bovril

Same thing that usually happens to multi ethnic polities as living standards decline and state authority weakens. Britain 2016-2030 will be the subject of loads of books in the future I'm sure.

England feels more like a social experiment than a country at the moment

Forest, Rangers and Red Star lose. God is good.

Agree also with Modena, I prefer it a lot to Parma.

For such a famous place Ravenna still feels like a sleepy market town, just one with some of the greatest art and architecture of the medieval era. Saturday morning in January you'll get a very authentic Romagna atmosphere, a long way from stereotypical Italy. Hopefully foggy and cold. Journey from Bologna feels like crossing the Fens (obviously don't sell it like this to your girlfriend). There's a covered market where you can get some very good coffee and I think the local football team has a stall. I saw them get promoted when I was there in 2007 and still have a very large soft spot for them.

Reminds me of a story I read about the filming of Full Metal Jacket. Kubrick was planning to film some of the Vietnam scenes in North Norfolk and had sourced a few old US army helicopters for the shoot. The production company had phoned up the local police station to tell them to warn the locals they'd be filming at 8am the following Monday but the old boy who took the call either didn't believe it or forgot to pass on the message. Apparently the fisherman and old biddies having their morning showers in the caravan park got quite the shock as two attack helicopters swooped overhead with some extra pointing a sub machine gun toward them.

Ravenna - About 1 hr 15 min by train. The mosaics are the greatest early medieval art in Italy I think. Might as well go to Florence, like Venice it's not that hard to get away from crowds. San Marco is one of my favourite places in Europe. Always thought it'd be great to explore the bit between Bologna and La Spezia. I imagine lots of pretty unspoiled villages in quiet valleys. No idea how to get there with public transport but I'm willing to guess there are buses south west from Bologna to some villages and towns. Similarly the bit South East of Bologna roughly between Florence and Forli is beautiful and accessible by train but would require a change I think. Bologna itself I don't know at all really. Just make sure to go to Ravenna. I think you're into your history so it's a must.

This sentence is too online even for me

ffs thanks for getting the news thread taken down muppets

I sometimes wonder if some people have paragraphs ready to be copy pasted in the event of high profile attacks

The difference is with Europe it did of course work both ways and millions of Brits also went to work in the EU. Not so much in Africa and the subcontinent.

This is quite noticeable in London and I imagine a lot of English cities in that service jobs that seemed to be done mostly by Europeans, especially Spanish, Italians and Eastern Europeans, are now almost exclusively done by Indians, to the extent that some chain cafes, supermarkets and stores like boots are staffed totally by Indians. It's a big change and I'm surprised that 'nuance' you mention is lost in the debate. The change may have happened anyway even without Brexit, since a lot of Eastern Europeans are returning home from Western Europe as their countries' economies improve. But it is always fascinating that millions of Farage curious Brits appear to see this as a 'betrayal' of Brexit.

Starmer seems to have tried to win over people who aren't going to vote for him anyway and in doing so lost a lot of those who probably would have done at the next election.

Well that was definitely a category a fixture!

'MattP' was actually a six year sociological experiment by Leicester de Montford University.

Big moment in the wymesy / purple Ronnie extended universe

When you look at figures like this it seems quite likely that Reform will win the next election. https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/53070-what-do-britons-really-think-about-scrapping-indefinite-leave-to-remain

Yeah sure, but the argument is that he's hypocritical for playing in England and hating the English, which even if it were true is still an absurd argument.

I love the idea amongst some fans that an Irishman playing for a Welsh club is a 'hypocrite' for being somewhat anti English.

Absolutely unprecedented levels of rimming

He's totally lost it now - "As someone who comes from a big extended family (dad was 1 of 8, mum was 1 of 6), I have a couple of good looking female cousins!". Even for him this is a new low.

People just say Norfolk because they don't want to say Bradford or Birmingham

West Midlands moment

Norfolk catching strays again

Cynical soulless Brits constantly use the word "performative" when referring to genuine displays of emotion or belief, which grinds my gears.