone remember the title of a certain movie: it's an adaptation of Richard III, set in an alternate-history version of 1930s Britain where fascism has taken hold. Sir Ian McKellan plays Richard/the Fascist leader (I don't remember if his name is actually Richard in the movie). Pretty cool movie, this thread reminded me of it (sadly.)

Yahweh - Kilroy isn't the UKIP leader, he's just the East Midlands candidate.

http://www.ukip.org/index.php?menu=whoswho&page=whoswhotop

Look at them, you just know they all reads the Daily Mail/Telegraph religiously :)

LaughingGremlin:- You wouldn't believe the sectarian violence between the pixies and the gremlins. A kicking from one of those little pointy boots is not to be laughed at, even by you.

Driving Without Pants:- It was called "Richard III". That was easy. Ask me another one.

Oh, and it was fairly straight (with a little chopping and changing) textually, so all the names, speeches etc. were the same.

LaughingGremlin

Yahweh You Irish Scum. ; )

Hey, I'm Irish peasant, priest or pixie scum! ;-)



I'm not actually catholic, but BNP are not known for their intellectual capacity to imagine that someone the two can be mutually exclusive.

Reminds me of that joke. A guy gets stopped at a paramilitary checkpoint in Northern Ireland:

"Are you a Catholic or a Protestant", the paramilitary asks.
"I'm an atheist", the man replies.
"Well, are you a Catholic atheist or a Protestant Atheist?"

So, essentially you have illustrated that, Kilroy-Silk hates everyone, except white English people, and then only white English people who read the Daily Mail and are Church of England.

That doesn't really leave a whole lot of people, does it?

If I ever meet him, I'll set the Killer Pixie Ninja Squad that I keep in my basement on him.

blumf

Yahweh - Kilroy isn't the UKIP leader, he's just the East Midlands candidate.

I stand corrected. And yes, what a bunch! Certainly a fair and representative cross section of modern Britain. But I thought I read somewhere that they were going to make him leader, just because he was well-known? Obviously not!

Ok, I want to be Irish Pixie Scum. Has a ring to it.



Thats one bloody angry looking Pixie.

Kilroy Slik's largely become the media face of the UKIP, so whether he's a leader or not, he's who people are voting for.

Kilroy Slik? Kinda fits I suppose.

jay-vee
It was called "Richard III".

Well, now I feel like an idiot. :P

I like it when they adapt Shakespeare into non-traditional settings (usually)

Some other great examples:
1) Titus with Anthony Hopkins as Titus Andronicus; all original dialogue, but it's set in some crazy mixture of ancient Rome and Fascist Italy.
2) Romeo + Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio et al. As much as I can't stand Leo, it's a great film. Uses original dialogue, set in a modern-day ghetto. Like West Side Story, except no music and extremely violent. Nice.
3) Throne of Blood is an adaptation of Macbeth by the legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, set in medieval Japan. This movie is probably one of the best films of all time, along with Kurosawa's other work. The death scene at the end is amazing.
4) Scotland, PA is another version of Macbeth, this time set in 1970s Pennsylvania and adapted into a dark comedy. Very excellent. The presence of Christopher Walken as McDuff only sweetens the deal.

At least one adaptation is absolute shiat, however:
The Ethan Hawke version of Hamlet, set in modern-day New York. It uses Shakespeare's original dialogue... Imagine Ethan Hawke reading Shakespeare, then you have a small idea of how shiatty this movie really is.

That was really off topic. Anyway...

Kilroy Slik: The Scots. No better than the Irish.


Hey, I dispute that. Scotland isn't peopled by peasants and priests, although I did see the Pixies play T in the Park at the weekend...

I love the "Scots/Irish" defenses being thrown up !

exactly what i'd expect from people in the lesser-known
Welsh provinces ;)

So who's that Hitler guy the headline is talking about??

tree_hugger 2004
"So who's that Hitler guy the headline is talking about??"

Just some painter and a snappy dresser, no-one important.

binnster

Sorry to disapporint you, ann Old Roy Silky Knickers, but Ireland has been ranked in the top ten places to live. I don't see Scotland or England for that matter on the list.

Naturally the Netherlands is ahead of Eire, and so is that other "no mark" country Belgium.

I will post it as its from a online paper you have to register for:

The annual United Nations Human Development Report to be published today shows Ireland is placed 10th of 177 countries in the Human Development Index (HDI), which is assessed on key characteristics including income levels and standards of health and education.

The new rating means Ireland has moved up two places from last year and eight places in the last three years. In monetary terms alone, the country retains last year's rating of third place in the world after Luxembourg and Norway.

According to the report, Norway, which is awarded the overall top spot in the HDI, generated $36,600 (29,583) in wealth per person in a year while Ireland produced $36,360 (29,389) per person in the same period.

When all characteristics are taken into account, only Norway, Sweden, Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, Belgium, Iceland, the US, and Japan have a higher quality of life ranking than Ireland.

Driving Without Pants:- I loved Titus and Romeo and Juliet. I haven't seen Throne of Blood, Or Scotland PA, but I think there's at least one major ommission in your list. Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. Excellent film.

LaughingGremlin,

They'll have lumped Scotland in with England and Wales, who naturally dragged us all down.


Ireland produced $36,360 (29,389) per person in the same period.

That'll be all 5 Irish people who still live in Ireland selling the same mouldy old potato to each other.

LG

penguins say antarctica is cool !

*groan*

/if i'm having a crap day i don't see why i shouldn't share.

binnster

That'll be all 5 Irish people who still live in Ireland selling the same mouldy old potato to each other.

I have it this week.

2004-07-15 06:55:42 AM LaughingGremlin
but Ireland has been ranked in the top ten places to live

If Scots barmen knew how to pour a proper pint of Guinness we'd be up there too.

2004-07-15 04:17:09 AM world citizen

Very well put. Unfortunately the hysterical among will now brand you a racist as well.

Ha ha, what I didn't add was the remainder of the article:
(see how easy it is to mislead the facts)


Wide disparities between rich and poor are a feature of the country's performance, however. The Human Poverty Index (HPI) ranks Ireland 16th with 12.3% of the population living below the poverty line, which means there has been no improvement in the position of low income households for the past six years.

Ireland also falls behind its wealthy companions in investment in healthcare and schooling. Spending on public health services accounted for 4.9% of national wealth, which places the country 23rd out of the top 25 nations, while the 4.3% put into public education gives a ranking of 21st.

Further inequalities are evident in the position of women, who are among the worst off economically of all Western nations, earning on average less than half that of their male counterparts.

Women are also seriously under-represented in parliament and in senior management positions but are vastly over-represented in the lower-paid service industries.

When all factors are combined, the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM) puts Ireland in 16th place.

Uranus
A bad day? Ok, heres an appaling joke for you?

Q.When is it bed time in Michael Jacksons House?
A.When the big hand touches the little hand

/evil pixie

If I remember rightly, there was a fair ol' kerfuffle about the BNP during the last General Election. They had put enough candidates forward to entitle them to some air time on BBC to show their Party Political Broadcast, and loads of people were complaining. I think their broadcast thing mainly consisted of Bulldogs and shots of Winston Churchill.

binnster
Why would a BBC documentary exposing the racism, homophobia, et al., within Islam be a bad thing?

Is exposing the ugliness within the White world somehow more pure and better than exposing the ugliness within the non-White world?

Or, are you afraid the Muslims would run riot?

I've visited the UKIP website they seem smart enough to get rid of the racist shiat that permeates fully the BNP website. So while the UKIP might *attract* racists, their primary goal is not racialism, like the BNP.

I know most on here are hardcore internationalist, but Euroskepticism to me is a good thing. The major parties are trying to slide Britain into Europe without a real debate -- much like the admission of many Eastern European countries into Nato and the EU.

Is integrating into Europe a good thing for Britain? Probably not, I fully admit I don't have the facts of the issue down pat.

Is being in Nato and the world's policeman a good thing for America? I know this to NOT be the case.

jay_vee
I loved Titus and Romeo and Juliet. I haven't seen Throne of Blood, Or Scotland PA, but I think there's at least one major ommission in your list. Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. Excellent film.

I though about putting the Branaugh version on my list, I thought it was pretty good-- but I also can't stand Kenneth Branaugh. So that explains it. Good movie otherwise though.

Britons a mongrel race?

Certainly the Japs thought so.

Internationally, nativist or nationalist groups seek to improve the circumstances of the heirs of the national founders.

This means demographics are rolled back to some agreed upon time, WWI or 1860 or 1776.

This means progressive taxation with no exemptions, the greatest beneficiaries of the nation state will pay the most toward its maintenance.

Grants will be made to support back to homeland migration.

Athletes won't be paid as much as doctors because people have a greater reliance on good medicine service than footie.

Basic human necessities will be guaranteed for all, including permanent visitors, travelers, and all who find themselves on the soil.

Natives will not be overrun, not by the priviledged of their own kind or by the teeming masses.

I know most on here are hardcore internationalist

I'll argue strongly against the UKIP. However, I'd probably count as a Euroskeptic, at least as far as financial and legal control goes. I can't be arsed to go into lots of detail here, but my opinion basically comes down to the more centralised things are, the less control and flexibility there is.

stpickrell

Why would a BBC documentary exposing the racism, homophobia, et al., within Islam be a bad thing?


I didn't say it would necessarily be a bad thing, but less than 3% of people who regard themselves as religious in the UK are muslims. Why highlight the racism and homophobia within a minority religion when it also exists in other. larger religious groups in this country, such as Christianity? The effect of racism, homophobia et al. within a religion which less than 2% of the overall population practices is surely less deserving of public attention than that shown by an electable political party that has denied such accusations, isn't it?

Don't these guys sponsor the French Open?

I got a BNP election brochure dropped through my doorbox before the local council elections here in Slough, and I have never seen something so reprehensible in my life. All their manifesto seems to be is "Get rid of everyone who isn't English". Well that's the Royal Family gone for a start....

sloughtown4ever

What do they define as "English," pure Anglo-Saxon, or something?

bdccarm

If Scots barmen knew how to pour a proper pint of Guinness we'd be up there too.

I have a horrible (and hopefully irrational) feeling that this may start a flame war, but how can anyone possibly not not be able to pour a pint of Guinness? It's hardly rocket science... I mean I can do it, and I can barely pour a decent glass of beer from a can.

Internationally, nativist or nationalist groups seek to improve the circumstances of the heirs of the national founders.

How would sending people like me back where our ancestors came from improve the circumstances for the people left?

martijn

I can speak expertly on this, having worked in a bar in Edinburgh for a while:

The Guinness served in Scotland and England (though not when I was serving, thank you) Is just poured straight into the pint glass and served and drank. The don't do the half pour/settle/top off/settle process...you are not supposed to drink Guinness (or any other stout) when it is brown. Wait for 3/4 minutes for feck sake at trust me it tastes infinately better.

jay_vee

How would sending people like me back where our ancestors came from improve the circumstances for the people left?

Well....I didn't like to say but.....now that you mention it ; )

Heh. Asked for that one.

martijn
I hate to say it but I've only ever had ONE person pour me a proper Guinness in Scotland. And she was English. I spent the entire night asking the other bar staff to get her to pour my pint and made sure I told her to get herself one with every round.

I've had so many bad pints it's not true. I've seen barmen fill the pint up in one go, I've seen them do the first part properly, wait the 119 seconds and then do the head and pour it back off the top. I've seen all kinds of bad pints poured, sometimes through lack of training and sometimes through laziness / impatience.

Guinness should stop spending their millions on advertising and instead spend it on a program to educate and enlighten barstaff around the country. If people got to taste a properly poured Guinness they'd buy it again. And again.

binnster


I didn't say it would necessarily be a bad thing, but less than 3% of people who regard themselves as religious in the UK are muslims. Why highlight the racism and homophobia within a minority religion when it also exists in other. larger religious groups in this country, such as Christianity?

Then, on that same basis, why would the BBC choose to report on the racism in a UK political party which represents less than 1% of the electorate? I welcome the BBC's report but I do wonder why they are obsessed with groups such as the BNP and never investigate the hate crimes being perpetrated by those of an Islamic faith. The recent visit by Sheikh Yussef Qaradawi demonstrated this - this was a man hailed as a "mainstream" Muslim cleric but also one who believes in the execution of homosexuals and the beating of women. There may be homophobia within Cristianity in this country but there is also a great deal of tolerance towards homosexuality; indeed, there are a large number of Anglican clergy who are openly homosexual. And when did you last hear a Catholic priest preach in favour of beating women?

LG,

The Guinness served in Scotland and England (though not when I was serving, thank you) Is just poured straight into the pint glass and served and drank. The don't do the half pour/settle/top off/settle process...


They all seem to pour it properly up here now (at least in Aberdeen anyway). If you're quick, you can get a pint of lager down before the Guinness is ready.

LaughingGremlin

I've lived in England all my life and I've never had a pint of Guinness that wasn't left to settle half way. I would have been asking serious questions otherwise! I think you're going to the wrong bars!

Incidentally, jay_vee, yours is possibly the funniest bio I've yet to see on Fark!