bovril

leicsmac is a Chinese agent. His English is too good, there is no other explanation.

Saltwater by Charles Simmons. Very good short novel.

Yeah I'm probably making a different point to you but I think Farage appeals to people not necessarily because he knows how to play the crowd but because his world view chimes with theirs, and how they want things to be. I don't think he's leading them on, he just genuinely thinks what he says is true. But maybe I'm naive. Americans at least have the excuse of living in a vast country that is economically and culturally more powerful than maybe any other polity in history.

I totally disagree but understand why you think that. Johnson is another one whose damage was a lot to do with him not being very bright politically. Sure he speaks well and has a certain intellect but is totally clueless about the world and the UK's place in it. He had absolutely no idea of the actual details of leaving the European Union for example, this is pretty much established. Britain's decline imo is more to do with this lack of understanding and our hubris than evil capitalists plotting to make the working class vote against their interests. Farage should be very easy to dismiss with some of his previous comments about e.g. Truss' budget and immigration from commonwealth countries. And he would have been dismissed in other countries but with our naval gazing media class and much of our electorate lacking a basic understanding of cause and effect, that's not been possible.

ITV 98 being better than BBC 98 has to be an exceptionally unpopular opinion

Farage is just a confused boomer and like a lot of confused boomers he doesn't really understand the world and the UK's role in it, and is still wedded to a kind of post Thatcher/Reagan 'conservativism' which gives rise to the exact stuff he doesn't like. He is useful for e.g. Russia but unwillingly so.

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It's like that A.I. photo of Brendan Rodgers as a Saudi sheikh I've seen a million times now. Oh, wait...

All this has been pointed out and discussed a not insignificant amount. The damage that Farage's policies have done to Britain are out in the open and he is still popular among great swathes of the population. He could win the election, crash the economy, increase immigration back to Boris era levels, then disband reform and start a new party complaining about those things and people would still vote for him. There isn't really much you can do at this point.

So I now need to upload my personal data to use youtube when I'm in the UK? Wonderful.

Yeah good luck on the 250th anniversary. You'll probably be told "we kicked out the English!" by a man called Alex Smith from a town called Ipswich.

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What a run of world cup opening titles BBC had from 1990-1998 by the way.

Too late

Don't like to police threads but I think this one should be reserved for actual ****s, not evil people I try very hard to avoid reading about for my own mental wellbeing.

That much cheese I assumed it was a communal sandwich that got passed around the group.

I have to admit I found that one a bit much. Think it was the teeth marks in the cheese.

Americans are obsessed with adding "seasoning" and sauce because they don't realize raw ingredients can have their own instrinsic flavour.

Britain has good produce but much of the general public can't cook even basic meals nor has an appreciation of the good food available to them. In other European countries a greater % of the population can cook and understands what constitutes good food produce.

You'll change your tune when we're 3-0 down to Cambridge in the freezing rain in january and you just want to get in at half time for a warm drink but they stop for a 'hydration break' so we can advertise shady crypto betting companies for 3 minutes

No, way too hot. But autumn and late spring it's beautiful

Thanks both, they both look great and a good starting point to plan around...

Unless they're playing England I want European teams to win their games in the world cup, especially as it's being played in the USA, and quite enjoy watching northerners like Germany and Sweden coldly demolishing plucky underdogs from the rest of the world.

Not fans of the Ivory Coast in Ulster

So I know we have some Netherlands experts on here and I'm currently trying to persuade my balkan girlfriend who's sceptical of anywhere in continental Europe north west of Vienna that it'd make a good trip in September. Would love a sleepy town with pretty architecture, canals, some nice cafes and possible day trips. Is that too much to ask for? Oh, and relatively accessible from London by train. Ain't gettin on no plane