Whya re babblers so obsessed with the UK?

My own reasons for posting about the UK are as follows:

1)I genuinely admire Jeremy Corbyn and the things his supporters and him fight for, and believe they would have won every electoral test since 2015 had it not been for the endless sabotage campaign his party's MPs have waged against him and against those who stand with him;

2)It's my conviction that Labour not only cannot win any future elections if it abandons what the Corbyn movement stands for and reduces itself, once again, to Blairism-as its opponents in the PLP are obsessed with forcing it to do-but that it will likely fall apart as a party altogether, since there is no good reason for Labour to revert to being the second party of war and austerity;

3) It genuinely angers me that this man and these people have been slandered and vilified, have endlessly been accused of vile things that everyone with a functioning central nervous system knows they could not possibly have been guilty of, and know that there is no way any greater good can ever be served by what Corbyn's opponents within the party have done to him and to his supporters from day one;

4) And on Europe, it is clear to me that it isn't possible for Corbyn to do what his opponents in the party demand, and put what all of them know to be a hopeless fight to overturn Brexit while the Tory government remains in power ahead of all other concerns in the universe, without splitting the party for all time; therefore I can see no valid reason for the relentless pressure being placed on this man on this issue;

5) I don't want to see Labour become a party no young voter will ever support again.  That is what would have to happen if the PLP got its way and imposed as "moderate" as leader.  Young voters in the UK will never trust a Labour leader who defends the Iraq War, is fine with austerity, and wants Labour policy-making to be the sole preserve of cynical middle-aged reactionaries who think Labour shouldn't be about anything other than alternating with the Tories in the administration of permanent sameness.

voice of the damned wrote:

And if you're looking for reasons, besides idiosyncratic interest, why the UK warrants attention, well, we're talking about the nation that bequeathed us our parliamentary system, more or less started the Industrial Revolution, pretty much invented liberalism as we know it, used to rule close to half the planet, gave the world its lingua franca, and lent us the concept and word "Thatcherism" to describe the dominant economic ideology of the last forty years.

So, it tends to be a place where important things happen, to say the least.

You forgot sticky hot toffee pudding with custard.

Why not.

swallow wrote:

Now a thread on English food I could get behind. 

What's worse, semolina or bread pudding? 

English cooking has improved a lot over the years. As a kid my mother cooked the way her English Mum taught her - everything boiled to a uniform shade of grey to be as tasteless as possible. Though I do recall having liked bread pudding.

voice of the damned wrote:

And if you're looking for reasons, besides idiosyncratic interest, why the UK warrants attention, well, we're talking about the nation that bequeathed us our parliamentary system, more or less started the Industrial Revolution, pretty much invented liberalism as we know it, used to rule close to half the planet, gave the world its lingua franca, and lent us the concept and word "Thatcherism" to describe the dominant economic ideology of the last forty years.

So, it tends to be a place where important things happen, to say the least.

"Soccer" or "The Beatles" would have been valid answers as well.

MegB wrote:

swallow wrote:

Now a thread on English food I could get behind. 

What's worse, semolina or bread pudding? 

English cooking has improved a lot over the years. As a kid my mother cooked the way her English Mum taught her - everything boiled to a uniform shade of grey to be as tasteless as possible. Though I do recall having liked bread pudding.

What I've heard is that British food was as bad as it was for such a long time was that the Industrial Revolution destroyed the peasant class in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales-that it's the peasant class in any country which does the great cooking and without that you get...well, mushy peas, I guess.

voice of the damned wrote:

So, it tends to be a place where important things happen, to say the least.

I call BS!

Britain screwd the world over, but somehow has veto powers at the UN? How is that important?

Big waste of time going no where country.

Oh come on, you have to like their command of the English language, and the many creative ways it is used in their commercials for example!

WWWTT wrote:

voice of the damned wrote:

So, it tends to be a place where important things happen, to say the least.

I call BS!

Britain screwd the world over, but somehow has veto powers at the UN? How is that important?

Big waste of time going no where country.

 

I said important things happen in the UK. Not neccessarily progressive things. See, for example, my references to the Empire and Thatcherism, neither of which I am in favour of. 

And, justified or not, the fact that they do have that UN veto is another thing that makes them somewhat worth discussing, I'd say. 

voice of the damned wrote:

WWWTT wrote:

voice of the damned wrote:

So, it tends to be a place where important things happen, to say the least.

I call BS!

Britain screwd the world over, but somehow has veto powers at the UN? How is that important?

Big waste of time going no where country.

 

I said important things happen in the UK. Not neccessarily progressive things. See, for example, my references to the Empire and Thatcherism, neither of which I am in favour of. 

And, justified or not, the fact that they do have that UN veto is another thing that makes them somewhat worth discussing, I'd say. 

WTF?

That's like saying nazi Germany was important.

Kudos to swallow for starting a thread for posters that don't like Britain (ya that's what I'm turning it into)

Not anti-China but anti-totalitarianism, eh!

But if the shoe fits....

I have few qualms with China or Chinese communism. I think China has to resist the allure of being too totalitarian in order to preserve order in a country that’s expanding rapidly. Totalitarianism destroyed communism in Eastern Europe and from their own history China likely understands more than anyone how Totalitarianism can quickly set a communist country back a generation or two. I think the Chinese government has a lot of very difficult problems to deal with as they are progressing rapidly on many fronts and their continued progress requires maintaining law and order. Here in Canada we take for granted our very high level of law and order that allows our society to thrive. I think China is progressing rapidly and that this will benefit the world. 

WWWTT wrote:

No actually it's anti-Communism when you take off all that wrapping you and Ken Burch like to use.

Anti-Stalinism, not "Anti-Communism".  I have no issue with the original ideals of communism;  I simply reject the idea that dictatorship and an unaccountable, undemocratic Party are necessary to build.  And I don't want the PRC brought down and replaced with a capitalist restoration.

I'm no Cold Warrior.

England in particular is the place where common lands were enclosed, the peasants kicked out and forced to move to towns and cities to figure out how to feed themselves,  the land was used to raise sheep for wool...and along the way, this thing called industrial capitalism happened.

Not to be pedantic, but...

As a Commonwealth nation I think this decision might effect Canada as the legalities of prorogation have also been debated here.

It's not our status as a Commonwealth nation that would be relevant here, since there are many Commonwealth countries which are republics and are not obligated to follow the British parliamentary system any more than they want to.

I believe the term for a Commonwealth country which maintains the monarchy is "Commonwealth Realm", but I'm not certain as to what degree that obligates us to follow British rulings about things like prorogation. I do know that when, for example, Mulroney wanted to add more seats to the Senate, he was required to get permission from the Queen, and had to send an envoy to London, IOW the Governor-General couldn't just act as her stand-in. So evidently there are still some formal connections there.

Ken Burch wrote:

WWWTT wrote:

No actually it's anti-Communism when you take off all that wrapping you and Ken Burch like to use.

Anti-Stalinism, not "Anti-Communism".  I have no issue with the original ideals of communism;  I simply reject the idea that dictatorship and an unaccountable, undemocratic Party are necessary to build.  And I don't want the PRC brought down and replaced with a capitalist restoration.

I'm no Cold Warrior.

OK fair enough then. I'll try to keep this in mind in our future discussions

JKR wrote:

In a historic decision the Supreme Court in the UK has just ruled that PM Boris Johnson’s [and the Crown’s] prorogation of the UK Parliament was illegal! If sanity prevailed now Boris would have to  resign for lying to the Queen but that very likely won’t happen. As a Commonwealth nation I think this decision might effect Canada as the legalities of prorogation have also been debated here. This kind of decision might have prevented PM Stephen Harper from prorogating Parliament here in Canada. I think many of the recent events associated with the UK and Brexit have been historic for a Commonwealth nation and  people shouldn’t be surprised that it’s getting so much attention.

LOL what a funny comment in this thread!

I think this thread is about or leans towards not liking British politics. And you're trying to hijack it into another England politics thread.LOL